ভূমিকা

Alive they are with their Lord; are being sustained, rejoicing for those who have not yet joined them from behind them, that no fear shall come to them nor shall they grieve. They rejoice in the grace from Allah and (His) bounty, and in the fact that Allah does not (allow) the reward of the believers to be lost.” (Qur'an, 3:169-171). The souls of the believers always look forward for the gifts from their near and dear ones, and especially so on Fridays and Friday eve.

This gift may be in the form of prayers, alms, and other good deeds done on their behalf; one may also perform any Sunnat deed and pray to Allah to give its Thawab (Reward) to one's dead.[^1] The souls are sometimes allowed to visit their relatives who are alive. So far as the believers are concerned, there is no doubt about their visit. According to many Ahadith, even that believer who has the lowest rank is allowed to visit his relatives once every Friday.

Those above him in rank may be allowed more frequently. According to some Ahadith, even some unbelievers are allowed to visit their relatives so that their sorrow and grief may increase by seeing those relatives in disbelief and sin and realizing that they also would be punished in Akherat if they persisted in rejecting Islam and Iman.[^2] It must be mentioned here that the souls of the unbelievers remain in punishment and are not free to do any mischief to any one.

Therefore, the idea of some people that this or that person became a ghost after his death is sheer superstition. There is no basis to accept such beliefs, prevalent in Hinduism. Of course, there are Jinns, and among them, according to the Qur 'an, there are some evil ones also. But it does not mean that the evil Jinns have no other interest except teasing the East African residents of Indian origin.