2.6 Life After Death

A faith in a life after death is the last of the basic principles of Islam. The word generally used in the Holy Qur’an to indicate this life is al-akhirah. Death, according to the Holy Qur’an, is not the end of man’s life; it only opens the door to another, a higher, form of life: “We have ordained death among you and We are not to be overcome, that We may change your state and make you grow into what you know not” (56:60-61). Just as from the small life-germ grows the man, and he does not lose his individuality for all the changes which he undergoes, so from this man is made the higher man, his state being changed, and he himself being made to grow into what he cannot conceive at present. That this new life is a higher form of life is also made plain: “See how We have made some of them to excel others. And certainly the Hereafter is greater in degrees and greater in excellence” (17:21).

The Holy Qur’an accords to faith in the Future Life an importance which is next only to faith in God. Very often all the doctrines of faith are summed up as amounting to belief in God and the Future Life: “And there are some people who say, We believe in Allah and the Last Day, and they are not believers” (2:8); “Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day and does good, they have their reward with their Lord” (2:62).

The Opening chapter of the Holy Qur’an, entitled the Fatihah, is not only looked upon as the quintessence of the Book but it is actually the chapter which plays the greatest part in creating a true Muslim mentality; for the Muslim must recite it in the five prayers, over thirty times daily. In this chapter God is spoken of as the “Master of the Day of Requital”, and thus the idea that every deed must be requited is brought before the mind of the Muslim continually. This constant repetition of the idea of a requital of deeds, undoubtedly impresses on the mind the reality of a future life, when every deed shall find its full reward. The reason for attaching so much importance to a life after death is clear. The greater the faith in the good or bad consequences of a deed, the greater is the incentive which urges a man to or withholds him from that deed. Therefore this belief is both the greatest impetus towards good and noble, and the greatest restraint upon evil or irresponsible deeds. But more than this, such a belief purifies the motives with which a deed is done. It makes a man work with the most selfless of motives, for he seeks no reward for what he does; his work is for higher and nobler ends relating to the life beyond the grave.

The Holy Qur’an not only speaks of a life after death which opens out for man a new world of advancement, before which the progress of this life sinks into insignificance; it also shows that the basis of that life is laid in this our life on earth. The Hereafter is not a mystery beyond the grave; it begins in this life. For the good, the heavenly life, and for the wicked, a life in hell, begin even here, though the limitations of this life do not allow most people to realize this. “Thou wast indeed heedless of this, but now We have removed from thee thy veil, so thy sight is sharp this day” (50:22). This shows that the spiritual life which is hidden from the human eye by reason of material limitations, will become mainfest in the Resurrection; because human perception will then be clearer, the veil of material limitations having been removed. The Holy Qur’an speaks of two paradises for the righteous and two chastisements for the wicked, as also of a heavenly and hellish life each beginning here: “And for him who fears to stand before his Lord are two Gardens” (55:46). “O soul that art at rest! Return to thy Lord well pleased, well pleasing. So enter among My servants and enter My Garden” (89:27-30). “Nay, would that you knew with a certain knowledge, you will certainly see Hell” (102:5, 6). “It is the fire kindled by Allah which rises over the hearts” (104:6, 7). “And whoever is blind in this life, shall also be blind in the Hereafter” (17:72). “Such is the chastisement, and certainly the chastisement of the Hereafter is greater, did they but know” (68:33).

The state between death and Resurrection is called barzakh which literally means a thing that intervenes between two things, or an obstacle or a hindrance (LL.). The word barzakh has been used in this latter sense of an obstacle in two places in the Holy Qur’an (25:53 and 55:20), where a barrier between two seas is spoken of as barzakh. As signifying the state between death and Resurrection, it occurs in the following verses: “Until when death overtakes one of them, he says, My Lord, send me back, that I may do good in that which I have left. By no means! It is but a word that he speaks. And before them is a barzakh until the day when they are raised” (23:99, 100). This intervening state is also known by the name of qabr, which means grave, but has also been used in the wider sense of the state which follows death. Thus the three states, death, the grave and Resurrection, are spoken of, where the grave undoubtedly stands for barzakh: “Then He causes him to die, then assigns to him a grave (aqbara-hu); then when He will, He raises him to life again” (80:21, 22). And the raising to life on the Day of Resurrection is spoken of as the raising of those who are in their graves, as in 100:9 and 22:7, where all people are meant, whether actually buried or not. The state of qabr is therefore the same state as that of barzakh, the state in which every man is placed after death, and before the Resurrection.

Since the Holy Qur’an speaks of the growth of a higher life even in the life of this world, the spiritual experience of man is the first stage of the higher life. Yet, ordinarily, man is neglectful of this higher experience, and it is only persons of a very high spiritual development that are in any way conscious of that higher life. Barzakh is really the second stage in the development of this higher life, and it appears that all men have a certain consciousness of the higher life at this stage, though full development has not yet taken place. In the Holy Qur’an, even the development of the physical life is mentioned as passing through three stages. The first stage of that life is the state of being in the earth; the second, that of being in the mother’s womb; and the third, that in which the child is born. Thus we have: “He knows best when He brings you forth from the earth and when you are embryos in the wombs of your mothers” (53:32); “And He began the creation of man from dust. Then He made his progeny of an extract of worthless water. Then He made him complete and breathed into him of His spirit” (32:7-9); “And certainly We create man of an extract of clay; then We make him a small life-germ in a firm resting place … , then We cause it to grow into another creation, so blessed be Allah, the Best of creators!” (23:12-14). Corresponding to these three stages in the physical development of man, the stage of dust, the stage of embryo and the stage of birth into life, the Holy Qur’an speaks of three stages in his spiritual development. The first is the growth of a spiritual life which begins in this very life, but it is a stage at which ordinarily there is no consciousness of this life, like the dust stage in the physical development of man. Then there comes death, and with it is entered the second stage of a higher or spiritual life, the barzakh or the qabr stage, corresponding to the embryo stage in the physical development of man. At this stage, life has taken a definite form, and a certain consciousness of that life has grown up, but it is not yet the full consciousness of the final development which takes place with the Resurrection, and which may therefore be compared to the actual birth of man, to his setting forth on the road to real advancement, to a full awakening of the great truth. The development of the higher life in barzakh is as necessary a stage in the spiritual world as is the development of physical life in the embryonic state. The two thus stand on par.

That there is some kind of awakening to a new spiritual experience immediately after death is abundantly evident from various Qur’anic statements. For example, the verses in which barzakh is spoken of set forth the spiritual experience of the evil-doer, who immediately becomes conscious of the fact that, in his first life, he has been doing something which is now detrimental to the growth of the higher life in him, and hence desires to go back, so that he may do good deeds which may help the development of the higher life. It shows that the consciousness of a higher life has sprung up in him immediately after death. On another occasion, we are told that evil-doers are made to taste of the evil consequences of their deeds in this state of barzakh, the consciousness of the chastisement becoming clear on the Resurrection Day: “And the evil chastisement overtook Pharaoh’s people—the Fire; they are brought before it every morning and evening and on the day when the Hour comes to pass: Make Pharaoh’s people enter the severest chastisement” (40:45, 46).

It should be noted that while, in the Holy Qur’an, the guilty are spoken of as receiving chastisement in the state of barzakh, in Hadith this punishment is spoken of as ‘adhab al-qabr, or the punishment meted out in the grave. In Bukhari the chapter on ‘adhab al-qabr begins with quotations from the Holy Qur’an, one of which is the verse relating to the punishment of Pharaoh’s people in barzakh quoted at the conclusion of the previous paragraph. This shows that Bukhari regards these two punishments as one, and thus he establishes the identity of qabr and barzakh. Again, the 90th chapter of the same book has the following heading: “The dead man is shown his abode morning and evening” (Bu. 23:90). Under this heading, a hadith is narrated from ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Umar reporting the Holy Prophet as saying that “when a man dies, his abode (in the next life) is brought before him morning and evening, in Paradise if he is one of the inmates of Paradise, and in fire if he is one of the inmates of fire” (Bu. 23:90). This report also shows that the punishment meted out in the grave (‘adhab al-qabr) means only the spiritual condition of the guilty people in the state of barzakh.

Similarly, the righteous are spoken of as tasting the fruits of good deeds immediately after death: “And think not of those who are killed in Allah’s way as dead. Nay, they are alive, being provided sustenance from their Lord; rejoicing in what Allah has given them out of His grace; and they rejoice for the sake of those who, (being left) behind them, have not yet joined them, that they have no fear nor shall they grieve” (3:169, 170). These verses show that the departed ones are even conscious of what they have left behind, and this establishes some sort of connection between this world and the next.

All questions connected with the life of the other world are of an intricate nature, inasmuch as they are not things that can be perceived by human senses; they are “secrets” that shall be made known only after death, according to the Qur’an and, according to a saying of the Holy Prophet, “things which no eye has seen, nor has ear heard, nor have they entered into the heart of man” (Bu. 59:8). As will be shown later on, the very ideas of time and space as relating to the next world are different from those here, and therefore we cannot conceive of the duration of barzakh in terms of this world’s time. Moreover, the full awakening to the higher life will take place in the Resurrection, and the state of barzakh is therefore a state, as it were, of semi-consciousness. Hence it is that it is sometimes likened to a state of sleep as compared with the great awakening of the Resurrection, for the unbelievers are made to say: “O woe to us! Who has raised us up from our sleeping-place?” (36:52). The state of barzakh, as regards those who have wasted their opportunities in this life, lasts according to the Holy Qur’an, till the Day of Resurrection: “And before them is a barzakh until the day when they are raised” (23:100). The question of a longer duration of barzakh for some, and a shorter one for others, does not arise, as they do not seem to have consciousness of the length of time: “And the day when the Hour comes, the guilty will swear that they did not tarry but an hour. Thus are they ever turned away. And those who are given knowledge and faith will say: Certainly you tarried according to the ordinance of Allah till the Day of Resurrection — so this is the Day of Resurrection — but you did not know” (30:55, 56). As regards those in whom the life spiritual has been awakened during the life on earth, consciousness in the barzakh state will undoubtedly be more vivid, and there is a hadith which speaks of the righteous being exalted to a higher state (raf ‘) after forty days, and thus making progress even in that state.

The Resurrection is spoken of under various names, the most frequent of which is yaum al-qiyamah or the Day of the Great Rising, which occurs seventy times in the Holy Qur’an. Next to it is al-sa‘ah which means the Hour, and occurs forty times; yaum al-akhir or the Last Day occurs twenty-six times, while al-akhirah as meaning the Future Life occurs over a hundred times. Next in importance is yaum al-din which means the Day of Requital. Yaum al-fasl or the Day of Decision occurs six times, and yaum al-hisab or the Day of Reckoning five times. Other names occur only once or twice, such as yaum al-fath (the Day of Judgement), yaum al-talaq (the Day of Meeting), yaum al-jam‘ (the Day of Gathering), yaum al-khulud (the Day of Abiding), yaum al-khuruj (the Day of Coming Forth), yaum al-ba’th (the Day of being Raised to Life), yaum al-hasrat (the Day of Regret), yaum al-tanad (the Day of Calling Forth), yaum al-azifah (the Day that draws near), yaum al-taghabun (the Day of Manifestation of Losses). Other names which occur once or twice without the word yaum (day) are al-qari‘ah (the striking Calamity), al-ghashiyah (the Overwhelming Calamity), al-sakhkhah (the Deafening Calamity), al-tammah (the Predominating Calamity), al-haqqah (the Great Truth), and al-waqi‘ah (the Great Event).

It will be seen that most of these names refer either to a destruction or an awakening and rising to a new life; they relate to the sweeping off of an old order and the establishment of a new one. A few quotations descriptive of the Resurrection will make the point clearer. “He asks: When is the Day of Resurrection? So when the sight is confused, and the moon becomes dark, and the sun and the moon are brought together. Man shall say on that day, whither to flee? No! There is no refuge! With thy Lord on that day is the place of rest. Man will that day be informed of what he sent before and what he put off … Nay, but you love the present life; and neglect the Hereafter. (Some) faces that day will be bright, looking to their Lord. And (other) faces that day will be gloomy, knowing that a great disaster will be made to befall them” (75:6-25). “When the stars are made to disappear, and when the heaven is rent asunder, and when the mountains are carried away as dust, and when the messengers are made to reach their appointed time” (77:8-11). “Surely the Day of Decision is appointed — the day when the trumpet is blown, so you come forth in hosts; and the heaven is opened so it becomes as doors; and the mountains are moved off so that they remain a semblance” (78:17-20). “The day when the quaking one shall quake — The consequence will follow it. Hearts that day will palpitate, their eyes cast down … It is only a single cry, when lo! they will be awakened” (79:6-14). “They ask thee about the Hour: When will that take place about which thou remindest? … To thy Lord is the goal of it” (79:42-44). “When the earth is shaken with her shaking, and the earth brings forth her burdens … On that day men will come forth in sundry bodies that they may be shown their works” (99:1-6). “The day when they come forth from the graves in haste, as if hastening on to a goal” (70:43). “So when the trumpet is blown with a single blast, and the earth and the mountains are borne away and crushed with one crash; on that day will the Event come to pass … On that day you will be exposed to view — no secret of yours will remain hidden” (69:13-18). “When the Event comes to pass — there is no belying its coming to pass — abasing (some), exalting (others)” (56:1-3). “On the day when the earth will be changed into a different earth and the heavens (as well)” (14:48).

The two words used most frequently regarding the Resurrection are al-qiyamah and al-sa‘ah. The first of these refers, apparently, to the rising, which is its literal significance, the second to destruction, being the hour of doom. As regards this latter word, Raghib says that there are three sa‘ahs in the sense of resurrection: viz., the greater resurrection (kubra) which is the rising up of the people for reckoning, the middle resurrection (wusta) which is the passing away of one generation, and the minor resurrection (sughra) which coincides with the death of the individual. An example of the last use of the word sa‘ah from the Holy Qur’an is: “They are losers indeed who reject the meeting with Allah, until when the hour comes upon them suddenly” (6:31). Here the hour (al-sa‘ah) clearly stands for the death of the person. As regards the use of al-sa‘ah in the sense of the end of a generation, a hadith of the Holy Prophet is quoted according to which he is reported to have said about ‘Abd Allah ibn Unais, who was then only a boy: “If the life of this boy is lengthened, he will not die till the hour (al-sa‘ah) comes to pass” (R.); and it is related that he was the last to die from among the Companions of the Holy Prophet; in other words, al-sa‘ah in this case signifies the passing away of the generation of the Companions. There are examples of this use in the Holy Qur’an also: “The hour (al-sa‘ah) drew nigh and the moon was rent asunder” (54:1). “The hour,” in this case, stands for the doom of the opponents of the Holy prophet. And again: “Or say they, We are a host allied together to help each other. Soon shall the hosts be routed, and they will show their backs. Nay, the Hour (al-sa‘ah) is their promised time and the hour is most grievous and bitter” (54:44-46). Bukhari tells us, in his comment on these verses, that, when the Holy Prophet was faced with a most serious situation on the day of the battle of Badr, the Muslims being in danger of utter annihilation at the hands of their powerful opponents, and was praying for their safety, he was reminded of this prophecy, and comforted his Companions by reciting these verses aloud, showing that the hour (al-sa‘ah) here meant the hour of the enemy’s defeat.

Just as the word al-sa‘ah is used in a wider sense, and indicates, besides the Doomsday, sometimes the death of an individual and sometimes the passing of a generation, so do the words qiyama (rising) and ba‘th (raising the dead to life) sometimes occur, each in a wider sense. Thus there is a saying of the Holy Prophet: “Whoever dies, his resurrection had indeed come to pass.” Here the state of barzakh is called a resurrection, and this shows that no sooner does a man die than he is raised to a new life. It should be further borne in mind that on many occasions when the Holy Qur’an speaks of the dead, it means those who are spiritually dead, and by giving life to them it means the bringing about of a spiritual awakening in them, as for example: “Is he who was dead, then We raised him to life and made for him a light by which he walks among the people, like him whose likeness is that of one in darkness whence he cannot come forth?” (6:122). Here, clearly, the dead one is he who is spiritually dead, and God’s raising him to life is giving him the life spiritual. On one occasion even, by “those in the graves” are meant those who are dead spiritually: “Neither are the living and the dead alike. Surely Allah makes whom He pleases hear, and thou canst not make those hear who are in the graves. Thou art naught but a warner” (35:22, 23). The context shows that by “those in the graves” are meant those whom death has overtaken spiritually, whom the Holy Prophet would warn but they would not listen. On another occasion, where those in the graves are mentioned, the words convey a double significance, referring to the spiritual awakening brought about by the Holy Prophet as well as to the new life in the Resurrection; “And thou seest the earth barren, but when We send down thereon water, it stirs and swells and brings forth a beautiful growth of every kind. This is because Allah, He is the Truth, and He gives life to the dead and He is possessor of power over all things, and the Hour is coming, there is no doubt about it; and Allah will raise up those who are in the graves” (22:5-7). The first part of this passage, describing the giving of life to dead soil by means of rain, shows that the second part refers to the giving of spiritual life by means of Divine revelation, a comparison between rain and revelation being of frequent occurrence in the Holy Qur’an. “The Hour” here, as in so many other places, refers to the doom of the opponents of the Holy Prophet, and “the dead” and “those in the graves” are evidently the spiritually dead. But, though speaking primarily of the spiritual resurrection, there is also a reference to the great Resurrection of the dead. In fact, not only here but in many other places in the Holy Qur’an, the spiritual resurrection, to be brought about by the Holy Prophet, and the greater Resurrection of the dead are mentioned together, the one being as it were an evidence of the other, because an awakening to spiritual life shows the existence of a higher life, the development of which is the real aim of the greater resurrection. This is the first great argument running throughout the pages of the Holy Qur’an as to the truth of the greater resurrection. The spiritual resurrection brought about by the Holy Prophet, the awakening to a spiritual life, makes the higher life an experience of humanity, and thus clears the way for a development of that life in a higher sphere, above the limitations of this material world.

That the whole of creation on this earth is for the service of man, and that human life has some great aim and purpose to fulfill, is yet another argument for Resurrection advanced by the Holy Qur’an: “Does man think that he will be left aimless?” (75:36); “Do you then think that We have created you in vain, and that you will not be returned to Us?” (23:115). Just as the God-idea ennobles man’s life, and endows it with the purest and highest impulses, so does the resurrection-idea introduce a seriousness into man’s life which cannot be otherwise attained. It will be taking too low a view of human nature to imagine that with all those vast capacities for ruling nature and its wonderful forces, human life itself has no aim. If everything in nature is intended for the service of man, human life itself could not be without purpose. The Holy Qur’an refers to this argument in the following verses: “Certainly We created man in the best make, then We render him the lowest of the low, except those who believe and do good, so theirs is a reward never to be cut off ” (95:4-6). The last words clearly refer to the higher life which is never to be cut off. It cannot be that the whole of creation should serve a purpose and that man alone who is lord of it and endowed with capabilities for ruling the universe, should have a purposeless existence. It is the Resurrection alone that solves this difficulty. Man has a higher object to fulfill, he has a higher life to live beyond this world and that higher life is the aim of human life in this world.

Another argument adduced by the Holy Qur’an in support of the resurrection is that good and evil must have their reward. Of the whole living creation, man alone has the power to discriminate between good and evil. And so acute is his perception of good and evil that he strives with all his might to promote good and to eradicate evil. He makes laws for this purpose, and uses the whole machinery of power at his disposal to enforce them. Yet what do we see in practical life? Good is often neglected and starves, while evil prospers. That is not as it should be. “Allah wastes not the reward of the doers of good” (11:115; 12:90 etc.); “We waste not the reward of him who does a good work” (18:30): “I will not suffer the work of any worker among you to be lost, whether male or female, the one of you being from the other” (3:195); “So he who does an atom’s weight of good will see it. And he who does an atom’s weight of evil will see it” (99:7, 8) — such are some of the plain declarations made by the Holy Qur’an. And when we look at nature around us, we find the same law at work. Every cause has its effect, and everything done must bear fruit. Even that which man does in the physical world must bear fruit. Why should man’s good or evil deeds be an exception to this general rule working in the whole universe? And if they are not an exception, as they should not be, the conclusion is evident that good and evil must bear their full fruit in another life, which indicates the continuity of the life of man in another world, when death has put an end to it in this.

It will be seen from the above that the Resurrection is not a dogma in which a man is required to believe for his salvation in another life; rather it is a principle of human life, a principle which makes that life more serious and more useful, while at the same time awakening in him the consciousness of a life that is higher. The man who sincerely believes in the Resurrection will try his utmost to take advantage of every opportunity that is offered to him to live his life to the best purpose; he will try hard to do any good that he possibly can to the creatures of God, and he will shun every evil deed as far as he can. Thus a belief in the Resurrection is needed in the first place to make this lower life worth living. Without such a belief, life loses not only its meaning, leaving man without any real or abiding aim, but also all incentive to do good and eschew evil.

The idea of a life after death is so strange to the average mind that the Holy Qur’an has, again and again, to answer the question, how will it be? And the answer given in all cases is that the great Author of all existence Who made this vast universe out of nothing, could also bring about a new creation. “Were We then fatigued, with the first creation? Yet they are in doubt about a new creation” (50:15). “But they say, Who will return us (to a new creation)? Say, He who created you at first” (17:51). “And they say: When we are bones and decayed particles, shall we then be raised up into a new creation? See they not that Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth, is able to create the like of them?” (17:98-99). “Seest thou not that Allah created the heavens and the earth with truth? If He please, He will take you away and bring a new creation. And that is not difficult for Allah. And they will all come forth to Allah” (14:19-21).

The subject is reverted too often to enable all the verses bearing on it to be reproduced, but the one underlying idea running through them all is that this old creation, the earth and its heaven, and the rest of the universe, would give place to a new creation. The old order would be changed into an entirely new one. It shall be a day “when the earth shall be changed into a different earth and the heavens as well” (14:48). Just as this universe has grown out of chaos and a nebulous mass into its present state of systems of galaxies and stars and their families, it will, in its turn, give place to a higher order which will be evolved from it. The idea is quite consistent with the scientific knowledge of the universe to which man has attained at the present-day — the idea of evolution, order out of chaos, a higher order out of a lower order, and with this order of the universe, a higher order of human life of which our present senses cannot conceive.

Another question connected with the Resurrection is whether it would be a corporeal resurrection. So far as our present experience goes, it is through the body that the spirit receives all its impressions of pleasure and pain, that it gets knowledge and perception of things, that its impulses and sentiments are developed. In fact, according to the present state of our knowledge, we cannot conceive of the soul without a body. But whether the soul in Resurrection will receive back the same body which it left in this world is quite another question. There is nothing in the Holy Qur’an to show that the body which the soul left at death will be restored to it. On the other hand, there are statements to show that it will be a new creation altogether. The verses quoted in the last paragraph give a clear indication that it is not the old creation that will be restored at the Day of Resurrection. Even the old heaven and the old earth will pass away and there will be a new heaven and a new earth (14:48). If the very earth and heaven have changed at the Resurrection, how can the human body remain the same? And in fact the Holy Qur’an has stated clearly that it shall be a new body altogether. In one place, the human beings at the Resurrection are called the likes of the present race: “Do they not consider that Allah Who created the heavens and the earth is able to create their likes?” (17:99), where the Arabic words for their likes are mithlahum, the personal pronoun hum referring to men, not to heaven and earth. In another place, the statement that the bodies would be changed is even clearer. There, the question of the unbelievers is first mentioned: “When we die and have become dust and bones, shall we then indeed be raised?” (56:47). And the reply is given: “See you that which you emit? Is it you that create it or are We the Creator? We have ordained death among you and We are not to be overcome, that We may change your state and make you grow into what you know not. And certainly you know the first growth, why do you not then mind?” (56:58-62). After men have become dust and bones, they shall be raised up again but their “state” will be entirely “changed,” and the new growth will be one which “you know not”, while “you know the first growth.” The human body at the Resurrection is, therefore, a new growth with our present senses which we cannot even know. And this is as true of the human body as of all things of the next life, of the blessings of Paradise as well as of the chastisement of Hell, that they are things which according to a saying of the Holy Prophet, “the eye has not seen, nor has the ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man to conceive of them” (Bu. 59:8). The resurrection-body has therefore nothing in common with the body of this world except the name or the form which preserves the individuality.

To understand how, what may be called the spiritual body of the life after death, is prepared, one must turn again to the Holy Qur’an. There it is stated that angels have been appointed to record the good and evil deeds of man. Thus in the opening sections of the 13th chapter, a denial of the Resurrection — “When we are dust, shall we then be raised in a new creation?” (13:5) — is followed by the answer: “Alike (to Him) among you is he who conceals the word and he who speaks openly, and he who hides himself by night and who goes forth by day. For him are angels guarding the consequences of his deeds, before him and behind him, who guard him by Allah’s command” (13:10, 11). It is first stated that to God all are alike, those who conceal their words and those who speak them openly, and those that do a good or evil deed in the darkness of the night and those who do it in the light of the day; and it is then added that there are angels before and behind man that guard him. The guarding of the man and the guarding of his deeds are thus one and the same thing. In fact, this has been made clear in an earlier chapter — earlier in point of revelation: “Nay, but you give the lie to the Judgment, and surely there are keepers over you, honourable recorders, they know what you do” (82:9-12). Here the angels that are called “keepers over you”, being undoubtedly the guarding angels (13:11), are plainly described as the recording angels who know what man does. Thus both these verses show that an inner self of man is being developed, all along, through his deeds, and that is what is meant by guarding man in one case and guarding his deeds in the other. It is the inner self that assumes a shape after death and forms first the body in barzakh and is then developed into the body in Resurrection.

Elsewhere, a similar denial of the Resurrection is rebutted by saying that God knows that the body becomes dust, and is followed by the words: “And with Us is a book that preserves” (50:4), i.e., there is with God a writing that preserves what is essential to growth in the next life. That ‘preserved writing’ is the record of good and evil deeds kept by the guardian angels, so that, here again, we are told that while the outer garb of the soul, the body, becomes dust and goes back to the earth, the inner self is preserved and forms the basis of the higher life — life in the Resurrection.

This materialization of spiritualities — not a materialization in the sense in which it is accepted in this life, but a materialization of the new world to be evolved from the present world — is spoken of frequently in the Holy Qur’an as well as in Hadith. For instance, those who are guided by the light of faith in this life shall have a light running before them and behind them on the Day of Resurrection: “Is he who was dead, then We raised him to life and made for him a light by which he walks among the people, like him whose likeness is that of one in darkness whence he cannot come forth?” (6:122); “On that day thou wilt see the faithful men and the faithful women, their light gleaming before them and on their right hand” (57:12), and the fruits of good deeds are spoken of as fruits of Paradise: “And give good news to those who believe and do good deeds, that for them are gardens in which rivers flow. Whenever they are given a portion of the fruit thereof, they will say: This is what was given to us before; and they are given the like of it” (2:25). Similarly the fire which burns within the heart of man in this life, by reason of inordinate love of wealth, becomes the fire of Hell in the next life: “It is the Fire kindled by Allah, which rises over the hearts” (104:6, 7). And the spiritual blindness of this life turns into blindness in the next life: “And whoever is blind in this (world), he will be blind in the Hereafter” (17:72). The seventy years of evil-doing — seventy being the average span of human life — are turned into a chain of seventy cubits (69:32). The man who acts according to the Book of God, or takes it in his right hand here, shall be given his book in the right hand on the Resurrection Day, and the man who will have none of it, and throws it behind his back, shall be given his book behind his back or in his left hand (69:19, 25; 84:7, 10). Hadith also is full of examples of this. The spiritualities of this life take an actual shape in the Hereafter. This is the truth underlying all the blessings of Paradise and the torments of Hell.

It will have been noticed that the guarding of the good and evil deeds of man, which form the basis of the higher life, is spoken of as writing them down; and a book of good and evil deeds is repeatedly mentioned. To quote further: “Or do they think that We hear not their secrets and their private counsels? Aye! and Our messengers with them write down” (43:80). “This is Our record that speaks against you with truth. Surely We wrote what you did” (45:29). “And the book is placed, then thou seest the guilty fearing for what is in it, and they say: O woe to us! What a book is this! It leaves out neither a small thing nor a great one, but numbers them (all)” (18:49). “So whoever does good deeds and he is a believer, there is no rejection of his effort, and We surely write it down for him” (21:94).

Not only has every individual his book of deeds, but even nations are spoken of as having their books of deeds: “And thou wilt see every nation kneeling down; every nation will be called to its record. This day you are requited for what you did” (45:28).

A nation’s record or book of deeds explains what is meant by the individual’s book of deeds. The expression means nothing but the effect of the deeds done by the individual or the nation. It is a mistake to take the word kitab in the sense of a collection of pages written down with pen and ink in connection with the writing of good and evil deeds. Kitab does not always mean a collection of written leaves; it sometimes signifies the knowledge of Allah, or His command, or what He has made obligatory (R.). And kataba does not always mean that he wrote certain words on paper with ink and pen; it also means he made a thing obligatory or decreed or ordained or prescribed a thing (Ibid.). According to the same authority, the significance of kitab (writing) in 21:94, where the writing of good deeds is spoken of, is that God will preserve those deeds for the doer, and requite him for them.

A study of the verses in which the recording of actions, or the books of deeds, is referred to, leads to the conclusion that it is the effect produced by those actions that is meant. For instance: “And We have made every man’s actions to cling to his neck, and We shall bring forth to him on the Day of Resurrection a book which he will find wide open” (17:13). Making the actions cling to the doer’s neck is clearly causing the effect of the actions to appear on the person concerned; in other words, all actions, good or bad, have their impress on the man. This is in accordance with what has been already stated, namely that an inner self of man is being prepared in this life. That inner self is really his book of deeds, a book in which is noted down the effect of every deed done. It is to this that the concluding words of the verse allude where it is said that this book of deeds, the inner self, which here is hidden from the human eye, will become an open book on the Day of Resurrection. And, quite in consonance with this, the next verse goes on to say: “Read thy book; thine own soul is sufficient as a reckoner against thee this day” (17:14). In other words, the effect of a man’s deeds becomes so manifest on the Resurrection Day that no outside reckoning is needed. It is man himself who reads his own book, that is to say, sees all his actions in the impress left on him, and judges himself because the reckoning has already appeared in his own self.

In agreement with this are two other verses of an earlier chapter: “Nay, surely the record (kitab) of the wicked is in the prison” (83:7); “Nay, surely the record (kitab) of the righteous is in the highest places” (83:18). As opposed to the righteous who are in the highest places, the wicked should have been spoken of as being in the lowest places, but instead of that they are stated to be in prison, which means that a bar is placed against their advancement; hence they are mentioned further on as being “debarred from their Lord” (83:15), while the righteous go on advancing to higher and higher places. The word ‘record’ or book (kitab), here plainly stands for the inner self of the man; in any other sense, the placing of the book in a prison is meaningless. Thus it is clear from the various descriptions of the “book of deeds” or “the record of deeds” that it is the effect of good or evil deeds accelerating or retarding a man’s spiritual progress, as the case may be, that is meant, and that the writing is nothing but the impress that is left on man when he does a good or bad deed — an impress which no human eye can see, but whose reality cannot be doubted by any conscientious thinker.

A ‘balance’ is also spoken of in connection with the good and evil deeds of man. The mizan or balance is again a misunderstood word. Wazn is simply the knowing of the measure of a thing (R.). It is true that the measure of material things is judged by a pair of scales or by some other implement, but the deeds of man need no scales for their measurement. Raghib is very clear on this point when he says that by wazn or mizan, in connection with the deeds of men, is meant “the doing of justice in the reckoning of men.” He quotes the following examples: “And the judging (wazn) on that day will be just” (7:8); “And We will set up a just balance (mawazin, pl. of mizan) on the Day of Resurrection” (21:47), where in fact the meaning is made clear in the Holy Qur’an itself by the addition of the words “no soul will be wronged in the least.” So too elsewhere, a mizan is referred to as working in nature itself: “And the heaven, He raised it high, and He set up the measure (mizan) that you may not exceed the measure. And keep up the balance with equity nor fall short in the measure” (55:7-9). Here the words used for measure or balance are the same words mizan and wazn. A mizan or balance is first spoken of as existing in connection with the creation of the heavens, and this is followed by an injunction that men should also preserve the balance with equity. Now the balance that is seen working in nature is the law to which everything is subject so that, while opposing forces do exist, yet each force is subject to a law. Everything works out its destiny according to a measure, and so should man also work out his destiny according to a measure. Hence the injunction not to get inordinate in respect to the measure.

The mizan or ‘measure’ of men is clearly spoken of elsewhere as having been sent down by God: “Certainly We sent Our messengers with clear arguments, and sent down with them the Book and the measure (mizan), that men may conduct themselves with equity” (57:25). Revelation, or the Book, is sent down by God to awaken the spiritual life in man, and therefore the measure, which is spoken of as having been sent down along with revelation, must also relate to the spiritual life of man. In his physical growth man is undoubtedly subject to the same balance as is the rest of nature, yet apart from that he has a higher life, the life spiritual, which is evolved out of the present life, and the book that is sent with the prophets and the measure both relate to the growth of the spiritual life. The book contains the directions in principle, to do good and shun evil, so that the spiritual life awakened in man takes a good or bad turn, a higher or lower form, according to the preponderance of good or evil. Thus not only do good and evil deeds leave their effect behind but also there is a balance which gives shape to that effect and makes the spiritual growth possible, or has a retarding effect on that growth if evil preponderates.

The ‘balance’ of the Hereafter, therefore, differs not at all from the ‘balance’ of this life, except that there it takes a more palpable form. The general principle is laid down in the following verses: “And We will set up a just balance on the Day of Resurrection, so no soul will be wronged in the least. And if there be the weight of a grain of mustard seed, We will bring it. And sufficient are We to take account” (21:47). “And the judging (wazn) on that day will be just, so as for those whose good deeds are heavy, they are the successful. And as for those whose good deeds are light, those are they who ruined their souls” (7:8, 9).

A certain class of persons is indicated in whose case no balance shall be set up at all. These are the people who waste away the whole of their energy in this world’s doings: “Shall We inform you who are the greatest losers in respect of deeds? Those whose effort goes astray in this world’s life … Nor shall We set up a balance for them on the Day of Resurrection” (18:103-105).

The life after death takes two forms: a life in Paradise for those in whom the good preponderates over the evil, and a life in Hell for those in whom the evil preponderates over the good. The word Paradise (Firdaus) occurs only twice in the Holy Qur’an; on one occasion in conjunction with Gardens (jannat) and on the other alone. It is the word garden (jannah or its plural jannat) that is generally used to indicate the abiding place of the righteous. The use of this name for the abode of bliss has a deeper significance, since of Paradise it is plainly stated that its blessings are such as cannot be perceived by the physical senses. The description of Paradise usually given is gardens in which rivers flow, corresponding to which the description of the righteous generally is, those who believe and do good. These two descriptions, read in the light of what has gone before as to the materialization in the next world of the spiritualities of this life, are an indication of the fact that faith, which is the water of spiritual life, is converted into rivers, and good deeds, which spring from faith, are the seeds whence grow the trees of the next life.

The description of Paradise as a garden with rivers flowing in it, is clearly stated to be a parable or a likeness, not an actuality, in terms of this life: “A parable of the Garden which is promised to those who keep their duty: Therein flow rivers. Its fruits are perpetual and its plenty” (13:35); “A parable of the Garden which the dutiful are promised: Therein are rivers of water not altering for the worse …” (47:15). And quite in keeping with this description is the statement made elsewhere, that the blessings of Paradise cannot be conceived of in this life, not being things of this world: “No soul knows what refreshment of the eyes is hidden for them: a reward for what they did” (32:17). An explanation of these words was given by the Holy Prophet himself when he said: “Allah says I have prepared for My righteous servants what no eye has seen and no ear has heard, and what the mind of man has not conceived” (Bu. 59:8). And Ibn ‘Abbas, the famous companion and commentator, is reported to have said: “In Paradise there are no foods of this life except the names”.

A few examples may be added. Zill which means a shadow, is spoken of as one of the blessings of Paradise: “They and their wives are in shades” (36:56); “The dutiful are amid shades and fountains” (77:41); “Its fruits are perpetual and its zill” (13:35). Zill actually does not in all these cases bear the significance of shade; the name is there but its import is quite different. In fact we are plainly told in the Holy Qur’an that there is no sun in Paradise: “They will see therein neither sun nor intense cold” (76:13). Hence in the case of Paradise, zill signifies protection or plenty, as being the idea underlying the word shade (R.).

Those in Paradise are spoken of as being given sustenance (rizq). But it cannot mean what sustains the body here. It is the sustenance that is needed for the inner self of man, and it is for this reason that prayer is also called sustenance. The fruits of Paradise, whether mentioned under a particular name or generally, are not the fruits of this life, but of deeds done. The name is the same, but the significance is quite different. Thus we are told: “Whenever they are given a portion of the fruit thereof, they will say: This is what was given to us before” (2:25). Evidently the fruits of good deeds are meant here, and not the fruits that the earth grows, because the latter are not given to all the true believers here while the former are. Similar is the case with the rivers of water, milk and honey all of which are plainly spoken of as a parable; the thrones, the cushions and carpets; the ornaments, the bracelets, the silk robes — all these are not things of this life, but are mentioned simply to show that whatever may serve to perfect the picture of the happiness of man, will be there. As for the exact form they will take, that cannot be made known to man, because his senses are incapable of perceiving it. All descriptions of the blessing of the next life are only a likeness or a parable (mathal) as is explained in the Holy Qur’an.

As already stated, the Resurrection means quite a new life and a new order of things, a new heaven and a new earth. A little consideration will show that our ideas of space and time are inapplicable to the next life. Paradise extends over the whole of the heavens and the earth, that is to say, the whole of this universe: “And hasten to forgiveness from your Lord and a Garden as wide as the heavens and the earth” (3:133; 57:21). And when the Holy Prophet was asked where was Hell, if Paradise extended over the whole of the heavens and the earth, he replied “Where is the night when the day comes?” This shows that Paradise and Hell are more like two conditions than two places. Again, notwithstanding the fact that the two are poles asunder, the one being the highest of the high and the other the lowest of the low, they are separated only by a thin partition: “Then a wall, with a door in it, will be raised between them; within it shall be mercy and outside of it chastisement” (57:13). And elsewhere, speaking of the inmates of Paradise and the inmates of Hell, it is said: “And between them is a veil” (7:46). It is impossible, with our present ideas of space, to conceive of these two things at one and the same time. Again, a “vehement raging and roaring” of hell-fire is repeatedly mentioned, but those in Paradise shall “not hear its faintest sound” while they will hear the call of the inmates of that fire: And the companions of the fire shall call out to the owners of the Garden: “Pour on us some water or some of that which Allah has provided for you. They say: Surely Allah has prohibited them both to the disbelievers, who take their religion for an idle sport and a play, and this world’s life deceives them” (7:50, 51). Thus those in Paradise shall hear the talk of those in Hell, but they shall not hear the roaring of the fire of Hell. This shows that the change, that will come over man in the Resurrection, will be so thorough that even his present senses will be changed into others of which it is impossible for him to conceive in this life, senses which would hear the lowest tones of one kind, but not the most terrible sounds of another.

The things mentioned among the blessings of Paradise are, therefore, not the things of this world but things which we have neither seen nor heard of in this life; nor, with our present senses, can we even conceive of them. All descriptions given are simply to show that the life of the righteous will be perfect in the Resurrection. It is with the same end in view that mention is made of the company of men and women in that state, to which sensually minded people have attached a sensual significance. Writing under the word zauj, used in the Holy Qur’an in connection with the companionship of men and women, Raghib says that “the meaning of zawwajna-hum bi-hur-in ‘in is that we have given them hur as companions (qarannahum bi-hinna), and the Holy Qur’an does not say zawwajna-hum hur-an, as you say in the case of the marriage of a man with a woman, zawwajtu-hu imra‘at-an, hinting that the relations there will not be as they are known to us here in this life”. It is also stated that in the “relations with women in Paradise there is no suggestion of procreation”; and as sexual relationship, as understood in this life, is a requirement of nature to help the act of procreation, it is clear that the relationship of sexes or the company of men and women in the Resurrection has quite a different significance.

The mention of women in the Holy Qur’an is, in the first place, to show that men and women are both equal in the sight of God, and that both will enjoy the higher life in the Resurrection. That women, in general, shall have access to Paradise like men, is made clear in many places: “And whoever does good, whether male or female, and is a believer, these shall enter the Garden” (40:40; 4:124). “Whoever does good deeds, whether male or female, and is a believer, We shall certainly make him live a good life” (16:97). “I will not suffer the work of any worker among you to be lost whether male or female, the one of you being from the other” (3:195).

The wives of the righteous are mentioned particularly as accompanying their husbands in Paradise: “They and their wives are in shades, reclining on raised couches” (36:56). “Our Lord! Make them enter the Gardens of perpetuity, which Thou hast promised them and such of their fathers and their wives and their offspring as are good” (40:8). “Enter the garden, you and your wives; being made happy” (43:70).

Among the various descriptions of women in Paradise is the word hur, which occurs four times in the Holy Qur’an. It is a plural of ahwar (applied to a man) and of haura’ (applied to a woman), signifying one having eyes characterized by the quality termed hawar (LL.) Purity is the prevailing idea in the meaning of hawar, and therefore hawari, which is derived from the same root, means a pure and sincere friend. Hence “pure ones” is the nearest rendering of the word hur, in English The four occasions on which the women of Paradise are spoken of as hur are: “Those who keep their duty are indeed in a secure place, in gardens and springs … and We shall join them to pure (hur), beautiful ones” (44:51-54). “The dutiful will be surely in Gardens and bliss … Reclining on thrones set in lines, and We will join them to pure (hur), beautiful ones” (52:17-20). “Therein (i.e., in the gardens) are goodly beautiful ones … Pure ones (hur) confined to pavilions” (55:70-72). “And the foremost are the foremost, these are drawn nigh to (God). In Gardens of bliss … On thrones inwrought … and pure (hur), beautiful ones, the likes of hidden pearls: a reward for what they did” (56:10-24).

Are hur the women that go to Paradise, the wives of the righteous? A hint to this effect is given in a hadith. The last of the occasions on which the hur are spoken of is 56:10-24, and in continuation of the subject there occur the words: “Surely We have created them a new creation, so We have made them virgins, loving, equals in age, for those on the right hand” (56:35-38). In connection with their being a new creation, the Holy Prophet is reported to have said that, by this are meant women who have grown old here. The meaning, therefore is that all good women will be in a new creation in the life of the Resurrection so that they shall all be virgins, equals in age. The Holy Prophet’s explanation shows that the word hur is used to describe the new growth into which women of the world will grow. An anecdote is also related that an old woman came to the Holy Prophet when he was sitting with his Companions, and asked him if she would go to Paradise. In a spirit of mirth, the Holy Prophet remarked that there would be no old women in Paradise. She was about to turn away rather sorrowfully, when the Holy Prophet comforted her with the words that all women shall be made to grow into a new growth, so that there shall be no old women in Paradise, and recited the verse quoted above.

The conclusion to which this hadith leads is further supported by what is stated in the Holy Qur’an. The description of hur, as given in the Holy Qur’an, contains the best qualities of a good woman, purity of character, beauty, youthful appearance, restrained eyes and love for her husband. But even if the hur are taken to be a blessing of Paradise, and not the women of this world, it is a blessing as well for men as for women. Just as the gardens, rivers, milk, honey, fruits, and numerous other things of Paradise are both for men and women, even so are hur. What these blessings actually are, no one knows, but the whole picture of Paradise drawn in the Holy Qur’an strongly condemns the association of any sensual idea therewith. It may, however, be asked, why are these blessings described in words which apply to women? The fact is that the reward spoken of here has special reference to the purity and beauty of character, and if there is an emblem of purity and beauty, it is womanhood, not manhood.

What is true of women is also true of ghilman (children). The Holy Qur’an speaks, on one occasion, of the presence in Paradise of ghilman (pl. of ghulam meaning a boy), and on two occasions of wildan (pl. of walad meaning a son or a child): “And round them go boys (ghilman) of theirs as if they were hidden pearls” (52:24); “And round about them shall go youths (wildan) never altering in age” (56:17; 76:19). In the first case, there is a double indication showing that these boys, called the ghilman, are the offspring of the faithful; they are called ghilman-un la-hum or their boys, and it is clearly stated that God will “unite with them (i.e., the righteous) their offspring” (52:21). To the same effect, it is elsewhere said that the “offspring” of the faithful will be made to enter Paradise with them (40:8). Hence the ghilman and the wildan are the young children who have died in childhood. There is, however, a possibility that these boys are only a blessing of Paradise, as boyhood is, like womanhood, an emblem of purity and beauty.

No reader of the Holy Qur’an can fail to see that the real picture of Paradise, therein portrayed, has no implication whatsoever, of any sensual pleasure. Some of the verses which reveal the true nature of Paradise may be quoted: “Allah has promised to the believing men and women gardens in which rivers flow, to abide in them, and goodly dwellings in gardens of perpetual abode; and greatest of all is Allah’s goodly pleasure, that is the grand achievement” (9:72). “Those who believe and do good, their Lord guides them by their faith; rivers will flow beneath them in Gardens of bliss. Their cry therein will be, Glory to Thee, O Allah! and their greeting, Peace! And the last of their cry will be: Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds” (10:9, 10). “Their greeting therein is, Peace!” (14:23). “Surely those who keep their duty are in Gardens and fountains: Enter them in peace, secure. And We shall root out whatever of rancour is in their breasts — as brethren, on raised couches, face to face. Toil afflicts them not in it, nor will they be ejected therefrom” (15:45-48). “And they say: Praise be to Allah, Who has removed grief from us! Surely our Lord is Forgiving, Multiplier of rewards, Who out of His grace has made us alight in a house abiding forever; therein toil touches us not nor does fatigue afflict us therein ” (35:34-35). “They have fruits therein, and they have whatever they desire. Peace! A word from the Merciful Lord” (36:57-58). “Enter it in peace. That is the day of abiding. For them therein is all they wish and with Us is yet more” (50:34-35). “They hear therein no vain or sinful talk but only the saying, Peace! Peace!” (56:25-26).

Quite in accordance with this description of Paradise, one of the names by which Paradise is mentioned in the Holy Qur’an is abode of peace (dar al-salam).

The ultimate object of the life of man is described as liqa’ Allah which means the meeting with God. In one of the earliest chapters we are told: “O man! Thou must strive a hard striving (to attain) to thy Lord until thou meet Him” (84:6). But this object cannot be fully attained in this life; it is only in the life after death, the higher life, that man is able to reach this stage. Hence it is that those who deny the life after death are said to be deniers of the meeting with God: “And they say: When we are lost in the earth, shall we then be in a new creation? Nay, they are disbelievers in the meeting with their Lord” (32:10). To be content with this life, and not to look forward to a higher goal and a higher life, is repeatedly condemned: “Those who expect not the meeting with Us, and are pleased with this world’s life and are satisfied with it, and those who are heedless of Our communications — these, their abode is the Fire” (10:7, 8); ‘We leave those alone who have no hope of meeting with us, in their inordinacy, blindly wandering on (10:11); “And those who disbelieve in the messages of Allah and the meeting with Him, they despair of My mercy, and for them is a painful chastisement” (29:23); “They know the outward of this world’s life, but of the Hereafter they are heedless. Do they not reflect within themselves? Allah did not create the heavens and the earth and what is between them but with truth and for an appointed term. And surely most of the people are deniers of the meeting with their Lord” (30:7, 8). Only those who are sure that they will meet their Lord work on patiently for this great object: “And seek assistance through patience and prayer, and this is hard except for the humble ones, who know that they will meet their Lord and that to Him they will return” (2:45, 46). The meeting with the Lord is the great goal to attain for which all good deeds are done: “So whoever hopes to meet his Lord, he should do good deeds, and join no one in the service of his Lord” (18:110). And what is Hell itself but being debarred from the Divine presence: “Nay, rather, what they earned is rust upon their hearts. Nay, surely they are that day debarred from their Lord. Then they will surely enter the burning Fire” (83:14-16). Paradise is therefore the place of meeting with God, and life in Paradise is above all corporeal conceptions.

That, however, is only the beginning of the higher life. The goal has been attained, but it only opens out wide fields for further advancement. If man has been granted such vast capabilities even in this physical life that his advancement knows no bounds, that advancement could not cease with the attainment of the higher life. In accordance with the idea of the Resurrection as the birth into a higher life, the Holy Qur’an speaks of an unending progress in that life, of the righteous ever rising to higher and higher stages. Rest and enjoyment are not the goal of human existence. Just as there is a desire implanted in the human soul to advance further and further in this life, even so there will be such a desire in Paradise: “O you who believe, turn to Allah with sincere repentance. It may be your Lord will remove from you your evil and cause you to enter Gardens wherein flow rivers, on the day on which Allah will not abase the Prophet and those who believe with him. Their light will gleam before them and on their right hands — they will say: Our Lord, make perfect for us our light and grant us protection; surely Thou art possessor of power over all things” (66:8). It is clear from the first part of this verse that all evil is removed from those who enter into Paradise, and as is clear from the concluding portion that the soul of the righteous shall still be animated by a desire for more and more light, which evidently indicates a desire to attain to higher and ever higher stages of spiritual life. And there shall be means of fulfilment of every desire in Paradise: “They have fruits therein and they have whatever they desire” (36:57). So the desire to attain to higher and higher stages cannot remain unfulfilled: “But those who keep their duty to their Lord, for them are high places, above them higher places (still), built for them” (39:20). The new life granted to the righteous in Paradise is thus the starting-point for a new advancement, in which man shall continue to rise to higher and higher places. Nor shall man ever grow weary in the attainment of these high stages of which even a conception cannot be now formed, for “therein toil touches us not nor does fatigue afflict us therein” (35:35); “Nor shall they be ejected from it” (15:48). The joys of Paradise are thus really the true joys of advancement.

Hell is described by seven different names in the Holy Qur’an, and these are supposed by some to be the seven divisions of Hell. The most frequently occurring is Jahannam, which is, as it were, a proper name for Hell. Its meaning signifies a great depth. Another name for Hell which bears a similar significance, but which occurs only once in the Holy Qur’an, is hawiya, meaning an abyss or a deep place of which the bottom cannot be reached (LA.). Four names of Hell are taken from the analogy of fire, viz., jahim, derived from jahum, signifying the burning or blazing of fire, but this word is applied to the fury of war as well as of fire, while tajahhama, another measure from the same root, means he burned with vehemence of desire or covetousness and niggardliness, also he became strained in disposition (LL.); sa‘ir from sa‘r which means the kindling of fire and is metaphorically applied to the raging of war (R.); saqar from saqara which means the heat of the sun scorched a man (R.); laza which means the flame of the fire, and in one form (talazza) is metaphorically used for “burning with anger” (LA). The seventh name hutamah, which occurs only twice in the same context, (104:4, 5), is derived from hatam which means the breaking of a thing, also breaking or rendering infirm or weak with age, while hutamah means a vehement fire, and hutmah sterility (LL.).

It will be seen from the above that the different names of Hell convey three different ideas, the idea of falling down to a great depth, the idea of burning and the idea of being broken down. Thus as the idea of rising higher and higher is connected with Paradise, that of falling down to abysmal depth is essentially connected with Hell; and as the ideas of contentment and happiness are associated with Paradise, the idea of burning is associated with Hell which is itself but the result of burning with passion in this life; and lastly, as the idea of a fruitful life is associated with Paradise, life in Hell is represented as an unfruitful life. All this is the result of man’s own deeds. Because he follows his low desires and baser passions, he makes himself fall into the depths; the burning caused by worldly desires and passions changes into a flaming fire after death; and since the only end in view is some sort of gain in this life, such deeds can bear no fruit after death. Just as the blessings of Paradise are a manifestation of the hidden realities of this life, so are the depths, the fire and unfruitfulness of the next, the Day of Resurrection being the day of the manifestation of the hidden realities when the veil shall be removed from the eyes of man so that he shall see clearly the consequences of the deeds of which he took no heed in this life. In other words the spiritual torments and mental pangs, that are generally felt almost imperceptibly in this life, assume a palpable shape in the life after death. The answer to the question, what is Hell? is unequivocally given as “Fire kindled by Allah which rises over the hearts” (104:6, 7). Now the fire which consumes the hearts is that caused by inordinate passions. Regret for the evil done is also spoken of as fire: “Thus will Allah show them their deeds to be intense regret to them, and they will not escape from the fire” (2:167). The low desires of this life (ahwa), that are so often a hindrance in man’s awakening to a higher life and nobler aims, become the abysmal depth (hawiyah or jahannam), to which the evil-doer makes himself fall. Even so, in the Holy Qur’an we are told: “So shun the filth of the idols and shun false words, being upright for Allah, not associating aught with Him; and whoever associates aught with Allah, it is as though he had fallen from on high” (22:30-31). And of the people whose exertions are all limited in this world’s life, it is said: “Those whose efforts go astray in this world’s life and they think that they are making good manufactures. Those are they who disbelieve in the messages of their Lord and meeting with Him, so their works are in vain. Nor shall We set up a balance for them on the Day of Resurrection. That is their reward — Hell” (18:104-106).

Though fire is so frequently mentioned as the consequence of evil, reasons for which will be given later on, yet there are a number of other aspects of the evil consequences of evil deeds. For example, it is said: “For those who do good is good (reward) and more (than this). Neither blackness nor ignominy will cover their faces. These are the owners of the Garden; therein they will abide. And those who earned evil, the punishment of an evil is the like thereof, and abasement will cover them — they will have none to protect them from Allah — as if their faces had been covered with slices of the dense darkness of night. These are the companions of the fire; therein they will abide” (10:26, 27). Blackness of the face is again mentioned as the chastisement of Hell: “On the Day when some faces turn white and some faces turn black. Then as to those whose faces are black: Did you disbelieve after your belief? So taste the chastisement because you disbelieved” (3:106). So, too in the earlier revelation: “And faces on that day will have dust on them, darkness covering them. Those are the disbelievers, the wicked” (80:40-42).

Disgrace is mentioned as the chastisement of evil-doers in many other places: “Then on the Resurrection Day, He will bring them to disgrace … Surely disgrace this day and evil are upon the disbelievers” (16:27); “… that We might make them taste the chastisement of abasement in this world’s life. And the chastisement of the Hereafter is truly more abasing, and they will not be helped” (41:16). Again, those in Hell are sometimes spoken of as asking for water and sustenance from those in Paradise: “And the companions of the fire call out to the owners of the Garden: Pour on us some water or some of that which Allah has provided for you” (7:50). The water they have is “boiling and intensely cold” (78:25). On other occasions, however, it is light that they cry for: “On the day when the hypocrites, men and women, will say to those who believe: Wait for us that we may borrow from your light. It will be said: Turn back and seek a light” (57:13).

Hell, therefore, only represents the evil consequences of evil deeds, but still it is not a place merely for undergoing the consequences of what has been done; it is also a remedial plan. In other words, its chastisement is not for the purpose of torture but for purification; so that man, rid of the evil consequences which he has brought about with his own hands, may be made fit for spiritual advancement. The Holy Qur’an has clearly laid down the same law even for those punishments which are inflicted on man here on earth: “And We did not send a prophet to a town, but We seized its people with distress and affliction that they might humble themselves” (7:94). It is clear from this that God brings down His punishment upon a sinning people in order that they may turn to Him, in other words, that they may be awakened to a higher life. The same must therefore be the object of punishment in Hell.

In fact, a little consideration would show that good is enjoined because it helps the progress of man, and evil is prohibited because it retards that progress. If a man does good, he himself gets the advantage of it; if he does evil, it is to his own detriment. It is a subject to which the Holy Qur’an returns over and over again: “He is indeed successful who causes it to grow, and he indeed fails who buries it” (91:9, 10). “Your striving is surely for diverse ends. Then as for him who gives (in charity) and keeps his duty, and accepts what is good — We facilitate for him (the way to) ease. And for him who is niggardly and considers himself self-sufficient, and rejects what is good, We facilitate for him (the way to) distress” (92:4-10). “If you do good, you do good for your own souls, and if you do evil, it is for them” (17:7). “Whoever does good, it is for his own soul; and whoever does evil, it is against it. And thy Lord is not in the least unjust to the servants” (41:46). “Whoever does good, it is for himself, and whoever does evil, it is against himself; then to your Lord you will be brought back” (45:15).

Purification being the great object, the man who has wasted his opportunity here must undergo the ordeal of Hell in order to obtain it. Various other considerations lead to the same conclusion. In the first place, such great prominence is given to the attribute of mercy in God that He is spoken of as having “ordained mercy on Himself ”; the Divine mercy is described as encompassing all things, so that even those who have acted extravagantly, against their own souls, should not despair of the mercy of God; and finally it is laid down that for mercy did He create all men. Such a merciful Being could not chastise man unless for some great purpose, which is to set him again on the road to the higher life, after purifying him from evil.

The ultimate object of the life of man is that he shall live in the service of God: “And I have not created the jinn and the men except that they should serve Me” (51:56). The man who lives in sin is debarred from the Divine presence, but, being purified by fire, is again made fit for Divine service. Hence Hell is called, in one place, the friend (maula) of the sinners, and their mother (umm) in another. Both descriptions are a clear indication that Hell is intended to raise up man by purifying him from the dross of evil, just as fire purifies gold of dross. It is to point to this truth that the Holy Qur’an uses the word fitnah (the assaying of gold, or casting it into the fire to purify it), both of the persecutions which the faithful undergo in this life and of the punishment which the evil-doers shall suffer in Hell. Thus the faithful are purified through their suffering, in the way of God, in this life; and the evil-doers shall be purified by hell-fire. Hell is called a “friend” of sinners, because through suffering it will prepare them for spiritual progress, and it is called their “mother”, because in its bosom they will be brought up, so that they may be able to tread the path of a new life.

Another consideration, which shows that this chastisement is of a remedial nature, is that, according to the teachings of the Holy Qur’an and the Sayings of the Holy Prophet, all those who are in Hell, shall ultimately, when they are fit for a new life, be released from it. This is a point on which great misunderstanding prevails even among Muslim theologians. They make a distinction between the Muslim sinners and the non-Muslim sinners, holding that all Muslim sinners shall be ultimately taken out of Hell, but not the non-Muslim sinners. Neither the Holy Qur’an nor the Hadith upholds this view. There are two words khulud and abad used in connection with the abiding in Hell or Paradise, and both these words, while, no doubt, indicating eternity, also bear significance of a long time. Not only do all authorities on Arabic lexicology agree on this, but the use of these words in the Holy Qur’an also makes it quite clear. The word khulud has been freely used regarding the chastisement in Hell of Muslim as well as of non-Muslim sinners. One example of its use for Muslim sinners is that after stating the law of inheritance, it is said: “These are Allah’s limits; and … whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger and goes beyond His limits, He will make him enter fire, to abide in it (khalidan), and for him is an abasing chastisement” (4:13, 14). Here clearly Muslim sinners are spoken of, and yet their abiding in Hell is expressed by the word khulud.

Take the other word abad. This word occurs thrice in the Holy Qur’an, in connection with the abiding of sinners in Hell. Ordinarily, it is taken as meaning for ever or eternally, but that it sometimes signifies only a long time, is abundantly clear from the fact that both its dual and plural forms are in use. Raghib says that this is owing to the fact that the word is, in that case, used to express a part of time. And explaining its verb form ta’abbada, he says it signifies the thing existed for abad, and is taken to mean what remains for a long time. Thus a long time, as the significance of abad, is fully recognized in Arabic lexicology. That in the case of those in Hell, it signifies a long time and not for ever, is clear from the fact that the abiding in Hell of even the unbelievers is elsewhere stated to be for ahqab, which is the plural of huqbah, meaning a year or many years (LA.)., or eighty years (R.). At all events it indicates a definite period of time, and hence serves as a clear indication that even abad, in the case of abiding in Hell, means a long time.

The two words khulud and abad, which are generally construed as leading to an eternity of Hell, being thus disposed of, the verses which are generally adduced in support of the idea that those in Hell shall for ever and ever suffer its endless tortures may be considered: “Thus will Allah show them their deeds to be intense regret to them, and they will not escape from the Fire” (2:167). “Those who disbelieve, even if they had all that is in the earth, and the like of it with it, to ransom themselves with it from the chastisement of the Day of Resurrection, it would not be accepted from them and theirs is a painful chastisement. They would desire to come forth from the fire, and they will not come forth from it, and theirs is a lasting chastisement” (5:36, 37). “Whenever they desire to go forth from it, from grief, they are turned back into it” (22:22). “And as for those who transgress, their refuge is the Fire. Whenever they desire to go forth from it they are brought back into it, and it is said to them, Taste the chastisement of the Fire, which you called a lie” (32:20).

These verses are self-explanatory. Those in Hell shall desire to escape from it but shall not be able to do so; even if they could offer the whole earth as a ransom, they would not be able to get out. The evil consequences of sin cannot be avoided, howsoever one may desire, and even so is the fire of Hell. None can escape from it. But not a word is there in any of these verses to show that God will not take them out of it, or that the tortures of Hell are endless. They only show that every sinner must suffer the consequences of what he has done, and that he cannot escape them; but that he may be set free when he has undergone the necessary chastisement, or that God may, of His boundless mercy, deliver the sinners when He pleases, is not denied here.

Even if abad is taken to mean eternity, the abiding in Hell, according to the Holy Qur’an, must cease at some time, because a limit is placed on it by the addition of the words except as Allah pleases (illa ma sha’a Allah) which clearly indicate the ultimate deliverance of those in Hell. The following two verses may be noted in this connection: “He will say, The fire is your abode — you shall abide therein, except as Allah pleases. Surely thy Lord is Wise, Knowing” (6:128). “Then as for those who are unhappy, they will be in the fire; for them will be sighing and groaning — abiding therein so long as the heavens and the earth endure, except as thy Lord pleases. Surely thy Lord is the mighty Doer of what He intends” (11:106, 107).

Both these verses show that the abiding in Hell must come to an end. To make this connection clearer still, the Holy Qur’an has used a similar expression for those in Paradise but with quite a different ending: “And as for those who are made happy, they will be in the Garden, abiding therein so long as the heavens and the earth endure, except as thy Lord pleases — a gift never to be cut off” (11:108). The two expressions are similar; those in Hell and those in Paradise abide, each in his place, as long as the heavens and the earth endure, with an exception added in each case — except as thy Lord pleases — showing that they may be taken out of that condition. But the concluding statements are different. In the case of Paradise, the idea that those in it may be taken out of it, if God pleases, is immediately followed by the statement that it is a gift that shall never be cut off, showing that they shall not be taken out of Paradise; while in the case of Hell, the idea that those in it will be taken out is confirmed by the concluding statement, that God does as He intends.

This conclusion is corroborated by Hadith. The Holy Prophet is reported to have said: “Then Allah will say, The angels have interceded and the prophets have interceded and the faithful have interceded and none remains but the most Merciful of all merciful ones. So He will take out a handful from the fire and bring out a people who have never done any good” (M. 1:72). Three kinds of intercession are spoken of in this hadith — of the faithful, of prophets and of the angels — and the intercession of each class is undoubtedly meant for people who have some sort of close relation with that class. The faithful will intercede for people who have come into contact with them personally; the prophets will intercede for their followers; the angels, who move men to do good, will intercede for people who are not followers of a prophet, but who have done some good. And the report adds that the most Merciful of all still remains, so He will bring out from the fire even people who have never done any good. It follows that, thereafter, none can remain in Hell, and in fact the handful of God cannot leave anything behind.

Other hadith state even more explicitly that all men shall be taken out of Hell. “Surely a day will come over Hell when it will be like a field of corn that has dried up after flourishing for a while” (KU.). “Surely a day will come over Hell when there shall not be a single human being in it” (FBn. IV, p. 372). And a saying of ‘Umar, the second Caliph, is recorded as follows: “Even if the dwellers in Hell may be numberless as the sands of the desert, a day will come when they will be taken out of it” (FBn. IV, p. 372). A similar saying is recorded from Ibn Mas‘ud: “Surely a time will come over Hell when its gates shall be blown by wind, there shall be none in it, and this shall be after they have remained therein for many years.” Similar sayings are reported from many other Companions such as Ibn ‘Umar, Jabir, Abu Sa‘id, Abu Hurairah, etc., and also from the learned men of the next generation (Tabi‘in) (FBn.). And later Imams, such as Ibn ‘Arabi, Ibn Taimiyah, Ibn Qayyim, and many others, have held similar views (ibid.). Thus there can be but little doubt left that Hell is a temporary place for the sinner, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, and this also supports the view that the chastisement of Hell is not for torture but as a remedy, to heal the spiritual diseases which a man has incurred by his own negligence, and to enable him to start again on the road to the higher life. The truth of this has already been established from the Holy Qur’an, but a hadith also may be quoted here which expressly speaks of inmates of the fire as being set on the road to the higher life: “Then will Allah say, Bring out (of the fire) every one in whose heart there is faith or goodness to the extent of a mustard seed, so they will be taken out having become quite black; then they will be thrown into the river of life and they will grow as grows a seed by the side of the river” (Bu. 2:15). This report is conclusive as to the remedial nature of Hell and establishes beyond a doubt that all men will ultimately be set on the way to the higher life.