ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Roots of Religion Lesson 30: After Death Death That which does not die and will never die is Allah. We, slaves, will one day eventually leave this world. The setting of the sun each day is a poetical metaphor for our passing away. How good it is, if we meet with another day, just like the sun, beaming and bright on the horizon of the Resurrection. This is important for the sunset is inevitable, death is a reality which, like it or not, must happen.

What we must think about is what after death will happen to us? Will we become nothing? Will everyone's life merely “end in death”? Or will we “remain”, and if so, what will our “remaining” be like? Those who do not believe in Cod consider death to be the becoming nothing of man, and life just limited to one or two days. They say that everyone's turn is short- lived.

But those who are bled in revelation are completely opposed to this view, and they say that man is immortal and that death is just a ladder leading to the world of purgatory and Resurrection, which is the everlasting resting-place. Purgatory (Barzakh) According to clear ayahs of the Qur'an and many hadiths from the leaders of Islam, death is not the becoming nothing of man. The human spirit, after death, remains, and experiences blessings or torment up to the time of the turmoil of Resurrection.

This period from death to Resurrection is called Barzakh. The life of Barzakh is a real existence, not imaginary or illusory. Allah says: “Count not those who were slain in the way of Allah as dead, but rather living with their Lord, being Sistine rejoicing in the bounty which Allah has given them”.(3:169-170) It is clear that if the life were not real, the phrase “living with their Lord, being sustained” would be meaningless.

Similarly in the case of the man of Ya-Sin, the believer, who advised his people to follow the Messenger of 'Isa, but they did not and killed him, the Qur'an says: “It was said: 'Enter Paradise!' He said: 'Ah, would that my people had knowledge that my Lord has forgiven me, and that he has placed me among the honored.” (36:26-27) It is evident that the meaning of Paradise in this ayah is the purgatory of Barzakh which people of faith benefit from in between death and the Resurrection.