.It is but a (mere) word that he says” (This is an unfounded...

.It is but a (mere) word that he says” (This is an unfounded claim. If they are sent to the world, they will continue to behave as they used to.) It is also necessary to note that although this verse in a literal sense talks about the desire of the polymeists to return to the world, it is not limited to them at all.

When wrongdoers and oppressors, on the brink of death, see their painful destinies, they become regretful about their past and ask to be sent back to the world to undo what they had done, but they are all refused. What is the intermediate world? What kind of world is it? Where is it? How can it be proved that such a world exists between this world and the Hereafter? Must all people enter this world or is it only for a special group of people to enter?

Finally, what is the state and situation of believers, the righteous, the unbelievers, and the wrongdoers in the intermediate world? These are the questions which exist in this field, and there are some hints to it in the verses of the Qur’an and the Islamic traditions, and it is necessary to answer them as much as possible. The Arabic word ‘barzakh’ originally means that which stands between two things, later, whatever stood between any two affairs came to be called a ‘barzakh’.

As a consequence, the world that exists between this world and the Hereafter is called the barzakh and is also sometimes called ‘the world of the grave’ or ‘the world of spirits’. The reason for the existence of this world is based upon traditional proofs, and there are numerous Qur’anic verses that explicitly or implicitly refer to the barzakh. The verse: “...and behind them is a partition until the Day when they are raised up” apparently indicates the existence of such a world.

Some scholars say that the word ‘barzakh’ is a barrier that prevents human beings from returning to this world after they die, while the phrase: “...until the day when they are raised up” indicates that this barrier is between this world and the Day of Judgment and is not between human beings and the world.

Among the verses that explicitly show the existence of such a world are those that speak about the life of the martyrs; such as the one which says: “And do not say of those, who are slain in the way of Allah, as dead. Nay, they are alive...” [^2] The Prophet (S) is addressed in this verse, but all the believers are addressed in verse 154 of Sura al-Baqarah, No.