Life in Barzakh
There are many verses of the Holy Quran and Hadiths about the Barzakh.
The Quran says in Verse 100 of Surah Al-Muminoon: “After death they will be behind a barrier until the day of their resurrection.”
The Barzakh is a stage between this world and the hereafter which prepares us to get from the worldly stage to the next world.
It is a period of liberation from the cage of the body for the pious people and a frightening period for sinners.
Imam Sadiq (AS) said: “I swear by Allah, I do not fear for you except in Barzakh, because on the Resurrection Day, …, we can (help) you with our Shifa’ah (intercession).”
There are many verses in the Quran about the conditions of the Barzakh. For example Verse 46 of Surah Ghafir: “The fire; they shall be brought before it (every) morning and evening and on the day when the hour shall come to pass: Make Pharaoh’s people enter the severest chastisement”
Allameh Tabatabaei says this verse clearly points to the Barzakh. The verse says that in the Barzakh, fire is brought to wrongdoers but on the Day of Judgment, they will enter fire. So on the Resurrection Day, the punishment is permanent while in the Barzakh, it comes in the morning and evening.
We read in Verse 25 of Surah Nuh: “So because of their sins they were drowned and admitted into the Fire.”
According to Allameh Tabatabaei in Al-Mizan Exegesis of the Holy Quran, the fire here refers to that of the Barzakh.
The interesting point in this verse is that it mentions both drowning and being admitted to fire. Their bodies were drowning but their souls were in fire. It is like someone who is sleeping in a big room but he has a dream of being in a very tight place.
There are verses in the Quran that are about martyrs and point to the life after death in the Barzakh: “Do not consider those who are slain for the cause of God to be dead. They are alive but you are unaware of them.” (Verse 154 of Surah Al-Baqarah)
In Hadiths we read about sinners that as soon as they see the punishment in the Barzakh, they pray to God not to bring the Resurrection Day.
