The Nature of Afterlife (Ma’ad)
The Essence of Death
Death and the nature of life after that, have always been mysterious for human beings. Everybody is willing to either find it out himself or to have faith in what has been said and discovered about it. Muslims seek the answer in Quran, the holy book they believe in. In Quranic thoughts, death is nothing but the transfer of human soul from the natural universe to the spiritual world, going back to the one who created it all, i.e. God; “Indeed we belong to Allah, and to Him do we indeed return” (2:156).
According to the Holy Quran, death is no inexistence or destruction, But a threshold to the next stage of life and existence. However, it is noteworthy that what forms the exact nature of
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Then you will be brought back to your Lord” (32:11).
life, death, afterlife, hereafter, resurrection
Life after Death
Now one might wonder what happens to us after death; are we going to begin our lives in the hereafter right away, or we will experience a different temporary stage of life that lasts up until the Day of Judgment?
Muslims get the information about this issue, through revelations received by the last Prophet, Muhammad (PBUH), in verses of Quran. Based on what has been revealed to our prophet, afterlife does not begin right after we die. Human beings will enter an intermediate world called “Barzakh” in which they would feel, see and hear everything in a different way; there would be things they enjoy and ones they suffer from, based on their deeds in this earthly life. In short, man will go through two different stages of life after death; one temporary that is to come right after death, and one that lasts forever and will never end.
The Intermediate World (Barzakh)
“…And ahead of them is a barrier until the day they will be resurrected”
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Return to your Lord, pleased, pleasing! Then enter among My servants! And enter My paradise” (89:27-30).
“... and whoever disobeys Allah and His apostle, indeed there will be for him the fire of hell, to remain in it forever” (72:23).
The nature of Heaven and Hell has been analogously described in Quran many times. However, there are verses that say:
“No one knows what has been kept hidden for them of comfort as a reward for what they used to do” (32:17).
Accordingly, What Heaven and Hell are really like is far beyond our comprehension and so cannot be explained for us unless they are allegorical.
The Relation between Earthly Life and Afterlife
In fact, the earthly affairs of mankind here are not separable from those of hereafter; that is the other worldly destiny of a man is determined by himself in this world. Many verses of Quran indicate that the same good or bad deeds man commits in this life, will return to him, as their own reward or punishment, on the day of requital. People will live with the embodiment of their good or evil deeds, which are going to be their eternal