If the spirit had done good deeds in its past life...

If the spirit had done good deeds in its past life, it will then be lodged in a body that would enjoy a happy life. Otherwise, it will enter a body to lead a miserable life in its future life span. Such a return is considered a resurrection for the spirit. Those who believe in Raj`ah, however, believe in the Day of Resurrection as prescribed in the Shariah of Islam and reject the idea that the spirit enters another body after its departure from a former body.

[1] They believe that a group of people will return to this world before the Day of Resurrection. Then they will return to the eternal abode once the requirements of Raj`ah are fulfilled, so that they will be resurrected with all mankind. They also believe that the spirit will never return to another body once it departs the world. [1] Rejecting the idea of transmigration, Sadr al-Muta'allihin states the following in his al-Asfar, vol. 9, chapter 1, p.

3, sub-section 8: "The (idea) of the spirit leaving the body and entering another one, whether this happens in the fetal stage or else, requires that one of the two (the body or the spirit) be in a state of potentiality and the other in the state of de facto.

That which is in de facto must at the same time maintain its potentiality, and this is impossible because the combination of the spirit and the body is a natural unity; such a natural combination will be impossible between two things of differing states: potential and de facto." Back Index Next Previous…