According To Islamic Thought What Happens To The Soul At The Moment Of Death?

AL BARZAKH – The Barrier
(Bismillah ir Rahman ir Rahim)
Upon death the organic body ceases to exist and will eventually decompose. The soul however, remains intact and does not die with its physical counterpart. The Angel of Death and the angels under his authority who are entrusted with extraction of the soul at the time of death, do so at the precisely appointed time. This is the decree of Allah, as stated in the Qur’an:
“And no person can ever die except by Allah’s Leave and at an appointed time” (Al-Imran:145)
Once removed, the soul no longer participates in the life or affairs of this world but enters into the next stage of existence. This stage is called AL BARZAKH in Arabic.
Al Barzakh literally means The Barrier or The Partition and has been mentioned in the Qur’an:
“Until when death comes to one of them (those who join partners with Allah), he says: My Lord! Send me back. So that Imay do good in that which I left behind! No! It is but a word that he speaks, and behind them is a Barzakh (a barrier) until the day when they are raised up” (Al-Muminun:99-100)
The soul now exists in its third abode. The first being the mother womb, the second being the short life of this world. According to Islam, human beings (and Jinn) will be ressurected on the Day of Judgement. In between death and the Day of Judgement, the soul remains in Al Barzakh.
In this domain there is no time frame, this is similar to the state of sleep during which the perception of time is lost. Time itself is an enigma and cannot truly be understood. Allah is the Creator of it and He controls it.
Whilst in the realms of the Barzakh, the soul has no communication with the world of the living. Islam is explicitly clear about this, the souls of the deceased do not and cannot hear the living people. Allah states in the Qur’an:
“Verily, you cannot make the dead hear” (An-Naml:80)
“The living and the dead are not alike. Allah makes whoever He wishes hear, but you cannot make those in their graves hear” (Fatir;22)
There is no concept of asking the deceased about anything or anyone. The erroneous belief that the departed souls can hear or communicate with the living has led to the occult practise of trying to summon the dead through seances and mediums. This type of activity is a branch of magic and is a major sin in Islam. The dead cannot affect or avail the living, and have no bearing on the affairs of this world.
Christianity too condemns magic and magicians. In the old Testament it clearly states: “A man or a woman who is a medium or a wizard shall be put to death; they shall be stoned with stones; their blood shall be put upon them” (Leviticus 20:27). However, typical of its contradictory nature, elsewhere the Bible details the summoning of the Prophet Samuel’s deceased soul: “Saul disguised himself and pleaded to the woman, ‘I have got to talk to a dead man. will you bring his spirit up?’ The woman replied, ‘Are you trying to get me killed? King Saul has had all mediums and fortune tellers executed’ Finally the woman agreed, ‘Who shall I summon?’ Saul replied, ‘I want the Prophet Samuel’. When Samuel was summoned he asked ‘Why have you disturbed me by bringing me back?’ Saul replied, ‘Because I am in deep trouble. The Phillistines are at war with us, and God has left me and will not reply by prophets or dreams, so I have called upon you to ask you what to do” (1 Samuel:8-15)
In Islam, praying to the dead or invoking the departed souls is a manifestation of idolatry. since to seek assistance from another agent beside Allah is an implication that there are forces that can affect life and events alongside Allah. As in the above Biblical verse, King Saul had earned the wrath of God and had been forsaken so he had turned to another agent for help, in this case the departed soul of Prophet Samuel.
The Biblical verse indicates that summoning the dead is an acheivable activity through which one can derive some benefit or knowledge.
Islamically, this is not the case. Souls cannot be summoned and no benefit can be derived. For those who do engage in activities like seances and the ouija board and experienced paranormal incidents, the Prophet Muhammad (saas) gave very detailed explanation as to how the jinn fool human beings into thinking that a deceased soul has been summoned.
Islam is clear and uncompromising with its stance with seeking divine help through other than Allah. Allah does not share His Authority with anything or anyone. Governing the affairs of creation solely belongs to Him. Further to this if any of Allah’s attributes are ascribed to other than Him, then this is idolatry, known in Arabic as SHIRK. Allah states in the Qur’an:
“Say (O Muhammad) to those who worship others beside Allah, ‘Call upon those you claim are worthy of worship besides Allah. They do not have any power to remove harm from you at all, not even to move it away to someone else” (Al-Isra:56)
Christianity is considered to be a monotheistic religion, yet orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics regularly pray and invoke saints for the fulfillment of their needs. Most other Christians pray to Jesus Christ instaed of God. From an Islamic veiwpoint this is polytheism and not monotheism. Allah states in the Qur’an:
“And most of them do not believe in Allah except while joining partners to Him” (Yusuf:106)
Every form of idolatry and polytheism major or minor is rejected and cursed:
“And indeed it has been revealed to you and to those before you, if you practise shirk, surely all your deeds will be in vain” (Az-Zumar:65)
The human being is easily misguided into worshipping other than Allah. Since man is always in need of something or the other, asking divine help very readily becaomes directed to other than Allah. This commonly manifests itself in the form of invoking the dead by visiting ancestaral graves or the graves of holy, pious people.
Cosequently, Islam has laid down very explicit regarding burial rites and the grave. The Prophet Muhammad (saas) forbade that any type of tomb or gravestone be placed round the grave that would make it a permenant structure. He disallowed praying toward a grave or reciting Qur’an at it and did not permit the regular tending of graves with elaborate flower decor or white washing it. The grave, within the course of time, should not exceed a palms width in height with the surrounding earth.
The area designated for burials should be known to the people as a graveyard and the site where friends and family are laid can also be known, but no individual grave should stand out with a monument over it. These and other prohibitions are designed to curtail the activities usually associated with visiting graves; talking to the dead as if they can hear, asking the dead for help and offering sacrifices to them.
The Prophet Muhammad (saas) did however, encourage visiting the graves from time to time to serve as a poignant reminder that, it is eventually, the destination of all human beings.
The soul and the body in the realms of Barzakh are given a taste of what it has to look forward to in the next life. Its future depends on what it has engaged in during the short life on earth. Every Prophet that Allah has sent to mankind, simply instructed the people to worship Allah in the correct manner so that one could attain a better life in the next life. If a person follows this simple instruction then what has been promised will be acheived. The soul along with its body receives pleasure. Those who denied the true purpose of life and disobeyed Allah have earned their due as well – torment and punishment in the grave.
This is not to say that the organic body does not decompose. The Prophet Muhammad (saas) explained “All of Adams children will be eaten by the soil except for (that portion of his body which is called) ajb adh-dhanab for man was created from it and will be reassembledfrom it” (Sahih al Muslim)
As to how the soul along with its body actually experiences the pleasure or punishment in the grave is not known and this is knowledge from the matters of the Unseen. This knowledge cannot be subjected to reasoning, derived from worldly experiences. Allah alone knows it and He has chosen only to make it clear that there does exist a state of pleasure or punishment in the grave. Speculatively however, the most appropriate example is that of dreaming during sleep. In fact, the Prophet Muhammad (saas) said “Sleep is the brother of death”. A person during a nightmare may experience terrifying visions which are percieved to be real or may feel happy and relaxed during a good dream. But the punishment in the Barzakh, unlike dreaming, is not an imaginary experience. It is a physical reality and its occurance has been explicitly detiled in Islam.
The Prophet Muhammad (saas) said “Verily, the dead are punished in their graves and even the animals hear their screaming” (Sahih al Jami #1965)
THE SOUL AND DEATH PROCESS
(Bismillah ir Rahman ir Rahim)
Islamically, every living human individual, whether good or evil, possesses a soul which exists within and occupies the organic body. When the soul is permenantly removed from the body, the body dies.
In Arabic, two words have been used to describe the soul. They are “rooh” and “nafs”. These two terms essentially refer to one and the same thing. They are interchangeable. However, the term nafs is used to describe the soul when it is connected to and occupying the body. The word rooh is used to describe the soul when it is apart or disconnected from the body.
Islamically, the soul is considered to be a created entity – it is not part of or extracted from Allah and it is not connected to Allah in any physical or non-physical manner. Neither does it yearn to connect, assimilate or unite with Allah.
The Islamic concept of the soul is in sharp contrast to the Christian perspective. In Genesis (1:26-27), the first book of the Old Testament, the following is stated about the creation of man: “Then God said ‘Let Us make a man, in our own image, in our likeness’. So God created man in his own image, like God did God make man”
Further to this in Christian theology, the doctrine of the trinity represents the union of the three (so called) divine figures – The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit into one Godhead. In this idea, God is the father, the son and the holy spirit. This is elaborated upon in the following biblical verses:
“Before anything else existed, there was always Christ, with God. he has always been alive and is himself God. He created everything there is, nothing exists that he didn’t make…..And Christ became a human being and lived here on earth among us” (John 1:1-4 & 14) Jesus said “I have come down from heaven…. I and the Father are one ….. anyone who has seen me has seen the father……. I came from the father” John 6:38, 10:30, 14:9, 16:28.
According to Christian theology, mans soul originates from God: “The Lord, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth and formed the spirit of man within himself” (Zechariah 12:1)
Probably every culture and society considers the soul to be the higher component of the overall make up of the human being. If the soul is regarded to be derived from and to be similar to God then it becomes perfectly acceptable to consider the lower, base physical to also be derived from and be similar to God. This view paves the way for the various belief systems which assert that God can manifest as a human being. In the terms of Christianity this takes the form of God manifesting as Jesus Christ or as God begetting a son.
The concept of God in Christianity is itself obscure since at times, God is considered to be an incorporeal spirit “The Lord is the Spirit who gives them life” (2 Corinthians 3:17) and “Do we have the Holy Spirit’s help? For God is Spirit” (John 4:24). Yet at other times He is portrayed with very human like behaviour, “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the Garden in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8)
The concept of the soul in Christianity is a derivative of the above mentioned ideas. Clearly Christian theology promotes the belief that the soul is divine in origin in that God created it within Himself, God made man in His own image and God Himself can become a human being. God, the soul and human beings are intimately connected and inseperable, both physically and spiritually.
Many Christians regard the greatest verse in the Bible to be John 3:16 which reads as follows: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”
The verse clearly points out that the Christians consider that God fathered a son, and the son is divine in origin. With regards to the belief in this statement Allah describes His response to it in terms of the reaction of the heavens, the earth and the mountains. From the Qur’an:
“Indeed you (Christians and idolators) have made an evil claim, almost causing the heavens to tear, the earth to crack and the mountains to fall in ruins. To claim that the Most Beneficent (Allah) had a son when it is not befitting that the Most Beneficent should have a son” (Maryam 89-92).
Islam is totally and absolutly different from Christianity with regards to the concept of God and the concept of the human soul. Allah is nothing like His creation. He is completely distinct and seperate from it and to even liken Allah to man or vice versa is tantamount to blasphemy and is an aspect of idolatry.
The 112th chapter of the Qur’an, which consists of only four short verses totally clarifies the distinction between Allah and His creation:
“Say (O Muhammad): He is Allah (the) One, Allah As-Samad (The Self-Sufficient Master Whom all creatures need), He begets not, nor was He begotten, and there is none co-equal or comparable to Him” (Al-Ikhlas 1-4)
The magnanimity of the details contained within this concise chapter of the Qur’an, prompted the Prophet Muhammad (saas) to say regarding these four verses: “By Him (Allah) in whose hand is my soul, it is equal to one third of the Qur’an” (Al Bukhari and Muslim).
Many orientalists and adherents to the sufi tradition use particular verses in the Qur’an to support the idea that God’s spirit is present in human beings. They have, however, grossly misinterpreted these verse and falsely derived conclusions which are completely incompatible with the ethos and authentic teachings of Islam.
Borrowing ideas from the Sufic traditions, both the orientalists and the Sufis concentrate on the verses pertaining to the “spirit” of Allah, known in Arabic as Rooh-Allah. The “spirit” of Allah or Rooh-Allah is mentioned in some verses of the Qur’an as follows:
“Then He (Allah) fashioned him (Adam) and blew into him from His spirit” (As-Sajdah :9)
The possessive pronoun ‘His’ in the context of the verse and in the wider context of authentic Islamic teaching, explicitly refers to possession and ownership, and not to a personal attribute. The above verse when explained, is simply that Allah blew into Adam, Adam’s soul, which was created and owned by Allah. So Allah refers to this soul or spirit as His.
In the Biblical verses God created man with a soul which was derived from within God Himself. Islamically, this idea is unacceptable, and the true origin of the soul is clarified and established. With reference to the first human being, Adam, Allah states in the Qur’an the creation of man and the placement of the soul within the body. Allah states:
“And (remember) when your Lord said to the angels ‘I am going to create a man (Adam) from sounding clay of black smooth mud. So when I have fashioned him completely and breathed into him the soul which I have created for him, then fall (you) down prostrating yourselves unto him” (Al-Hijr: 28-29)
The Prophet Muhammad (saas) explained: “Verily your creation is combined in your mother’s womb for forty days in the form of an oily fluid, then as aleech like clot for a similar period and then as a clump of flesh for another similar period. Then an angel is sent to blow the spirit into him” (Sahih al Muslim)
The soul is an aspect of man’s being and naturally, curiosity and wonder leads to the pysche thirsting for knowledge regarding it. Thus Islam has addressed the issue of the soul but to a limited degree, providing enough information deemed necessary and required for a man to understand himself.
The wealth of knowledge that Allah has allowed mankind to amass regarding the organic body and its ailments is astonishing. However, the life source of the human body, the soul; no new knowledge except that which was originally revealed has been discovered. It remains a mystery, and knowledge regarding it is with Allah alone and always will be.
Allah explains this in the Qur’an:
“They ask you (O Muhammad) concerning the Rooh (the spirit): Say: The Rooh; its knowledge is with my Lord. And of knowledge, you (mankind) have been given only a little” (Al-Isra:85)
Without the soul the body is simply a lifeless shell whose constituents return back to the soil from where it originally came.
“Thereof (the earth) We created you, and into it We shall return you, and from it We shall bring you out once again” (Ta-Ha:55)
According to Islam, the soul of the individual exits the body on two occassions; during sleep, after which the soul is returned to the body upon awakening. This is painless. The second occasion is at the time of death upon which the soul is not returned. The angels entrusted with with performing the task of extracting the soul, remove the soul from its organic body. This is explained in the Qur’an:
“It is Allah Whotakes away the souls at the time of their death, and those that die not during there sleep. He keeps those (souls) for which He has ordained death and sends the rest for a term appointed. Verily in this are signs for people who think deeply” (Az-Zumar:42)
A common physical characteristic of death is the upward roll of the eyeballs allowing only the white sclera of the eyes to be seen. The Prophet (saas) explained this phenomenon: “When the soul is taken out, the eyesight follows it” (Sahih al Muslim).
The same physical state of the eyes also occurs in sleep.
Sleep is often reffered to as the lesser death, and during sleep awareness and perception of time are lost. Death can occur at any moment and those individuals who die in their sleep are those whose souls have not been returned to their bodies.
The death process is a painful experience. The Prophet Muhammad (saas) stated this, even though, in some instances, it may seem as thogh a person has passed away effortlessly with no visible signs of pain, distress or anguish. Everyone wishes for an easy end, to gently “slip away”, but in reality this is not the case. Allah states:
“And the stupor of death will come in truth. This is what you have been avoiding” (Qaf:19)
Just as one’s whole life is a test, so is the death experience. Allah wishes to test His servant even as he draws his last breath. Perhaps, throughout the entire life of a person, this is the most difficult test of all. The agonies of death may result in the renunciation of faith, but if the love of Allah and surety of belief is firmthen even during the most arduous and trumatic experience the believer remains loyal to Allah and so completes his short test on earth – living and dying in a state plesing to the Creator. Allah states in the Qur’an:
“Those whose lives the angels take while they are in a pious state (i.e. pure from all evil, and worshipping none but Allah alone) saying (to them): Salamun aleikum enter you Paradise because of the good which you used to do (in the world)” (An-Nahl:32)
The Prophets of Allah were no exception to the pain endured in death. They like all other human beings had to endure the hardship and agony that accompanies death. While in the process of dying, the Prophet Muhammad (saas) prayed to Allah to help him overcome the agony.
Whether a person is obedient or disobedient, Allah has ordained death for us all. In the case of a pious believer the agony endured while dying serves to further expiate sins. For the disbelievers however, the pain of death is a stark end to the liberal and frivolous choices exercised in life, and the invitation of Allah’s promised punishment. Allah explains in the Qur’an:
“Those whose lives the angels take while they are doing wrong to themselves (by disbelief, disobedience to Allah and worshipping others besides Allah). Then they will make (false) submission saying: ‘We did not used to do any evil’ (The angels will reply): ‘Yes! Truly, Allah is All Knower of what you used to do’. ‘So, enter the gates of Hell, to abide therein, and what an evil abode will be for the arrogant” (An-Nahl:28-29)

Two angels remove the person’s soul and ask him/her about the religion they follow and if he/she answers them right (they can only do that if they were good Muslims) they give him/her glad tidings of heaven, and the soul rests in peace until Judgement day. And if he/she cannot, then hell is prescribed to him/her and the soul is punished in the grave till Judgement day.
On the Day of Judgement, people will be resurrected and every little thing they did will be judged and they will be sent to Heaven or Hell accordingly. Some were originally sent to Hell might be forgiven, or might serve a small punishment in Hell and then sent to Heaven.

well…the soul is asked by two angels questions about their religion, and if he/she answers them all right, they will rest in peace, and when he/she does the opposite, they will be tortured in their graves till Yaumul Qiyaamah.

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