It is not necessary to believe in the details of the somatic resurrection...

It is not necessary to believe in the details of the somatic resurrection; rather, it is required to believe in it in its simple form as is revealed by the Holy Qur'an and to believe in its accompanying matters, such as the Judgment, the Discriminating Bridge ( sirat ), the Balance ( mizan ), Paradise, Hell, Reward, and Punishment in an amount not exceeding the Qur'anic details: It is not obligatory to acquaint oneself with the inspected knowledge of these subjects, which cannot be attained except by well-versed specialists, such as familiarity with the answers of the following questions: Will bodies be restored to life in their very essences; or will structures resembling these bodies be created?

Will souls be exposed to perdition, just like bodies; or will they continue to live until they reunite with the bodies on the Day of Resurrection? Is Resurrection restricted to human kind; or is it applicable to all species? When Almighty Allah will command the restoration of bodies to life, will they be restored suddenly or gradually?

Although it is obligatory to believe in Paradise and Hell, it is not obligatory to know whether they are already existent or they will be created afterward; whether they are in the skies or on earth or whether one of them is on earth while the other is in the skies.

Similarly, it is obligatory to believe in the Balance (prepared for weighing the good and evil deeds of people and then comparing them), but it is not obligatory to believe whether this balance will be an actual weighing apparatus with two scale pans or it is only metaphoric. It is also not obligatory to know whether the Discriminating Bridge is a material object or it only stands for moral integrity.

To sum it up, it is not conditional, in professing Islam, to know whether these things are material bodies or not…([^1]) Islam simply demands faith in the Resurrection and Final Assemblage.

If anyone tries to exceed this to acquaint oneself with details surpassing what has been mentioned in the Holy Qur'an so as to be convinced and refute the spurious arguments of some skeptical researchers, who demand a rational explanation of the Resurrection, one will definitely involve oneself in unnecessary complications and fall into endless troubles and disputation.

Moreover, nothing in the religion of Islam instigates searching for such details with which the books of theologians and fake philosophers are replete.