Were this not the case, resurrection would have no meaning.

Were this not the case, resurrection would have no meaning. This theory implies, of course, that punishment and reward are exclusively moral or spiritual. There is no firm evidence in support of this theory, but it used to have many supporters. Now it has very few followers, for the realistic theories put forward by scholars have thoroughly undermined it. The third analysis of the question is that which was made by a number of ancient philosophers.

They said that when we die, our body is indeed destroyed: its elemental and material elements are dissolved in such a way that they cannot be reassembled. The spirit then remains, but not in a state of utter abstraction; it is lodged in a subtle body that is not capable of physical and chemical reactions but nonetheless resembles our present body.

This subtle body, also known as the imaginal body, is extraordinarily active and has the ability to transcend all obstacles, and is able to live eternally. There is yet a fourth theory, which is held by many theologians and philosophers both of the past and the present. It is based on the principle that resurrection represents a complete and comprehensive return to life for nothing that pertains to man can ever be fully destroyed.

Man resumes his life in the next world with all his qualities and properties, the only difference being that his resurrectional life unfold in a more elevated realm than this world. On that plane we will attain a state in which matter and spirit retain their separate essences but become so closely interrelated that their existence becomes manifest as a single unit.

The reality of resurrectional life must be envisaged, according to the view, as containing both dimensions of man, not separate but joined, just as was the case in this world. * * * * * No intellectual argument can be advanced as evidence for the nature of life after death; it is only the necessity of resurrection and its simultaneously spiritual and physical nature that are topics for philosophical and rational analysis.

Philosophy and the intellect have no key for unlocking the mystery of which, out of all possible forms, will definitely occur in the hereafter. Nonetheless, when we look at the way in which the last of the theories outlined above seeks to answer this question, we see that it contains an element of truth, for it points in the same direction as the authoritative texts of Islam and is compatible with them.