Barzakh: World of Souls

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Specially Merciful

All praise is due to Allah, Who causes death to everything.


"They ask you [O Muhammad (saws] concerning the Ruh (Soul). Say: 'It is one of the things, the knowledge of which is only with my Lord. And of knowledge, you (mankind) have been given very little."(Qur'an Al-Israa 17:85)

Someone asked me about the matter of the soul after it departs the body. They learned about it, but weren't clear on some of the details. First of all, Allah has not shared a lot of information regarding the nature of soul, but there is some information that provide basic understanding.

At the time of death, our soul is removed from our body through the nervous system, and it is captured by the Angels. Angels take the soul with them towards the heavens. Once the Soul reaches the seventh heaven, Allah orders the Angels to store the deeds from the soul into one of the two storage (Illeen, or Sijjin). After that, the soul is returned to the world.

So, where does the soul remains until the day of judgment? This confuses many people, and some even fall into shirk due to these confusions. So, let us try to find out what is the truth. One of the best source for this topic after Quran and Sunnah is a book called "The Soul's Journey"(Kitab-ur-Ruh) written by ibn AlQayyim. I have an electronic copy, if anyone needs it. What I will be presenting is mostly from that book.

There are two things that we have to understand, before understanding the life after death. First, restrictions of times are different in the next world, then from this world. For example, when the soul comes back from heavens, it can enter this world at the same exact time that it left this world, because passing of time is the rate of decay of the structure of this world, and it is static when looking from first heaven towards this world, so soul will watch the family members carry the body to the graveyard, and so forth, although the soul has just returned from a long journey to seventh heaven and back.

Second, soul exist in a different reality, and can not be seen from our world. Similar to Jinn and Angels, who occupy this world with us, but not in the same reality. An example of this is the sound waves that dog can hear, but we cannot hear, because Allah has restricted our hearing to a certain bandwidth, but dogs are more sensitive. Similarly, our eyesight, and body can't perceive the Angels, Jinn, and soul because they are vibrating at a different wavelength of matter, but dogs and horses are able to perceive that wavelength.

If one understands these two details, then everything else fits into place. When the soul returns to this world, it once again experiences the time passage, but can not interact with us. We will feel like air to it, and it will feel like air to us. Once the body  is buried, the soul stays with the body and answers the Angels' questions. What if the body was burned to dust. How would the soul enters that dust, as sometimes the dust is thrown into water? Of course, the grave is not the physical grave, but it is the world of souls. Soul will not enter the body again until the day of judgement, and the body will decay, but the punishment of the grave will not stop. So, all this information tell us that, soul stays below the first heaven, and within this world, but in a different reality.

Before the day of judgement, our bodies will be come together, and soul will enter it. At that point, the soul will forget all about the days that it spent in the grave(the world of souls), and the memory will start from the time of death. On the day of resurrection, we will feel that we just died. Of course we will enter Jannah (InshAllah) with the body and soul together, and it will not be the world of souls.

How much time do we spend researching our itinerary, and nearest restaurants, and maps, so when we travel, we are informed and not confused. Now, how much time do we spend reading information about life after death? Is it because we don't believe that it will happen, as much as we believe that the upcoming vacation. Let this be a reminder to all of us to prepare for our journey through the world of souls.


The Angels are on their way.
Oh God! Oh God! Now I leave?


The line grew short, and came my turn.
Oh God! Oh God! Now I believe!

And Allah knows best

JazakAllah Khairin

Marketing Agent for Journey of Soul
AbuArman Jumani