From ancient civilizations till the modern age, the believe that he dead are not completely gone has resist and transcended time and space. Thus the ancient Egyptians, one of the earliest civilizations, believed that there is something in human beings that will survive death. In many earlier cultures the dead were considered still capable of interacting with the living somehow. The world’s major monotheistic religions are not an exception. Christianity teaches that those who accept Christ will be rewarded with eternal bliss after death. And according to Islam, the soul of the death will undergo a process after its departure from this world until it is raised on the judgment day. Some people believe that dead is simply the end. But what really happens when we die?
It will be quite difficult to answer this question without taking into account the soul. The soul is a concept that is associated with human beings in many religions and culture. The soul is the part of a human being that cannot be seen, but that makes the essence of life. There is basically a confusion between the soul and the spirit. But the soul is quite easy to apprehend as it is that which God breadth into man after creating him. The spirit is sometimes associated with the force that animates living things. Ancient civilizations were already aware of the complexity of human beings. Most Native Americans believe that a living thing has two souls. One of them is considered to be “free”, unattached, and can leave the body of a living being at any time (in sleep or during an illness). This soul passed into the afterlife when the deceased died. The other soul is attached to the ankle of the body. As a result, the latter suffered the same fate as the deceased. This soul pursued him throughout his journey. Some American Indians see death as a rebirth, and it is this second soul, tied to the ankle of the deceased, that must be fought in order to give the spirit every chance to be reborn peacefully. African traditional religions still hold the believe that the deceased can still act in the favor of their descendants and there are special funeral procedures to honor the dead and ask for their intercession in various matters. According to many African religions. the decease goes on a journey to meet his ancestors in the afterlife, Rituals are also performed to prepare and equip the deceased for the journey ahead and also to “inform” those on the other side that the deceased is on the way and they should expect him .
Other cultures and religions such as Hinduism teach that the soul reincarnates into another form of life after dead. In some religions the soul is considered as the source of life shared by all beings. But there is a clarification in monotheistic religions that every human has been entrusted a soul and will be accountable for it. Therefore a man can corrupt his own soul by bad actions and a soul can be strong of weak (2,Peter :14), saved or Lost (James 1:21). Religious duties are a purification of the soul.
One of the main characteristics of the soul is that it is immortal. “The human soul is that part of a person that is eternal- the part that lives on after the body dies and decays“.(Matthew 10:28) . And the common believe is that the soul leaves the body at the time of death. It is described in many cultures as we have mentioned above that the soul goes on a journey after dead and ends either in Heaven or in Hell. There is another common believe that the soul finally rest in the grave. In many cultures people believe that the dead can see and hear the living ones but cannot act immediately in this world. The are many descriptions in which it is heard that the soul goes up to heaven after death before descending back to follow the death body in the grave. In our spiritual approach we have considered the detailed description of the journey of the soul after dead from the Islamic view.
Islam gives a clear description (which we could not find in any other religion) of the different stages through which the soul passes after death. It is reported that after the soul has been taken by the angels at the time of death, if it is a pure soul and has relatives in the other world who are people of the Garden of Bliss, they come to meet the soul with desire and great joy. They inquire about the condition of those who are still alive in this world. The angels then carry the soul from one heaven to another until it enters the presence of Almighty God. Then he returns and sees the washing of the body, its shroud and the funeral procession. He said, “Move me forward! Move me forward!’ or ‘Where are they taking me? “People there don’t hear that. (The Journey of the Soul After Death Ibn Qayyim).
There are some people who after near-dead experiences have confirmed that they saw the people around them and then saw themselves going through a tunnel. When the corpse has been placed in the grave, the soul itself lies between the body and the shroud so that the interrogation can take place. Then the soul hears the fleeting step of the last of the people who followed the funeral, and the earth is leveled above it. The earth, however, does not prevent the angels from reaching it. Even if a stone had been dug for him and he had been placed in it and the opening had been sealed with lead that would not have stopped the angels from reaching him. These dense substances cannot impede the passage of souls. The soul will be questioned about his Lord (Allah) and about the prophet. Those on the straight path will have the right answers. The Grave expands and stretches for the soul and as result for the body as well. The body is in a grave of the narrowest dimensions and yet it expands,
When the soul of a disbeliever is about to leave his body, angels with black faces descend from heaven and sit around him in crowds. Then the Angel of Death comes and sits at his head and says, “Filthy soul, go out for the wrath and wrath of Allah! Then his soul splits into his body and he is dragged outwards like a skewer is pulled out of wet wool. Then the angel takes it. When he has grasped it, the other angels do not leave it in his hand even for the wink of an eye. They take it and wrap it in the rough cloth.. nd they take it up and every time they passes the angels, they ask, “Who is this filthy soul?” and the angels with the soul answer, “So-and-so the son of so-and-so,” using the worst names by which people called him in this world. They bring him to heaven and ask that the door be opened for him. It doesn’t open. Then his soul is returned back to his body and 2 angels come and say:
And say to him, “Who is your Lord?” He replies, “Alas, alas, I don’t know!” Then a voice calls from the on, “My slave has lied, so spread out carpets of Fire for him and open a door of Fire for him! Then a warm breath comes to him, and his grave is made so narrow for him that his ribs are pressed together, and a man with hideous face and clothes and smell comes to him and says to him, “Grieve because of that which has brought you shame, for this is the day that was promised you. He asks, “Who are you? Your face is an omen of evil. He replies, “I am your evil deeds. Then he said, “Lord, don’t let him. The last hour has come.
The soul is in the space between the two worlds. An interspaced is something that separates two things: heaven and earth, or this world and the other world. In other words, it is the period between death and resurrection. The bliss or punishment of the Interspaced is not the same as the bliss and punishment of the Hereafter. It’s something that happens between this world and the next world. Despite the fact that the soul is in the space between the two worlds and the body is inside the earth, the two are still connected. Therefore, bliss or punishment happens to both of them.
Death, then, is only a movement from one world to another. Consciousness remains after death, the dead are aware of it. If the dead person feels the bliss or punishment of the grave, it does not mean that he lives in his grave and needs food, clothing, and so on. Nor does it mean that his soul permeates all parts of his body as it did when he was in this world. The soul returns to the body in a way that is not the same as in this world, so that the dead can be questioned and examined in the grave. We can get an idea of this by comparing death to sleep, which is the “lesser death”, although of course there is a natural inequality between the two. A lot of people who have had near-dead experiences have described the separation of the soul from the body as something similar to what happens when we are asleep. Sleeping is a kind of death. Even though the soul does not completely leave the body it does something similar. he body as it does in the case of death, but remains inside the body not leaving it to move freely through the heavens. In the case of death the soul leaves the body completely..
Allah takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that die not during their sleep, then He withholds those on whom He has passed the decree of death and sends the others back till an appointed term; most surely there are signs in this for a people who reflect(Quran 39:42)
Unlike the case of a dream or near-death experience, the soul of the dead person remains in the grave until the day of the resurrection. It is therefore recommended to the believers to perform prayers and do supplications as well as other religions obligations for their deceased.
References
1.The quran
2.Various islamic websites
3.Being a true slave of Allah (ibn Taymiyah)
4.The soul’s journey after death (Ibn Qayyim)
5. TaubaRepentance(Imam Al-Ghazali)
