 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Barzakh" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(December 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Part ofa series on |
| Eschatology |
|---|
|
|
Figures and items |
Barzakh (Arabic:برزخ[1]) is an Arabic word meaning "obstacle", "hindrance", "separation",[2] or "barrier".[3] InIslamic eschatology, it denotes a barrier separating the world of humans (heaven, earth, underworld) from the world of spirits.[4] It can also refer to a phase/"stage" between an individual's death and their resurrection in "the Hereafter".[5] It is also considered as a place where souls rest until the day of judgement. It bears resemblance to theintermediate state in Christianity.
Some scholars believe that good Muslims will have a heavenly experience during this time, and sinners will experience suffering;[6] while someShia scholars believe the experience will not be like the physical pain or pleasure of the temporal world.[7]
Scholars have different definitions ofBarzakh. According toGhazali, Barzakh may be the place for those who go neither to hell nor to heaven.[8] According toIbn Hazm, Barzakh is also the place for unborn souls, which are elsewhere described as residing in the lowest of theseven heavens, where an angel blows them into the wombs of women.[9]
The word comes from theArabicrootb-r-z "a thing jutted out, a protruding object, a barrier."[10] Some argued that the word is borrowed from anIranian language, eitherParthian orMiddle Persian.[11]
Mentioned only three times in theQuran, and just once specifically as the barrier between the corporeal and ethereal, Barzakh is portrayed as a place in which, after death, the spirit is separated from the body – freed to contemplate the wrongdoing of its former life. Despite the gain of recognizance, it cannot utilize action. The other two occurrences refer to Barzakh as an impenetrable barrier between fresh and salt water. While fresh and salt water may intermingle, an ocean remains distinct from a river.
In thehadith tradition,Ibn al-Qayyim writes that souls in al-Barzakh are grouped with others matching in purity or impurity.
InIslam, the soul and the body are independent of each other. This is significant in Barzakh, because only a person's soul goes to Barzakh and not their physical body. Since one's soul is divorced from their body in Barzakh, the belief is that no progress or improvements to one's past life can be made. If a person experienced a life of sin and worldly pleasures, one cannot try to perform good deeds in order to reachJannah. Whatever one does in his or her lifetime is final and cannot be changed or altered in Barzakh. However, there is belief that the fire which represents the own bad deeds can already be seen in Barzakh, and that the spiritual pain caused by this can lead to purification of the soul.[12]
In mainstream Sunni and Shia Islam, Barzakh has been defined as "an intermediary stage between this life and another life in the Hereafter"; "an interval or a break between individual death and resurrection";[13] "The Stage Between this World and the Hereafter"; the period between a person's death and his resurrection on the Day of Resurrection. Based in least in part on the verse "Before them is a Partition till the Day they are raised up." (Q.23:100) Some scholars believe that good Muslims will have a heavenly experience during this time, and sinners will experience suffering; while someShia scholars believe there is no experience of physical pain or pleasure in Barzakh.[7]
SomeMuslim scholars stress the importance of Barzakh, while others simply ignore it.
InSufism the Barzakh orAlam-e-Araf is not only where the soul resides after death, but also a place it can visit during sleep and meditation.[16]
Ibn 'Arabi defines Barzakh as the intermediate realm or "isthmus". It is between the World of Corporeal Bodies and theWorld of Spirits, and is a means of contact between the two worlds. Without it, there would be no contact between the two and both would cease to exist. It is described as simple and luminous, like the World of Spirits, but also able to take on many different forms just like the World of Corporeal Bodies can. In broader terms Barzakh, “is anything that separates two things”. It has been described as the dream world in which the dreamer is in both life and death.[17]
The wordBarzakh can also refer to a person. Chronologically betweenJesus andMohammad is the contested ProphetKhalid.Ibn Arabi considers this man to be aBarzakh, meaning a Perfect Human Being. Chittick explains that the Perfect Human acts as theBarzakh or "isthmus" between God and the world.[18]
According to Ibn Arabi,[citation needed] Khalid was a prophet whose message never emerged. Before he died, he told his sons to open his tomb forty days after his death to receive the message of Barzakh. The sons, however, feared that they would be looked down upon for opening their dead father's tomb; therefore they decided not to exhume their father. Thus, his message was never shared. An Ottoman scholar[who?] explained that for Khalid to give the knowledge of Barzakh he would have had to travel through the different worlds and then return; because he was not exhumed, his message was never heard. Ibn Arabi explains that because this mission ended in failure, it does not conflict with the ProphetMohammed’s statement: “I am nearest of men to Jesus son ofMary, for there is no prophet between him and me."[17]
The idea of Barzakh has significance in Shia Islam, though different from its significance in Sufism. The Prophet and the Shia Imams, particularly the sixth Imam (Jafar As-Sadiq), have explained through various hadiths the treatment, condition, processes, and other intricate details regarding the passage of Barzakh.[19] In Shia theology, there are seven checkpoints in Barzakh.[20] The first is kindness/trust/wilayah. Second issalaat. Third iszakaat orkhums. Fourth is fasting. Fifth ishajj. Sixth is cleanliness. Seventh is rights. It is believed that the terms and conditions to understand Barzakh are limited in scope and full comprehension because it is Shia's belief that it is incomprehensible, to a certain degree, until one actually reaches the realm beyond our physical world. A common analogy used is that of a baby in the womb. Just as the baby cannot possibly begin to understand the vast outside world until they experience it for themselves, we cannot hope to understand what Barzakh entails until we transition there ourselves. Though despite this obstacle, the Shia Imams, as cited through various sayings, have explained Barzakh to a significant degree as compared to other sects within Islam.[21]
The term has also found its way into more contemporary, non-religious sectors of life. At least three bands have adopted the name "Barzakh," including an Indonesian Jakarta black metal band, a Tunisian oriental metal band and Naqash Ali Shawkat band.Barzakh was used as the title of a 2011 documentary following citizens of a war-torn Chechen community searching for a lost friend who they believe may have transitioned from our physical world to the realm of Barzakh.[22]
The concept of Barzakh has been compared to theChristian idea of an "intermediate state".[23] It has been further compared to the purgatory although this is errorneous and the concept is closer to the idea of the limbo.
Aʿrāf is also thought of as a place where souls go whose good and bad deeds are too evenly matched to go directly to Paradise or the Fire.[23]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)Checked and Approved by, Mufti Husain Kadodia.
 | Abrahamic |  | |
|---|---|---|---|
| American | |||
| East Asian | |||
| Indian | |||
| Near East | |||
| European | |||
| Others | |||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
