The Soul's Journey after Death -IAllah, the Most Exalted, Says in the Quran (what means):


"Then why, when it [i.e. the soul at death] reaches the throat. And you are at that time looking on. And We [i.e. Our angels] are nearer to him than you, but you do not see." [Quran 56-85]


When someone dies, the Angel of Death comes to take his soul, no matter where he is. The dying person sees him, hears him, and speaks to him, but not with his eyes, his ears, or his tongue. How then? I do not know exactly. All I do know is that when he begins to move to another world, he sees, hears, and speaks, by some means which, we, the living, do not perceive. Many instances of this have been recorded:


"Ibn Abi Ad-Dunya mentions that on the day 'Umar Ibn 'Abdul 'Azeez died, he said to those with him, 'Sit with me.' When they sat down next to him, he said, 'I am the one you commanded and I failed you. You forbade me and I rebelled.' He said this three times. Then he said, 'But there is no god but Allah.' Then he lifted his head and stared. They said, 'You are looking very intently, O prince of the faithful.' He replied, 'I see a presence which is neither man nor jinn.' Then he died."


Fadhalah Ibn Dinaar said, "I was with Muhammad Ibn Waasi' when he was very near to death. He began to say, 'Welcome, my Lord's angels! There is neither strength nor power except by Allah!' I smelled the sweetest fragrance that I had ever smelled. Then his eyes glazed over and he died."


Why do I need to look so far into the past, to the days of the first Muslims? I myself was present at the moment of someone's death in our own time. I was with my grandmother when she was dying. It was at the time of the Dawn Prayer.


She was in pain and gasping for breath, moaning from the intensity of the pain but in spite of that, she kept repeating with great joy, 'Allah! Death is sweet!' and saying the Shahaadah (testimony) over and over for several minutes. Then it was all over. This is where our job, those of us who are still alive, begins.


After the soul is taken, if it is a pure soul and has relatives in the Next World who are people of the Garden, they come to meet the soul with yearning and great joy. They ask it about the condition of those who are still alive in this world.


The angels then bear the soul from one heaven to the next until it comes into the presence of Allah, glory be to Him and may He be exalted! Then it returns and sees the washing of the body, its shrouding, and the funeral procession. It says either, "Take me forward! Take me forward!" or 'Where are you taking me?' The people there cannot hear this.


When the corpse has been placed in the grave, the soul inserts itself between the body and the shroud so that the questioning can take place. Then the soul hears the receding footfall of the last of the people who followed the funeral and the earth is leveled over him. The earth, however, does not prevent the angels from reaching him. Even if a stone had been hollowed out for him and he had been placed into it and the opening sealed over with lead, it still would not stop the angels from reaching him. These dense substances cannot prevent the passage of souls. They do not even stop the Jinn. Allah Almighty made stone and earth the same for the angels as air is for birds.


The grave expands and stretches for the soul, and as a result for the body as well. The body is in a grave of the narrowest dimensions and yet it expands, because of the soul, as far as the eye can see.


Prophet Muhammad, sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, said,


'When the believer is about to depart from this world and go forward into the Next World, angels with faces as bright as the sun descend from the heavens and sit around him in throngs stretching as far as the eye can see. Then the Angel of Death comes and sits at his head and says, "Good soul, come out to forgiveness and pleasure from Allah!" Then his soul emerges like a drop of water flows from a water-skin and the angel takes hold of it. When he has grasped it, the other angels do not leave it in his hand even for the twinkling of an eye. They take it and place it in a perfumed shroud and a fragrance issues from it like the sweetest scent of musk found on the face on the earth.


Then they bear it upwards and whenever they take it past a company of angels, they ask, 'Who is this good soul?' and the angels with the soul reply, "So-and-so, the son of so-and-so', using the best names by which people used to call him in this world. They bring him to the lowest heaven and ask for the gate to be opened for him. It is opened for him and angels who are near Allah from each of the heavens accompany him to the subsequent heaven until he reaches to the heaven where Allah, Most Exalted, is. Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, Says, 'Register the book of My slave in Illiyyun (in the seventh heaven) and take him back to earth. I created them from it and I return them to it and I will bring them forth from it again.'"


'His soul is then returned to his body and two angels come to him. They make him sit up and say to him, 'Who is your Lord?' He replies, 'My Lord is Allah.' They ask him, 'What is your religion?' He replies, 'My religion is Islam.' They ask him, 'Who is this man who was sent among you?' He replies, 'The Messenger of Allah.' They ask him, 'How did you come to know these things?' He replies, 'I read the Book of Allah, believed it, and declared it to be true.' Then a Voice from on high declares, 'My slave has spoken the truth, so spread out carpets from the Garden for him and open a gate of the Garden for him!' Then some of its fragrance and perfume comes to him, his grave is expanded for him as far as the eye can see, and a man with beautiful garments and a fragrant scent comes to him and says, 'Rejoice in what delights you for this is the day which you were promised.' He asks, 'Who are you? Yours is a face which presages good.' He replies, 'I am your good actions.' Then he says, 'O Lord, let the Last Hour come soon so that I may rejoin my family and my property!'


When an unbeliever is about to depart from this world and go forward into the Next World, angels with black faces descend from the heavens carrying rough hair-cloth and sit around him in throngs stretching as far as the eye can see. Then the Angel of Death comes and sits at his head and says, 'Foul soul, come out to the wrath and anger of Allah.' Then his soul divides up in his body and it is dragged out like a skewer is pulled out of wet wool. Then the angel takes hold of it. When he has grasped it, the other angels do not leave it in his hand even for the twinkling of an eye. They take it and wrap it in the rough hair-cloth and a stench comes out of it like the worst stench of a corpse on the face of the earth.


Then they take it up and whenever they take it past a company of angels, they ask, 'Who is this foul soul?' and the angels with the soul reply, 'So-and-so, the son of so-and-so," using the worst names by which people used to call him in this world. They bring him to the lowest heaven and ask for the gate to be opened for him. It does not get opened.'


The Messenger of Allah, sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, then recited the verse (which means): "… the gates of Heaven will not be opened for them, nor will they enter Paradise until a camel enters into the eye of a needle [i.e. never].'” [Quran 7: 40]


Then Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, will Say "Register his book in Sijjin (in the lowest earth)." Then his soul is flung down.


The Prophet then recited the verse (which means):


"And he who associates with Allah — it is as though he had fallen from the sky and was snatched by the birds or the wind carried him down into a remote place." [Quran 22: 3]


Then his soul is returned to his body and two angels come and say to him, 'Who is your Lord?' He replies, 'Alas, alas, I do not know!' Then a voice calls from on high, 'My slave has lied, so spread out carpets from the Fire for him and open a gate of the Fire for him!' Then a hot blast from it comes to him, his grave is made so narrow for him that his ribs are pressed together, and a man with a hideous face and clothing and a foul odour comes to him and says, 'Grieve on account of what has brought you disgrace for this is the day which you were promised:' He asks, 'Who are you? Yours is a face which presages evil.' He replies, 'I am your bad actions.' Then he says, 'O Lord, do not let the Last Hour come!'" [Muslim]


Regarding the words used by the two angels who question the dead person in the grave, Allah, the Exalted, Says in the Quran (what means):


"Allah keeps firm those who believe, with the firm word, in worldly life and in the Hereafter. And Allah sends astray the wrongdoers. And Allah does what He wills." [Quran 14:27]


The Meaning and Truth of Death


Almighty Allah Says in the Quran (what means): "Every soul will taste death." [Quran 3: 185]


What is death? Is it total annihilation? Or is it simply the severing of the soul from the body? When the soul is separated from the body, what happens to each of them? What happens to man himself, the owner of this transient body and eternal soul? Does his consciousness come to an end when his body dies? Or does his awareness continue to live on in his eternal soul? Do the dead feel enjoyment and pain the way the living do? Can the awareness of a living man whose soul is locked in his body compare with the awareness of a dead man whose soul has been released from his body'?


Naturally, the answer to this last question is, No! The living are aware and the dead are aware. But there is a difference and there is no way to compare them. Death is not pure annihilation. It is merely movement from one world to another. When the dead man feels the bliss or punishment of the grave, it does not mean that he is alive in his grave, needing food, clothes and so on. Nor does it mean that his soul permeates all the parts of his body as it did when he was in this world. The soul returns to the body again in a way which is not the same as in this world so that the dead man can be questioned and tested in the grave.


We can get some idea of this by likening death to sleep which is the 'lesser death', even though there is, of course, a natural disparity between the two. In sleep, a man's soul comes out though his nostrils and travels until it comes into the presence of the Lord of the Throne. If the sleeper is in a state of purity, his soul prostrates before its Creator. Then it may encounter the world of dreams or meet with the souls of people who have died, but what it is in fact faced with is a page of Allah's knowledge of the Unseen containing the good or evil He has decreed for this particular human being.


If the sleeper is truthful, generous, and pure, and someone who does not concern himself with stupid things during the time he is awake, then when his soul returns to him it conveys to his heart the truth of what Allah, the Great and Majestic, has let him see. When this happens, it is called a 'truthful dream'. In sleep, the soul can also move freely about the world and meet with the souls of people who are still alive and gain knowledge from them. Some of what it learns is true and some false.The false part is the normal dream or the chatter of the soul.


If the sleeper is a liar and likes what is false, his soul still rises to heaven during sleep, moves freely about the world, meets with other souls and learns true information about the Unseen. However, while the soul is returning to the body, it meets the Shaytaan (Satan) in mid-air and he mixes the true with the false like he does when a person is awake. Then when he wakes up, the person is confused and muddled about what Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, has let him see and consequently does not understand it, only remembering what the Shaytaan showed him. Those are confused dreams.


Allah Almighty Says (what means):


"Allah takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that do not die [He takes] during their sleep. Then He keeps those for which He has decreed death and releases the others for a specified term..." [Quran 39: 42]


In the sleeping state, the soul does not completely leave the body as it does in the case of death, but remains inside the body not leaving it to move freely through the heavens. We can liken it to a ray or a thread whose end remains connected to the body. The ray of this soul stretches out to the heavens and then returns again to the body when the sleeper wakes up. It is like the rays of the sun. The orb of the sun is in the heaven but its rays are on the earth. The two cases are not exactly the same, but it is a way of making the meaning clearer.


In the case of death, the body remains in the ground while the soul is in the interspace between the two worlds. An 'interspace' is something which separates two things: heaven and earth, or this world and the Next World. In other words, it is the period between death and resurrection. The bliss or punishment of the Interspace is not the same as the bliss and punishment of the Next World. It is something that happens between this world and the Next World. Despite the fact that the soul is in the interspace between the two worlds and the body is inside the earth, the two are still connected. Consequently, the bliss or punishment happens to both of them.


We have likened this condition to the sleeping state, but naturally there is a distinction. In sleep, the soul subsists fundamentally in the body. It emerges as something like a ray to the heavens so that the sleeper has a dream in which he feels either happy or miserable. He experiences either bliss or punishment in his sleep.


In death, the soul subsists fundamentally in the Interspace, not in the body. When Allah, the Great, desires bliss or punishment for the soul, He connects it to the body. It is in Heaven, but at the same time it looks at and is connected to the body in the ground. The soul is diffused in more than one place at the same time. The proof of this is that the Prophet Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allah exalt his mention ) saw Prophet Moosa (Moses), may Allah exalt his mention, on the night of the Night Journey standing in prayer in his grave and he also saw him in the sixth and seventh heavens.


In spite of that, bliss or punishment happen at times to both body and soul simultaneously. At other times, it happens only to the soul. The dead person can lose awareness for a time but then the bliss or punishment continues. That is dependent on the will of Allah and dependent on a man's own actions.


One of the people of earlier times thought that if his body were burned to ashes and then some of the ashes were cast into the sea and some onto dry land on a very windy day, he would be saved from the punishment of the grave. He, therefore, told his children to do that. However, Allah commanded the sea to collect together the ashes that had been thrown into it and the land to do likewise and then said, 'Get up!' and the man found himself standing before Allah. Allah questioned him, asking 'What made you do what you did?' He replied, 'I feared You, my Lord, but You are the one who knows best.' Because of that Allah forgave him.


Doing that could not eliminate the punishment and the bliss of the grave which affect those parts which no longer exist. If a righteous man were to be buried in a fiery furnace, his portion of bliss would still reach his soul and body and Allah would make the fire cool and peaceful for him. For the wrongdoer, the cool air becomes fire and hot wind. The elements and the matter of the universe obey their Lord, Originator and Creator. He makes them behave in whatever way He wills. None of them are able to do anything except what He wills. Everything obeys His will in humble submission to His decree.