The Book of Death

Authored by: Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour

Translated by: Ahmed Fathy

ABOUT THIS BOOK:

  This book tackles the Quranic facts about death and the metaphysical realm of Barsakh; it was published in May, 1990, Shawwal, 1411 A.H., in Cairo, Egypt, but the online edition has been revised. In 1990, we were broke and watched by the Mubarak-regime State Security Apparatus men, while our Wahabi enemies wished that we would die soon; yet, they never ceased to accuse us of receiving money from 'enemies of Islam' in the Islamophobic West! We feel thankful to God that this stage of our life has ended.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

DEDICATION

INTRODUTION

CHAPTER I: The Nature of Death

CHAPTER II: What Happens during the Moment of Death

CHAPTER III: About the Metaphysical Realm of Barsakh

DEDICATION:

 This book is dedicated to our late parents; may God have mercy on their souls. "...And say, "My Lord, have mercy on them, as they raised me when I was a child."" (17:24). "Every soul will have a taste of death, and you will receive your recompense on the Day of Resurrection. Whoever is swayed from Hell, and admitted to Paradise, has won. The life of this world is merely enjoyment of delusion." (3:185).

INTRODUTION:

  Death is on top of the list of the basic facts of the universe; death is the phenomenon which is witnessed by human beings around them in daily life and inside their bodies. Despite the proximity of death in relation to human beings, who know quite well that they are mortals, death remains a mystery that many people try, in vain, to solve. Many philosophers and scientists focused their attention on the phenomenon of death; yet, human endeavors to study it remain confined to one point: the moment of dying itself, when a person's soul is about to pass the gate or the threshold to the next world, as per expressions and estimations of living people. Some other dying persons wrote about their feelings on their deathbeds, and yet, when the actual moment of their death occurred, their senses were dulled and their limbs stopped moving forever. Thus, even the threshold of death is a mystery for all living persons, as it is never solved except for those who tasted death. Unfortunately, dead persons cannot be brought back to life so that they would tell us about their experience of death. Living persons will have to wait until their moment of dying to experience this taste of death; this is bound to occur to all human beings until the end of days. Human beings have so many questions about death, and the little amount of knowledge people have acquired about death are few facts overlapping with many myths, mixed with exaggerations that make death a cause of unreasonable fear for most of the living human beings. Within this endless debates and questions about death, most people forget that God is the Only One Who has the right to talk about death, as He is the Creator of life and death. Hence, the Quranic Truth, God's Word, is the only source from which we infer the real facts of death in order to refute myths about it and to answer some of the endless questions about it. Thus, we must not impose our prejudices, wishes, prior notions on the Quranic text so that we reach real facts of death. We are to bear in mind that many of our questions about death shall remain unanswered and that most of these many questions are derived from the prevalent mythology about death. The only right and true methodology to trace the Quranic facts about death is to ponder and reflect on all verses that tackle the topic of death so as to infer these facts as they really are, while believing in the fact that God has provided us, in His Word, with facts of death that our mind can grasp in this transient world. The facts of death are found exclusively in the Quran. To reject the Quran and to seek other sources to get to know facts about the topic of death is to resort to mere conjectures and mythology. It is impossible that there would be another source of absolute truth about the topic of death beside God's Word. "...And who speaks more truthfully than God?" (4:87); "...And who is more truthful in speech than God?" (4:122). As always, God says nothing but the Absolute Truth.

CHAPTER I: The Nature of Death

 Death cannot be defined; this undeniable phenomenon is bigger than being confined in one comprehensive definition of any kind. We should better get nearer to the concept of "death" by making comparisons between it and its antonym and exact opposite; i.e., "life", and between "death" and its synonyms: "fulfillment" and "killing".

Between life and death:

 In order to get to know about the relation between life and death, we require from our readers to perform this little experiment: take a handful of dry dust, mix it with some water, and examine it under the microscope. You will find that the dry dust which was dead has come back to life with thousands of moving microorganisms; i.e., very tiny insects, germs, and bacteria that have started a new cycle of life after their remaining dead or dormant for a while. Water has revived them once more. There are microorganisms whose life cycle is few hours or few days, and then, they stop moving as though they are dead apparently in order to divide and multiply; some of such microorganisms in certain unfavorable environments (e.g., dehydration) would stop moving and show no biological signs of life and turn intodormant and non-reproductive structures with tough covers – this is their temporary cycle of death. These microorganisms (e.g., bacteria and germs) are revived and re-enter into another temporary cycle of life because of dampness or water. The Quran asserts this scientific phenomenon before all scientists in many verses that talk about the Omnipotence of the Creator to get life out of death and death out of life and to revive dead soil/earth by water; water is the secret behind life on our planet. Let us quote some of these Quranic verses: "He brings the living out of the dead, and He brings the dead out of the living, and He revives the earth after it had died...." (30:19); "You merge the night into the day, and You merge the day into the night; and you bring the living out of the dead, and You bring the dead out of the living..." (3:27); "It is God Who splits the grain and the seed. He brings the living from the dead, and He brings the dead from the living. Such is God. So how could you deviate?" (6:95); "And of His signs is that you see the earth still. But when We send down water upon it, it stirs and grows. Surely, He Who revived it will revive the dead. He is Able to do all things." (41:39); "...And you see the earth still; but when We send down water on it, it vibrates, and swells, and grows all kinds of lovely pairs." (22:5). These Quranic verses, which have been revealed/descended more than 1400 years ago, talk about this scientific phenomenon to prove to human beings the Omnipotence of the Lord God the Creator of the universe. These Quranic verses urge all human beings to esteem God as He should be esteemed, and they serve as a metaphor to explain to the limited human mind the fact of Resurrection that will occur by God's Omnipotence on the Last Day. Thus, death is one cycle or stage of so many renewed cycles of life. And yet, life on earth is a temporary stage/phase, as people's souls were dead in the Barsakh realm before they were born and their souls return to Barsakh after they die. We cannot evade the fact that life and death are the biggest secrets of this universe and that we cannot know all details about both life and death. There are several degrees/types of death and several, different degrees/types of life; for instance, viruses (the smallest creatures known to humanity until now) are minute infectious agents which cannot be seen by the naked eye and whose diameters are measured by nanometers, and they can transit diseases to human beings, animals, plants, and even to microorganisms and bacteria. Human beings may get infected with viruses that cause many diseases, such as influenza and poliomyelitis. Despite their minute diameters, viruses undergo genetic change by several mechanisms and this makes them have evolutionary advantages such as resistance to antiviral drugs; viruses can thrive within almost all conditions; there is an ongoing war between influenza viruses and the human minds of scientists. In fact, influenza viruses change all the time and win this war, as thousands of its types emerge and can resist new drugs made by human minds of scientists. Until now, the whole world is busy trying to control the AIDS virus, but in vain, as new (quasi)species/swarms of viruses emerge all the time and it would resist any possible remedies. We focus our attention here on the fact that viruses, the minutest living beings, can crystalize and take the shape of salt crystals – they turn into inanimate, dead matter, and yet, they never lose their ability to transmit infections, and within their crystalized forms, they multiply so rapidly. Hence, viruses are very intelligent and ferocious beings, even when they are within an in-between stage of life and death, or animate and inanimate states. This is one of the wonders of life: elements of life and death are combined in the minute living beings called viruses, which attack human bodies and bodies of all living creatures. If our readers would see photos of themselves as one-week-old babies, they will realize that their bodies of today have nothing to do with this tiny, fragile bodies of babies, and the same applies to their bodies as ten-year-old children and as adolescents. In every stage of one's life, one has a new body with new cells; this is a fact which we witness in our bodies. But where did the bodies of the baby/child/adolescent, which we used to have, go? In sum, they died. These stages of growth of the human body complement and overlap with one another, and science cannot save human beings from reaching the senile age of weakness, because these stages of life and death inside the human body are, of course, non-stoppable and the final death of the body is inevitable. God says in the Quran: "God is He Who created you weak, then after weakness gave you strength, then after strength gave you weakness and gray hair. He creates whatever He wills. He is the Omniscient, the Omnipotent." (30:54); "O people! If you are in doubt about the Resurrection - We created you from dust, then from a small drop, then from a clinging clot, then from a lump of flesh, partly developed and partly undeveloped. In order to clarify things for you. And We settle in the wombs whatever We will for a designated term, and then We bring you out as infants, until you reach your full strength. And some of you will pass away, and some of you will be returned to the vilest age, so that he may not know, after having known. And you see the earth still; but when We send down water on it, it vibrates, and swells, and grows all kinds of lovely pairs." (22:5). Thus, one cannot remember oneself as an embryo inside the womb (and one was never aware of this stage). In fact, the verse 22:5 gives us an image of God's Omnipotence regarding Resurrection – the Creator tells us that Resurrection will occur automatically on the Last Day, because the human bodies will inevitably witness stages of life, death, and then Resurrection. Science tells us that human bodies renew their cells about 50 times during their lifetimes, and this is why human bodies need animal proteins in their food in order to form renewed cells that emerge instead of dead cells. God says in the Quran: "Have you seen what you ejaculate? Is it you who create it, or are We the Creator? We have decreed death among you, and We will not be outstripped. In replacing you with your likes, and transforming you into what you do not know. Have you seen what you cultivate?" (56:58-62). Hence, God has decreed death among all human beings; in fact, death lies inside us. It is enough for human beings to remember the stages of their bodies and how their former bodies as babies, children, etc. are now dead. All human-body cells die and are replaced with new ones – using animal proteins in particular – and this means that living cells include inside them elements of their physical death. This means that death lurks inside each and every living cell of the human bodies and of the bodies of all living creatures. Thus, we conclude that death is a physical element created inside our bodies and it does not mean merely decease or nonexistence. Many of the so-called 'interpreters' of the Quran who authored their books during the Middle-Ages could not reflect properly on these verses about how God has created death, which means for them annihilation, decease, and nonexistence of a given human being: "Blessed is He in whose hand is the sovereignty, and Who has power over everything. He who created death and life - to test you - as to which of you is better in conduct. He is the Almighty, the Forgiving." (67:1-2). Those ancient authors could not, of course, discern and understand that death lies inside our bodies once our souls have entered into our bodies/embryos, and this is why physical death is inevitable: "Wherever you may be, death will catch up with you, even if you were in fortified towers..." (4:78). There are degrees/types of life and also degrees/types of death; hence, the death and renewal of human cells differs from the death of a human being when the soul leaves the body for good. There is a degree of life that makes spermatozoa move toward ova, and this differs from the degree of life that makes the human embryos move inside wombs when they grow and when souls are breathed into them. Likewise, the type of life that exists in viruses andunicellular organisms differs from the type of life in mammals and human beings. Moreover, atoms with their nuclei, electrons, movements, and energy contain a form of life, of course, and they merge within chemical reactions to form new materials/matters. The same applies to the sun that moves and to the stars that move, emit light and energy, explode, die, and turn into black holes in the universe that suck anything that gets near them, even light. Thus, the nature of death and the nature of life are too complicated to be fully grasped by our limited human minds. We cannot imagine the dimensions of death and the dimensions of life and their overlapping limits/thresholds, whether in the minutest viruses or in the biggest stars. Thus, the Quran uses the terms death/dead/die literally (to denote physical death) and figuratively (to denote spiritual death of disbelievers who are separated from the Quranic Truth) in different contexts. These verses are about polytheists/disbelievers who reject and deny the Quranic Truth: "Only those who listen will respond. As for the dead, God will resurrect them; then to Him they will be returned." (6:36); "You cannot make the dead hear, nor can you make the deaf hear the call if they turn their backs and flee." (27:80); "You cannot make the dead hear, nor can you make the deaf hear the call when they turn away." (30:52). This verse is about those who accept the Quranic Truth: "Is he who was dead, then We gave him life, and made for him a light by which he walks among the people, like he who is in total darkness, and cannot get out of it? Thus the doings of disbelievers are made to appear good to them." (6:122). In fact, we tend to think that the word (dead) in these verses is used both figuratively and literally; polytheists who never heed the Quranic Truth are spiritually dead, and this is one of the types/degrees of death. Typically, most people never think of the death of the body when they are young/adults; they think of physical death only when they reach the old, senile age. Most people never take heed of the spiritual/moral death; the souls of the monotheistic believers are alive with deep faith as the Light of divine guidance shines upon them. Let us not forget that souls are creatures unknown – and will never be known – to human beings; they are known only to Almighty God the Creator.

Between death and killing:          

 The life of a given human being in this transient world ends either in natural death (by diseases or any other causes) or by being killed by someone else. In both cases, the soul leaves the human body for good to return to the metaphysical realm of Barsakh from which it originally came. God asserts that there is a difference between natural, ordinary death and being killed, within this Quranic context about self-defense battles of the Yathreb city-state: "...Say, "Even if you Had stayed in your homes, those destined to be killed would have marched into their death beds."...Had they stayed with us, they would not have died or been killed...If you are killed in the cause of God, or die-forgiveness and mercy from God are better than what they hoard. If you die, or are killed - to God you will be gathered up." (3:154-158). It is wrong to assume that when someone got killed, he/she would have lived for a longer duration if it had not been for the killer(s). Of course, the killers/murderers are unjust sinners who are responsible for the crimes committed, and they are punished for it, but we should bear in mind that the Quran asserts in 3:154-158 that the timing of one's death is predestined and preordained within God's Omniscience, whether one dies naturally or by getting killed. Let us quote the entire context of 3:154-158, which is about the battle of Uhud, when tens of the early believers were killed as the Yathreb troops were defeated; some hypocrites among the Yathreb dwellers refused to join the troops heading for Uhud for the battlefield and returned to Yathreb under the pretext of getting a shelter there in its fortification. The rest of the troops were defeated and tens of the early believers were killed, and the hypocrites said that if these men followed their advice of returning to Yathreb, they would not have been killed in the battlefield. God has refuted their claim; no human beings can escape the predestined time and place of one's death. God warns believers against repeating phrases of the hypocrites, as God is the Provider of life and He decrees death, and no one can evades death. God says in the Quran: "Then after the setback, He sent down security upon you. Slumber overcame some of you, while others cared only for themselves, thinking of God thoughts that were false thoughts of ignorance - saying, "Is anything up to us?" Say, "Everything is up to God." They conceal within themselves what they do not reveal to you. And they say, "If it was up to us, none of us would have been killed here." Say, "Even if you Had stayed in your homes, those destined to be killed would have marched into their death beds." God thus tests what is in your minds, and purifies what is in your hearts. God knows what the hearts contain. Those of you who turned back on the day when the two armies clashed - it was Satan who caused them to backslide, on account of some of what they have earned. But God has forgiven them. God is Forgiving and Prudent. O you who believe! Do not be like those who disbelieved, and said of their brethren who marched in the land, or went on the defensive, "Had they stayed with us, they would not have died or been killed." So that God may make it a cause of regret in their hearts. God gives life and causes death. God is Seeing of what you do. If you are killed in the cause of God, or die - forgiveness and mercy from God are better than what they hoard. If you die, or are killed - to God you will be gathered up." (3:154-158); "Those who said of their brethren, as they stayed behind, "Had they obeyed us, they would not have been killed." Say, "Then avert death from yourselves, if you are truthful."" (3:168). Within the battle of the confederates, some of the hypocrites of Yathreb hid inside their homes as they feared they might get killed, and God has told Muhammad to say the following to them: "Say, "Flight will not benefit you, if you flee from death or killing, even then you will be given only brief enjoyment." Say, "Who is it who will shield you from God, if He intends adversity for you, or intends mercy for you?" Besides God, they will find for themselves neither ally nor helper." (33:16-17). Thus, the murderers/killers carry the burden/sin of their evil deeds of murder/killing; it is up to God only to decide the time/place of the death of any human beings, who never know anything about the metaphysical realm of the future, including the time/place of the death of any mortals, as this is known only by the Omniscient Lord God, Who ordains life for His creatures and decrees death on them as well. God says the following about those polytheists killed during the battle of Badr: "It was not you who killed them, but it was God who killed them..." (8:17); God says the following in general about any given human being, and this applies to all humanity, of course: "Then He puts him to death and buries him." (80:21).          

Between death and fulfillment:

 Fulfillment for human beings is more general than mere death; fulfillment means that a given human being has fulfilled all the fates preordained for him/her by God (e.g., earnings, calamities, etc.). As for death, it means that the soul of a given human being has been taken, by angels of death, from the body for good, after fulfilling the life duration predestined for it, receiving fates ordained on it, being given the chance to be tested in life, and after the deceased one's (good and bad) deeds are recorded. Thus, death is only a part of fulfillment, whereas fulfillment has a special meaning that sets this term apart from mere death; when one sleeps, one's soul goes temporarily the Barsakh realm, and deeds of this soul in that day are fulfilled and recorded; this is inferred from this verse: "It is He Who takes your souls by night, and He knows what you earn by day. Then He raises you up in it, until a fixed term is fulfilled. Then to Him is your return, then He will inform you of what you used to do." (6:60). Thus, sleep is described here as a type of death and fulfillment of deeds and earnings, but it is a temporary one, as one wakes up again, and this goes on until one's life duration ends in final death, when one's soul leaves the body forever. the difference between death and fulfillment is stressed further in this verse: "God takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that have not died during their sleep. He retains those for which He has decreed death, and He releases the others until a predetermined time. In that are signs for people who reflect." (39:42).  

The death of the body and the death of the soul:

 Death has an organic relation with the human body; death means that the human body has lost its ability to go on living because of an internal cause (e.g., illness or coma) or an external, sudden cause (e.g., getting killed). Medical doctors assume that the person in a coma has died if the brain stops working for a certain number of minutes, though this is debatable in certain studies. Among the strange phenomena is clinical death; i.e., those who are in deep coma for a long time and they suffer cessation of blood circulation and breathing, the two necessary criteria to sustain human life. The life in their bodies is barely maintained by certain modern scientific apparatuses and doctors try to resuscitate them within CPR. In most cases, those patients die eventually, after costing their families a fortune in hospitalization; ethical debates are still rife about euthanasia by removing the life-support apparatuses from their semi-dead bodies if their brains and other vital organs would not work properly any longer or are damaged beyond repair. Our focus here is on the soul as the genuine criterion to determine if someone has died or not (i.e., if soul left the body for good or not). In fact, many scientists assert that life-support apparatuses that enable those suffering clinical death to breathe (i.e., oxygenation) and get nutrition and to maintain blood circulation would not elongate the life of the already damaged/injured (or dead) tissues of vital organs. Thus, modern science tells us now about the organic relation between the human body and death; the life-support apparatuses provide some more time to the semi-dead bodies in deep coma whose most brain cells are damaged, but these bodies die eventually. This indicates that there is a gap between the death of the soul and the death of the body, signaled by brain damage or stroke. Medical technology cannot breathe life once more to the damaged bodies in deep coma, even if such bodies showed semblance of life or few signs of life because of apparatuses of artificial nutrition, oxygenation, etc. The Quran shows that living bodies are directly linked to eating food and this indicates the organic relation between food and the human bodies; God says the following about the death of all His prophets/messengers: "We did not make them mere bodies that ate no food, nor were they immortal." (21:8). This means that they had bodies like the rest of human beings and they needed food to sustain their lives and that they died like all mortals die, as this is the fate imposed on all human beings and all creatures.     

Death is an element that occurs to all creatures but NEVER to the Creator:

 It is a basic notion of belief in the Quran that our Creator is the Living Lord God: "God! There is no God except He, the Living, the Watchful. Neither slumber overtakes Him, nor sleep..." (2:255). Thus, God is immortal and He never sleeps or dies: "And rely on the Living, the One who never dies..." (25:85). Any mortal creatures (including human beings) can be described as alive or living, but NOT as the Living, which is one of the Holy Names/Epithets of the Lord God in the Quran. The reason: living human beings always live temporarily in this world, their cells die and get renewed, they sleep (which is a type of temporary death), and eventually, they die when their souls return to the Barsakh realm (from which they came originally) for good. In contrast to mortals, Allah is the Living God, the First and Last, theAlpha and Omega. Everything in the universe will surely die but God remains as the Eternal Lord: "...All things perish, except His presence..." (28:88); "Everyone upon it is perishing. But will remain the Presence of your Lord, Full of Majesty and Splendor." (55:26-27). This is a basic, undoubted Quranic fact of Islam; we mention it in order to refute the false belief tenets that make some polytheists assume that there are living human beings inside tombs. Thus, they deify entombed persons (deemed as saints or deities) by assuming they are living forever like God. Sadly, this polytheistic notion of dead mortals deemed to be 'living' for eternity is dominant within the practical religiosity of many of the Muhammadans, who supplicate, implore, and worship at mausoleums of the so-called 'saints' while assuming that those dead persons live for eternity inside their tombs. This is sheer polytheism, as monotheists are to worship, implore, and supplicate only to God. Likewise, the Muhammadans supplicate to the Yathreb-mosque mausoleum while assuming that Muhammad is buried inside it and that he is still alive and would answer their prayers! They also assume that he reviews deeds of his Umma/nation of worshipers to intercede on their behalf! Such myths are very insulting to Muhammad and to Islam; would a person live inside a tomb for centuries until the Last Day?! Ordinary Muhammadans never like to hear this ascribed to themselves and to their loved ones, and yet, they ascribe such nonsense to Muhammad. It is part of honoring the dead to bury their corpses to allow them to decompose without harming  living human beings, like when the murderous son of Adam buried his brother after murdering him. This honorable burial is not allowed to the corpse of Moses' Pharaoh, who will be the imam/leader for all tyrants in Hell: "Today We will preserve your body, so that you become a sign for those after you. But most people are heedless of Our signs" (10:92). When Muhammad was in Mecca and striving with the Quranic call against the polytheistic Qorayish leaders, God has told him the following: "You will die, and they will die. Then, on the Day of Resurrection, you will be quarrelling before your Lord." (39:30-31). As we ponder both verses, we see that Muhammad received them when he was in Mecca in his early forties and he lived for some more years in Mecca and then for 10 years in Yathreb, if he really died at the age of 63 as per some historians. Yet, the verses 39:30-31 assert Muhammad's inevitable death, whatever the number of years remaining from his predestined life duration has been at this point in time. The same verses assert the death of his foes, the polytheists who rejected the Quran, and both he and they will argue against one another on the Last Day. Thus, 39:30-31 assert that there is equality in death: both Muhammad and his foes are mortals who have been told in 39:30-31 about their inescapable death. Pondering deeper on this verse: "You will die, and they will die." (39:30), we find that it emphasizes and foregrounds the death of Muhammad more than that of his polytheistic foes. This is not mentioned at random or in a haphazard manner; the Quran, God's Word, has no room at all for randomness, redundancy, or verbosity. Thus, 39:30 is mentioned by God the Omniscient to refute in advance the claims that Muhammad is immortal and goes on living inside a mausoleum; this means that God will never accept the excuses by the polytheists, on the Last Day, who have rejected the Quran, since God informs all people about the Quranic faith tenets to which they should adhere. Those Muhammadans of today would never consider any man among Muhammad's foes as alive in his tomb; yet, they assume that Muhammad is alive underneath their feet within the mausoleum ascribed falsely to him! This is why the verse 39:30 stresses Muhammad's death more than that of his foes, though both died like all mortals who are bound to die eventually. In addition, 39:30 asserts that Muhammad died a natural death; i.e., he was neither murdered/assassinated nor killed in one of the self-defense battles. This verse has predicted to him and to the early believers at the time that he will die in bed and never get killed or assassinated. We infer this clearly when we reflect on the Quranic fact that God prevents us from saying that those killed for His sake are dead, because they are alive in the Barsakh Paradise: "And do not say of those who are killed in the cause of God, "Dead." Rather, they are alive, but you do not perceive." (2:154); "Do not consider those killed in the cause of God as dead. In fact, they are alive, at their Lord, well provided for." (3:169). Thus, we are not to describe those killed in the cause of God as dead persons since they are alive at the Barsakh realm; we are not to disobey God by contradicting the Quran. At the same time, we are to believe in the Quranic fact that Muhammad is dead; no real believers would contradict the Quran by saying otherwise. We are to hear and obey the Quran wholeheartedly in this point and indeed in all other points. The Arab polytheists during Muhammad's lifetime used to believe in the immortal life of their entombed gods/saints/allies and to offer oblation and sacrificial animals at such tombs to which they supplicated and at which they worshiped reverently. God says the following about these dead deities: "Those they invoke besides God create nothing, but are themselves created. They are dead, not alive; and they do not know when they will be resurrected." (16:20-21). Yet, those polytheistic Arabs used to warn Muhammad so as not to protest against those dead allies/saints who might cause evil to befall him; God has commanded Muhammad to challenge those polytheists and their dead deities/saints who turned into dust. "Those you call upon besides God are servants like you. So call upon them, and let them answer you, if you are truthful. Do they have feet with which they walk? Or do they have hands with which they strike? Or do they have eyes with which they see? Or do they have ears with which they hear? Say, "Call upon your partners, then plot against me, and do not wait." (7:194-195). Those polytheists of Arabia assumed that they would live inside their own tombs as well; God refutes their claim by saying the following to Muhammad: "We did not grant immortality to any human being before you. Should you die, are they then the immortal? Every soul will have a taste of death. We burden you with adversity and prosperity-a test. And to Us you will be returned." (21:34-35). Thus, monotheists (including all prophets/messengers) and polytheists (and their mortal deities) died and no human being is to be deemed as immortal. The question in 21:34 is still valid and can be posed within all eras. The Quran tackles the death of other prophets/messengers who lived and died before Muhammad; for instance, Jesus: "So Peace is upon me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the Day I get resurrected alive." (19:33); John: "And peace be upon him the day he was born, and the day he dies, and the Day he is raised alive." (19:15); Solomon: "Then, when We decreed death for him, nothing indicated his death to them except an earthworm eating at his staff. Then, when he fell down, it became clear to the sprites that, had they known the unseen, they would not have remained in the demeaning torment." (34:14); Joseph: "My Lord, You have given me some authority, and taught me some interpretation of events. Initiator of the heavens and the earth; You are my Protector in this life and in the Hereafter. Receive my soul in submission, and unite me with the righteous." (12:101); "Joseph had come to you with clear Verses, but you continued to doubt what he came to you with. Until, when he perished, you said, "God will never send a messenger after him."..." (40:34); Jacob: "Or were you witnesses when death approached Jacob, and he said to his sons, ''What will you worship after Me?"..." (2:133); other prophets/messengers who were murdered: "As for those who deny God’s Verses, and kill the prophets unjustly, and kill those who advocate justice among the people - promise them a painful retribution." (3:21); "...Messengers have come to you before me with proofs, and with what you asked for; so why did you assassinate them, if you are truthful?" (3:183); "They...incurred wrath from God. That was because they rejected God's Verses and wrongfully killed the prophets..." (2:61). Hence, the body of any messenger or prophet was not immune against death or being killed. After the battle of Uhud, some of the early believers feared lest Muhammad might have been killed, and the Quran has rebuked them: "Muhammad is no more than a messenger. Messengers have passed on before him. If he dies or gets killed, will you turn on your heels? He who turns on his heels will not harm God in any way. And God will reward the appreciative." (3:144). The Quran never mentions that corpses of prophets/messengers never decomposed or never turned into dust. All dead bodies decompose and turn eventually into dust, as we infer from these verses about those who deny the Last Day and Resurrection: "They marveled that a warner has come to them from among them. The disbelievers say, "This is something strange. When we have died and become dust? This is a farfetched return." We know what the earth consumes of them, and with Us is a comprehensive book." (50:2-4). The Quran refutes the myth that any dead bodies would remain intact and that bodies of 'saints' would emit 'heavenly light' and remain intact. Proof: the believing youths of the cave whom God caused to sleep for 309 years had been a frightful sight to look at when they woke up, though they were not dead during this deep slumber. Thus, this means that the dead bodies of human beings are decomposed, whether they had been good persons or bad persons. "We relate to you their story in truth. They were youths who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance. And We strengthened their hearts, when they stood up and said, "Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth; we will not call on any god besides Him, for then we would have spoken an outrage."" (18:13-14); "...Had you looked at them, you would have turned away from them in flight, and been filled with fear of them." (18:18). By the way, most of the known, popular mausoleums worshiped in Egypt (and elsewhere) are fake and no human bones would be found underneath them; this fact is mentioned by many Middle-Ages authors. Yet, let us suppose that there is a body of a Sufi sheikh buried under one mausoleum; would the worshipers of this mausoleum be ready to see this sheikh resurrected from the tomb to rise and greet them? Would they be able to look at the face of this Sufi sheikh? They would be horrified and flee in fright. By the way, worshiping at mausoleums is never felt by the dead saint/sheikh who has turned into bones and dust and his soul in Barsakh cannot feel anything. Hence, the worshipers of mausoleums venerate nothing but the ordinary building materials used to establish these mausoleums (cement, stones, glass, sand, nails, timber, etc.), and they kiss them in reverence and piety to draw benediction from them! They even kiss the locks at mausoleums, as if they do not see that such locks have the inscription (MADE IN CHINA) on them! Such man-made building materials are deified and sanctified because of Satan and devils who distort ideas and faith tenets of people to turn them into cursed polytheists within man-made, earthly religions.                     

The envoys/angels of death:

 This universe cannot stand God's manifesting Himself to it, as we infer from the Quranic story of Moses: "And when Moses came to Our appointment, and his Lord spoke to him, he said, "My Lord, allow me to look and see You." He said, "You will not see Me, but look at the Mount; if it stays in its place, you will see Me." But when his Lord manifested Himself to the Mount, He turned it into dust, and Moses fell down unconscious..." (8:17). God's Throne in the Quran is a symbol stands for His Dominance and Sovereignty over the universe through His angels; some of the angels are those who record deeds of each human beings, some who are sent with God's revelation to prophets/messengers, and some whose mission is to take souls of dying persons. God is the Creator of life and death; He sends the angels of death to take souls of the dying people upon His command, His Omnipotence, and His Dominance: "And that it is He who gives death and life." (53:44); "God takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that have not died during their sleep. He retains those for which He has decreed death, and He releases the others until a predetermined time..." (39:42); "Then He puts him to death, and buries him." (80:21); "...But I worship God, the one who will terminate your lives..." (10:104); "...until, when death overtakes one of you, Our envoys take him away, and they never fail." (8:61); "Say, "The angel of death put in charge of you will reclaim you. Then to your Lord you will be returned."" (32:11). The Sunnite heritage books of traditions contain myths that name the angel of death mentioned in 32:11 as Azrael. The name of the angel of death is never mentioned in the Quran; it mentions only the names of three angels: Gabriel, Michael, and Malik. Both the Quran and history-books contain some indications about the source of the origins of the myth of the so-called Azrael.The Quran mentioned that some Jews at one time worshiped Osir or Osiris as a son of God, imitating the polytheism the ancient Egyptians of Pharaonic Era: "The Jews said, "Osir is the son of God," and the Christians said, "The Messiah is the son of God." These are their statements, out of their mouths. They emulate the statements of those who disbelieved before..." (9:30). Thus, Osiris was turned into Osir and the Muhammadans turned Osir into Azrael, the angel of death in Sunnite mythology. This means that the Sunnite religion was influenced partially by Ancient Egyptian Pharaonic mythology; Pharaonic myths remained alive and influential for a long time; Osir or Osiris is the Pharaonic god of death, and theMuhammadans in Egypt revived this Pharaonic god as ''Azrael'' the angel of death in their popular culture that goes against the Quran. There is nothing new under the sun! All pagan notions persist with the passage of centuries!Osiris was pronounced in the hieroglyphic language as Osir;the Israelites for a while worshiped and deified Osir as a son of God, a blasphemous notion that could never be within the monotheistic religion of Abraham, of course.The Israelites had added their Hebrew linguistic features to the name Osir; they had named it as "Azrael", and the suffix (-el) means God or a god, and even the name "Israel" means originally either the servant of God or the one who walks in the path of God. Thus, the name Azrael may be a Hebrew variant of Osir/Osiris that lingered in modern Egyptian Arabic tongue and culture. Azrael is the assumed name of the angel of death in the Egyptian folklore, which has nothing to do with Islam, because the name ''Azrael'' is never mentioned in the Quran. We should bear in mind that the Israelites were much influenced by the ancient Egyptian religion (as they lived in Egypt during the Hyksos period and part of the reign of the Ramses dynasty) and when Moses left them for a while to receive the Torah at Mount Al-Tur in Sinai, they were tempted to worship a golden calf despite the fact that they witnessed tangible miracles given to Moses by God. Until now, the masses in Egypt fear and worship the so-called Azrael as the angel of death, more than they fear/worship the Lord God!

Between wishing to die and wishing to avoid death:

 Within moments of human weakness, some people wish they would die sooner; e.g., Mary, the mother of Jesus, expressed this wish: "The labor-pains came upon her, by the trunk of a palm-tree. She said, "I wish I had died before this, and been completely forgotten."" (19:23). Within moments of deep sorrow, some people supplicate to God to make them die sooner or invoke God to bring evil to someone; most human cultures express the notion that death is an evil thing when it occurs to someone. "The human being prays for evil as he prays for good. The human being is very hasty." (17:11). Of course, wishing for premature death, or trying to invoke God to hasten one's death, is wishful thinking done in vain; no one can postpone or hasten the predestined time for one's death: "If God were to accelerate the ill for the people, as they wish to accelerate the good, their term would have been fulfilled. But We leave those who do not expect Our encounter to blunder in their excesses." (10:11). Some desperate people might commit suicide; God will punish them in Hell after the Last Day: "...And do not kill yourselves, for God is Merciful towards you. Whoever does that, out of hostility and wrongdoing, We will cast him into Hell. And that would be easy for God." (4:29-30). The human basic instinct of remaining alive might drive those who have committed suicide to try so hard, desperately and in vain, to save themselves within the seconds remaining to them before their death, when it is too late for them. Some companions during Muhammad's lifetime wished to get killed for God's sake after the battle of Badr, but they feared getting killed during the battle of Uhud, when they were defeated and were on the verge of losing their lives: "You used to wish for death before you have faced it. Now you have seen it before your own eyes." (3:143). In contrast, the hypocrites of the Yathreb city-state tried to flee death and save themselves instead of participating in the self-defense military endeavors; God has said the following to them: "Say, "Flight will not benefit you, if you flee from death or killing, even then you will be given only brief enjoyment." Say, "Who is it who will shield you from God, if He intends adversity for you, or intends mercy for you?" Besides God, they will find for themselves neither friend nor helper." (33:16-17). Many of the dwellers of Yathreb were too much afraid of death and therefore reluctant to engage into self-defense endeavors: "Have you not considered those who were told, "Restrain your hands, and perform your prayers, and spend in regular charity"? But when fighting was ordained for them, a faction of them feared the people as God is ought to be feared, or even more. And they said, "Our Lord, why did You ordain fighting for us? If only You would postpone it for us for a short while." Say, "The enjoyments of this life are brief, but the Hereafter is better for the righteous, and you will not be wronged one bit." Wherever you may be, death will catch up with you, even if you were in fortified towers..." (4:77-78). The lesson to be drawn here is that we should never fear death nor wish for it; death is inevitable anyway because it lurks insidiously inside our own bodies; in fact, we are marching willy-nilly, bit by bit, toward the inescapable death once we are born. God says the following to all human beings: "We have decreed death among you, and We will not be outdone." (56:60); "Say, "The death from which you flee will catch up with you; then you will be returned to the Knower of the Invisible and the Visible, and He will inform you of what you used to do."" (62:8). The inescapability of death is expressed in this Quranic parable/story: "Have you not considered those who fled their homes, by the thousands, fearful of death? God said to them, "Die." Then He revived them..." (2:243).   

The time of death cannot be postponed:

 Some human beings try to run away from death as they assume wrongly that the death-time might be postponed or deferred. There are laughter-inducing tales within the Sunnite mythology related to that topic: (1) Moses, before running away from the angel of death who came to take his soul, had slapped him so hard that this angel lost an eye and wept until God restored the lost eye to this angel! (2) Noah arguing and debating in a philosophical manner with the angel of death who came to take his soul! (3) Hadiths ascribed to Muhammad about God suggesting to him to postpone the predestined time of his death! Those gullible Sunnites who believe in such nonsensical narratives have not stopped for a moment to think and ask themselves about where witnesses, who narrated such tales, might have been situated in such scenes to watch and write! Would narrators be present (or alive!) within such assumed debates of prophets?! How come?! Such tales are mere lies and balderdash, of course. In the same manner, Sufi sheikhs/saints ascribe to themselves similar mythical 'miraculous' tales yarned specially to carry the same meaning; e.g., in page no. 123 of the book titled (Al-Tabakat Al-Kobra) by the Sufi sheikh/author Al-Shaarany, who lived during the Mameluke Era in Egypt, we read a story about a Sufi sheikh who saw the angel of death drawing near to take the soul of his son, but the Sufi sheikh has struggled and fought against the angel of death to save his son, and when the Sufi sheikh won this 'wrestling match', he shouted his command to the angel of death to return to God empty-handed! The angel of death flew away in sorrow and the son of the Sufi sheikh lived for extra 30 years! Such nonsensical, mythical story used to be believed by those who revered and honored the book of Al-Shaarany at the time! Of course, the aim of such fictional narratives is to deify/sanctify human beings and to undermine the sanctification/deification due only to our Lord God. We should bear in mind this repeated sin of deifying mortals in every era as we ponder deeply on these verses: "They do not value God as He should be valued..." (6:91); "They have not esteemed God as He ought to be esteemed..." (39:67); "They do not value God as He should be valued. God is Strong and Powerful." (22:74). As always, God says nothing but the Absolute Truth. Thus, the Sunnite and Sufi myths of Satan formulated about deferring the death-time of anyone (prophets and non-prophets) aim at denying God's verses that indicate clearly that death cannot be escaped or postponed: "For every nation is an appointed time. When their time has come, they cannot delay it by one hour, nor can they advance it." (7:34); "...God's term cannot be deferred once it has arrived, if you only knew." (71:4); "But God will not delay a soul when its time has come. God is Informed of what you do." (63:11). These verses refute and negate the myth that the angel of death might be defeated by mortals to change, reverse, or postpone the decree of the Lord God: "He is the Conqueror over His servants, and He sends guardians over you, until, when death overtakes one of you, Our envoys take him away, and they never fail." (6:61); "No soul can die except by God's leave, at a predetermined time..." (3:145); "The decree from Me will not be changed, and I am not unjust to the servants." (50:29). It is a very bad habit in the orient or within the Arab countries and culture of today to utter phrases that express wishes to postpone death; e.g., wishing someone a long life and wishing a long life to those surviving ones at a funeral among the relatives of the deceased person, etc.; it is as if the dead person had few years left and such duration would be distributed among the relatives or inheritors! Such phrases in Egypt have Pharaonic roots, of course, and they contradict the Quran. Real, monotheistic believers must believe in the Quranic facts, which include the fact that one's death-time is predestined by the Dominant Lord God before one is born. God says in the Quran: "...No female conceives, or delivers, except with His knowledge. No living thing advances in years, or its life is shortened, except it be in a Record. That is surely easy for God." (35:11). We infer from the verse 35:11 that one's lifetime is like an hourglass; i.e., the countdown for one's death commences once one is born. For instance, let us suppose that a man is predestined to die at the age of 70; this means that once he is born, his age is 70 years but 5 minutes, and months later he has 69 years left, and when he reaches his 50^th birthday, he has 20 years left, and so on and so forth. Sufi religious mythology contains laughter-inducing stories about Sufi 'saints' having knowledge about the time and place of their death; e.g., one myth is about the Sufi sheikh/saint Abou Al-Hassan Al-Shazily who journeyed toward Mecca to perform pilgrimage, but he commanded his man-servant to bring along an axe and a shroud; the puzzled servant did not understand the reason for such a command, until Al-Shazily died in the pilgrimage caravan in the Egyptian desert days later. We have only two choices: to reject such a myth to believe in the Quran, or to disbelieve in the Quran to believe in such a myth. God says the following in the Quran: "...no soul knows in what land it will die..." (31:34); "...To God is your return, all of you..." (5:48). God has commanded believers that upon their dying (i.e., in their death-bed), they should have a written will and testament; there are two types of this written will and testament. (1) The advice to adhere to monotheism and to worship only God; prophets upon dying (i.e., in their death-bed) advised their progeny to adhere to Islam (i.e., submission to God): "And Abraham exhorted his sons, and Jacob, "O my sons, God has chosen this religion for you, so do not die unless you have submitted." Or were you witnesses when death approached Jacob, and he said to his sons, "What will you worship after Me?" They said, "We will worship your God, and the God of your fathers, Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac; One God; and to Him we submit."" (2:132-133). (2) The written will and testament about inheritance distribution, whether in relation to persons who have Quranic legal inheritance shares or not: "It is decreed for you: when death approaches one of you, and he leaves wealth, to make a testament in favor of the parents and the relatives, fairly and correctly - a duty upon the righteous." (2:180). Strangely, Sunnite fiqh scholars reject and annul the decree of 2:180 within their fiqh rule that says (those who have inheritors should never write a will/testament). This silly fiqh rule contradicts the Quran, and yet, the Sunnites apply and revere it as they reject the Quran; thus, the Sunnite reject Quranic rules about written will and testament mentioned in 2:180-182 and 5:106-108. Shame on those polytheistic Sunnites!

CHAPTER II: What Happens during the Moment of Death

At the threshold of death:

 Those who got very near to the threshold of death but did not pass through it, as they go on living now, have narrated – more or less – the same story; each of them was on the verge of death within deep coma, but because their death-times have not been decreed yet, they were saved and were revived few moments before passing the mysterious threshold of death. Each of these persons, in different countries of the world and who belong to different cultural backgrounds and levels of education, seem to agree on one account: they felt that their souls were floating at the ceiling of the hospital room and they saw their bodies in bed surrounded by people. they described their sensation of floating as a happy one where they saw ethereal waves and colors, but they sensed a certain feeling of sorrow as their souls returned back to their bodies and they were revived from their coma. Of course, those who actually kicked the bucket or passed the gate, i.e., the threshold of death/Barsakh, will never return back to life to narrate anything to the living people. If this were to happen, they would tell people about their dialogue with the angels of death. This dialogue of dying persons' souls with the angels of death is mentioned exclusively, in detail, in the Quran; we would like readers to ponder this scene about the death-bed of a dying person surrounded by other living people: "So when it has reached the throat. As you are looking on. We are nearer to it than you are, but you do not see. If you are not held to account. Then bring it back, if you are truthful." (56:83-87). Thus, the living ones cannot make the soul return to the body of the dying person when taken by the angels of death, who are nearer to the dying person more than those who are surrounding the death-bed. The soul at such a moment leaves the body like taking off an old, worn-out cloak, and the ties of souls with the physical world at this point are severed in order to pass through  the threshold of death; i.e., the threshold of the Barsakh realm of ethereal beings; the soul of the dying person will hold a dialogue with the angels of death. This dialogue and its types are tackled below. The living persons surrounding the death-bed cannot see the soul as it leaves the body of the dead person and cannot see the angels of death, because their own souls are still imprisoned inside the confines of the physical human bodies and the limits of the physical world. Thus, they are unable to see the Barsakh levels or the ethereal realms that exist and overlap with our physical world on earth.      

Between two realms:

 Science tell us that atoms rotate within speeds between 400 billion to 750 billion cycles per second, and when they rotate faster, we can no longer see them. This is why we cannot see fan blades if they rotate at fast speeds; we cannot see atoms of volatile materials though we can smell them. The atoms of the six-dimensional realm rotate faster and we cannot see them because they have vibrational levels that differ from those of our physical world. Hence, we cannot see angels, Jinn, and devils nor souls that get out of the dying bodies. The scientific field called quantum mechanics, which is related to waves, indicates that overlapping or lack of overlapping between bodies is directly linked to the similarity or difference of the vibrational levels. Thus, if both bodies belong to the same realm, it is impossible that they overlap or merge; e.g., a man cannot move with his body through a wall as both the man and the wall have the same vibrational levels. The beings that have higher vibrational levels can overlap with or move through beings that have lower vibrational levels. Thus, angels, Jinn, and devils as ethereal beings can exist on earth as the overlapping between them and the physical world is possible and natural. Thus, the souls inside the human bodies are deemed as another example of this overlapping and merging possible as per this scientific field called quantum mechanics. This applies to radio waves that fill the atmosphere on earth and they never overlap, unless when two waves have the same frequency level. Within our physical realm, solid atoms rotate and vibrate within the speed of 400 billion cycles per second, and this speed increases up to 750 billion cycles per second when solid matter turns into gas and we can barely see gases, and it is impossible for the human naked eye to see energy. Thus, within higher levels of our physical realm, invisible energy types can be detected and used like X-rays, which can penetrate our bodies and solid objects that have lower vibrational levels which include the lowest level for human bodies: 400 billion cycles per second. Let us remember that energy is converted matter and that matter and energy are two faces of the same coin. If there is a being with a vibration level above 750 billion cycles per second, then this being is linked to the Barsakh realm and it is natural that it can overlap/merge with our bodies and that beings of higher levels of Barsakh with higher vibrational levels can overlap/merge with beings with lower vibrational levels. This means that the levels of the Barsakh realm (of angels, Jinn, and devils who are ethereal beings) surround human beings.This means that human beings live within two overlapping realms of the physical realm and the metaphysical one, and each has its different vibrational levels, and this is how the physical bodies contain the souls that originally belong to Barsakh, and this is how on earth, there are human beings and angels (who record deeds of people) while the formers cannot see the latters. Human beings can see the ethereal creatures, i.e., angels, only upon dying and on the Last Day. Thus, there are two elements that overlap inside each one of us: our physical, earthly body and our soul that came originally from Barsakh; death occurs when the soul leaves the body, and leaves the physical realm seen and sensed by us, forever. The human naked eye cannot see everything within its field of vision; God says in the Quran: "Indeed, I swear by what you see. And by what you do not see." (69:38-39). Thus, human beings cannot see the two angels assigned to record deeds of each one of the human beings: "We created the human being, and We know what his soul whispers to him. We are nearer to him than his jugular vein. As the two receivers receive, seated to the right and to the left. Not a word does he utter, but there is a watcher by him, ready. The daze of death has come in truth: "This is what you tried to evade." And the Trumpet is blown: "This is the Promised Day." And every soul will come forward, accompanied by a driver and a witness. You were in heedless of this, so We lifted your screen from you, and your vision today is keen." (50:16-22). Those two angels carry the resurrected soul and its record of deeds on the Last Day, this is the only time when the human soul can see these angels: "You were in heedless of this, so We lifted your screen from you, and your vision today is keen." (50:22).

The human body and the heedless human beings in this transient world:

 The human body is the "screen" mentioned in 50:22, and it dominates and controls the human being. In fact, losers let their bodies, desires, and lusts control their minds and hearts/souls and they thus forget the life-test and the Hereafter until they die suddenly. Upon dying, these losers realize in vain and after it is too late for them that worshiping their bodies and carnal lusts/appetites has been of no use and the body is ruined while they have forgotten, because of their heedlessness and focusing their attention only on physical pleasures, to work hard to make their souls inherit the Eternal Life in Paradise in the new world of eternity. Within many decades of the European renaissance, some philosophers and scientists assumed that anything beyond their senses and outside empiricism, or fields of study, is nonexistent; thus, they rejected the belief in the existence of the metaphysical realm (angels, devils, the Hereafter, etc.) and embraced atheism as a result, as this was part of their rebelling against the Catholic Church and any form of established religion. Yet, within the 20^th century and its advancements in science, scientists now can no longer deny the existence of metaphysical phenomena as the human beings harness and use unseen energy types: the wireless waves, unseen rays (e.g., X-rays, ultraviolent, and infrared), electricity, the electromagnetic energy, and the atomic energy. The link between the energy (as a form of metaphysical, unseen realm) and the physical world is strengthened by the relativity theory; it is easy to convince the human mind now that the metaphysical realm is more powerful than the physical world. This is exemplified by the black holes in the universe, the vibrational levels, and the Superstring theory. Thus, people in the era of modern science must stop being heedless of death, the Afterlife, and the Hereafter; Barsakh levels that overlap within our physical world contain higher beings called angels that record our deeds and evil beings called devils that tempt people to commit sins and deny the Creator; we must ponder deeply on Quranic verses about the future of humanity in the Hereafter: Resurrection, the Last Day, and then Eternal Life in either Hell or Paradise. Thus, knowing about advancements in scientific fields related to physics, the outer-space discoveries of the universe, and studies of nature on our planet increases the faith/belief of monotheists. Idealistically, this should be the case for most human beings; yet, it is a tragedy that most human beings are enslaved to carnal lusts and desires of the human flesh, and most of them never wake up from such heedlessness until they die. Upon the moment of dying, the repentance of (1) those who lived as polytheists and (2) those believers who were addicted to committing sins is never accepted by God. Accepted repentance by God occurs when one is alive and one atones for one's sins by performing good deeds within monotheism, as God never accepts the repentance of those on the verge of death, as we infer this from this verse: "But repentance is not available for those who commit sins, until when death approaches one of them, he says, "Now I repent," nor for those who die as disbelievers. These - We have prepared for them a painful torment." (4:18). Each human being is born as an innocent child who poses the grand questions about God, the universe, and existence, but when human beings grow into adulthood, the carnal lusts and appetites make them forget these grand questions and the aim of their being created within the test of life. Some people take heed and pay attention to the Hereafter when they suffer ailments inflicted on their bodies or accidents/losses that serve as alarms to make them stop being heedless of the Hereafter; yet, sadly, most people who pass through times of adversity return to their old habits of heedlessness and body-worship once their adversity is over, as we infer this from this verse: "When some adversity touches the human being, he prays to his Lord, repenting to Him. But then, when He confers on him a grace of His, he forgets what he was praying for before, and he attributes rivals to God, in order to lead astray from His Way. Say, "Enjoy your disbelief for a little while; you will be among the Hell-dwellers."" (39:8).       

Death is the end of the test of life for each soul:

 As long as the human beings are alive on earth, the records of good and bad deeds are open and new entries are written in them by angels; all deeds we perform emit energy that flies in order to be copied/registered into these audiovisual records held by angels, as we infer from these verses: "For every person We have attached his fate to his neck. And on the Day of Resurrection, We will bring out for him a book which he will find spread open." (17:13); "It is We who revive the dead; and We write down what they have forwarded, and their traces. We have tallied all things in a Clear Record." (36:12). In the moment of one's death, one's lifetime duration and fates preordained for one are fulfilled, and the record of deeds is closed forever (no one can add to it or omit anything from it); hence, the angels of death inform the dying person about the irrevocable decision of the Lord God regarding the fact that he/she is among the losers or the winners; there is no in-between position within the two statuses. At the moment of one's death, then, one cannot add new good deeds, remove bad deeds, or repent after it is too late. The moment of dying is when a person is informed about the result of the life-test imposed on all humanity by God. As for winners in this life-test, they have been monotheists whose sincere faith is accepted by the Lord God, as they have been God-fearing believers who have lived in piety and repented all the time and atoned for their sins, and the angels of death bring them glad tidings when they are about to pass the threshold of Barsakh, on the crossroad between life and the Hereafter: "Unquestionably, God's allies have nothing to fear, nor shall they grieve. Those who believe and are pious. For them is good news in this life, and in the Hereafter. There is no alteration to the words of God. That is the supreme triumph." (10:62-64). As for losers in this life-test, the angels of death informs them about their fate in Hell, as they have lived as polytheists/disbelievers/sinners without repentance. God says in the Quran: "But as for those who disbelieve, and die as disbelievers - those - upon them is the curse of God, and of the angels, and of all humanity." (2:161); "As for those who disbelieve and die disbelievers, even the earth full of gold would not be accepted from any of them, were he to offer it for ransom. These will have a painful torment, and will have no saviors." (3:91); "Those who disbelieve, and hinder from God's Path, and then die as disbelievers - God will not forgive them." (47:34); "...Whoever among you turns back from his religion, and dies a disbeliever - those are they whose works will come to nothing, in this life, and in the Hereafter. Those are the Hell-dwellers, abiding in it forever." (2:217). Thus, this is about those sinners who die without repentance; in contrast, God in the Quran urges real believers to adhere to Islam/monotheism all their lives until they die, as all their senses, minds, bodies, and souls should willingly submit to God; these sincere believers pray and implore God to be allowed to die as real Muslims/submitters: "O you who believe! Revere God in piety with due reverence, and do not die except as Muslims." (3:102); "And Abraham exhorted his sons, and Jacob, "O my sons, God has chosen this religion for you, so do not die unless you have submitted."" (2:132); "...Receive my soul in submission, and unite me with the righteous." (12:101); "...Our Lord! Forgive us our sins, and remit our misdeeds, and make us die in the company of the virtuous." (3:193); "...Our Lord! Pour out patience upon us, and receive our souls in submission." (7:126).  

Do the angels of death take the (soul) or the (spirit) of the dead persons?:

 It is a common mistake to assume that (spirits) are what leave human bodies when people die. The (souls) is the right and correct word; human beings have no (spirits); the Quranic term (soul) is the one used in the Quran to refer to human beings with or without their bodies created of dust. God says in the Quran: "On the Day when every soul will come pleading for itself, and every soul will be paid in full for what it has done, and they will not be wronged." (16:111); "Whoever acts righteously does so for himself; and whoever works evil does so against himself. Your Lord is not unjust to the servants." (41:46); see also 6:98, 4:1, 39:42, and 50:21. In contrast, the Quranic term (spirit) refers to the archangel Gabriel (i.e., the Holy Spirit) who  has carried Scriptures and divine revelation to God's messengers (this is why the Quran itself is described in the Quranic text by the term [spirit]) and still carries divine decrees/commands to earth in the Night of Decree. Gabriel's missions include carrying souls to be breathed into human bodies of those to be born; this is why the term (spirit) is linked to the creation of Adam (who had no parents) and Jesus (who had no father). Let us quote the Quranic verses that carry these meanings of the Quranic term (spirit): "She screened herself away from them, and We sent to her Our spirit, and he appeared to her as a human being. She said, "I take refuge from you in the Dominant Lord, should you be righteous." He said, "I am only the messenger of your Lord, to give you the gift of a pure son."" (19:17-19); "And she who guarded her virginity. We breathed into her of Our spirit, and made her and her son a sign to the world." (21:91); "The likeness of Jesus in God's sight is that of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him, "Be," and he was." (3:59); "O People of the Book! Do not exaggerate in your religion, and do not say about God except the Truth. The Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, is the messenger of God, and His word that He conveyed to Mary, and a spirit from Him..." (4:171); "He sends down the angels with the spirit by His command, upon whom He wills of His servants..." (16:2); "...He conveys the spirit, by His command, upon whomever He wills of His servants..." (40:15); "Say, "Whoever is hostile to Gabriel - it is he who revealed it to your heart by God's leave..." (2:97); "The Honest Spirit came down with it. Upon your heart, that you may be one of the warners." (26:193-194); "We thus inspired you a spirit, by Our command..." (42:52). Thus, the term (spirit) has nothing to do with the term (soul) that refers to human souls inside our bodies or souls of the dead or those of the yet-to-be-born persons. It is better linguistically and logically and as per the Quranic terms to say that the dead persons' souls (and NOT spirits) left their bodies.

Is dying painful?:

 The source of fear of death within the minds of most people is the strange, false notion held by them that dying is painful, especially if the dead person was killed or put to death (by hanging, etc. by law). Another very strange, false notion in backward cultures is to check and gaze at the dead person's face to examine the facial expression if it would show pain, joy, etc. This has nothing to do with Islam. In general, the human body has its limits in experiencing pleasure and pain; thus, after exceeding certain threshold of pleasure, one can no longer feel anything and it will not go on with this or that pleasurable activity; likewise, when one exceeds certain threshold of pain, one falls unconscious and never feels anything. Hence, when the soul is about to pass the threshold/gate of Barsakh upon dying, all its ties with the human body is severed; i.e., the human body feels no pain at all and is unable to feel the physical world surrounding it. The soul leaves the body for good by death to return to Barsakh, its original location; this occurs temporarily during daily sleep, when the soul returns to Barsakh to have some rest from the confines of the body and returns to the body upon waking up. When one dies, the soul remains in Barsakh in a state of deep slumber until the Day of Resurrection. We conclude, then, that the moment of dying feels like a good/bad dream as per the fate deserved and earned by the dying person as per faith/deeds, because there are many similarities between slumber and death.      

Between slumber and death:

 Within a unique scientific experiment done in 1988 at the University of California, it has been proven that human beings die every 90 seconds during deep slumber. The Quran, which has been descended/revealed by God 1400 years ago, asserts this link between slumber and death, or between the temporary Barsakh of sleep and the permanent Barsakh of death; the Quran considers sleep as a temporary form of death, as per this verse: "God takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that have not died during their sleep. He retains those for which He has decreed death, and He releases the others until a predetermined time. In that are signs for people who reflect." (39:42). Let us imagine that two people are sleeping in one bed-chamber; the soul of one of them is never sent back from Barsakh as this person actually died, whereas the soul of the other person returned to its body, upon waking up in the morning, because the predestined death-time for this person has not come yet. Science tells us that human eyeballs (a.k.a., the globe of the eye) of sleepers roll during sleep; this also occurs upon the moment of dying of any person: "...you see them staring at you - their eyes rolling-like someone fainting at death..." (33:19). Thus, there is little difference between sleepers and those who fainted or lost their consciousness, and both sleep and loss of consciousness are features of death: "... you see those in whose hearts is sickness looking at you with the look of someone fainting at death..." (47:20). Thus, fainting and sleep are similar to death in the fact that souls return to the ethereal Barsakh realm: temporarily in sleep/fainting and for good within death until the Last Day. God says the following about death: "The daze of death has come in Truth..." (50:19). This daze is like fainting/coma or deep slumber; this daze indicates that the dying person who gives up the soul, received by the angels of death, of course, does not feel the physical world, the body, nor the presence of those surrounding the death-bed, as the soul at such a moment is on the threshold of Barsakh. Likewise, science tell us that human beings during deep slumber do not hear or feel anything within their surroundings at all; this state occurs gradually as we begin to sleep and ends gradually as we begin to wake up. The sleeper's night is alternating cycles between deep slumber (similar to death) and light sleep. Within the story of the people of the cave mentioned in the Quranic Chapter 18, we find some scientific facts about sleep, including the importance of turning and changing the position of the body during sleep to avoid bedsores or pressure sores, as we infer from this verse: "You would think them awake, although they were asleep. And We turned them over to the right, and to the left..." (18:18). This turning over many times is the main difference between sleep (i.e., temporary death) and real, physical death of the body after the soul leaves it for good. The people of the cave underwent deep slumber miraculously for 309 years, during which they lost consciousness of their surroundings: "Then We sealed their ears in the cave for a number of years. Then We awakened them..." (18:11-12). Likewise, dead people never hear anything; the polytheists are likened in the Quran to the dead persons who never hear the Quranic Truth: "You cannot make the dead hear, nor can you make the deaf hear the call if they turn their backs and flee." (27:80); "You cannot make the dead hear, nor can you make the deaf hear the call when they turn away." (30:52). This inability to hear or feel anything is the main similarity between death and sleep; this means that there is no physical pain felt at all during the moment of dying when angels of death take one's soul. There is no sense of pain during deep slumber and within fainting and coma; likewise, the patient who suffers severe pains or is about to undergo surgery are given anesthetics so as not to feel any pains in their bodies. Hence, we conclude that when the angels of death take the soul and make it leave the body, there is no physical pain at all experienced by the dying person; this is similar to wholesome sleep that makes patients in pain have some rest or repose. By the way, when one wakes up, one's facial features are very much nearer to the features of dead persons and people wash their faces with water (or take a shower) upon waking up, as water is the source of life to restore the vitality and beauty of their faces. Thus, since we sleep/die every night and we wake up/are resurrected every morning, there is no reason to fear any alleged pains upon dying.

Dreams of sleepers in Barsakh and dreams of the dying person in death-bed:

 That one's soul is imprisoned in the confines of the physical body means its being under the control of the element of time; in fact, time is the fourth dimension of any physical body. The soul is an ethereal, Barsakh creature, and when it leaves the body temporarily during sleep, it is freed from the fourth dimension of time, because Barsakh is a state of timelessness (i.e., with no past, present, or future). The physical body is contained with the frame of time (past, present, and future), but the soul in the temporary Barsakh of sleep may see/experience an event within visions/dreams that last for a few seconds and that might occur in the future in the physical world after certain longer durations. This is why we feel that some dreams/visions predict some events of one's future. Yet, because the earthly realm differs from that of the Barsakh and because of distortions, confusions, and oblivion that occur within the subconscious, one's dreams/visions appear within a symbolic manner. Of course, many visions seen during sleep are mere nonsensical and meaningless jumbles of dreams, and few visions really foretell some events that will take place. God has neglected nothing in the Quran; the Quranic facts about dreams/visions are found in the story of Joseph in the Quranic Chapter 12. Visions that predict future events are seen during sleep by monotheists like Joseph and polytheists (the Hyksos king of Egypt and the two prisoners with Joseph), unlike the common notion held now that visions are seen only by good men and women. Before Joseph would interpret the visions of the two prisoners which came true later on, he called them to embrace Islam/monotheism; the Hyksos king who had the vision of a famine was not a believer, and he believed the interpretation of Joseph and appointed him as the Treasurer or the Potiphar of Egypt. The visions mentioned in the Quranic Chapter 12 are symbolic; e.g., when Joseph saw 11 planets, the sun, and the moon bowing down to him (see 12:4-6), this was realized when his 11 brothers and his father and mother bowed down to him after being brought to Egypt (see 12:100). The dream of the Hyksos king of the 7 fat cows being eaten by 7 lean ones and the 7 green stalks and the 7 dried-up stalks symbolizes 7 years of prosperity followed by 7 years of famine (see 12:43-49). The symbolic dreams of the two prisoners with Joseph (see 12:36 and 12:41) stood for the job one man of them would receive and the death/crucifixion of the other man.          

The taste of death:

 When one sees a nightmare during one's sleep, one gets rid of it by waking up, and although one's body enjoys the repose of wholesome sleep, one's soul suffers because of this nightmare, and one's memory of it might trouble the person for days. Some nightmares linger for a while within one's subconscious and cause mental disturbances and psychological suffering that entail psychiatric help; in such cases, we can say that the soul (and NOT the body) has tasted a measure of pain/bitterness. When one sees a happy dream during one's sleep, its influence of joy lingers for a while within one's memory for days; in such cases, we can say that the soul (and NOT the body) has tasted a measure of happiness. Likewise, the soul (and NOT the body) is the one that will taste death as much as it tastes sleep. God says in the Quran: "Every soul will have a taste of death..." (3:185, 21:35, and 29:57). God has said the following to Muhammad within the context of warning him against attributing to God anything other than the Quranic verses: "Then We would have made you taste double in life, and double in death..." (17:75). This means that the taste of death brings happiness to the souls that are informed, by the angels of death, of Paradise as their reward; in contrast, the taste of death brings pain/bitterness to the souls that are informed, by the angels of death, of Hell as their fate.   

The dialogue of the angels of death with the dying person:

 When the dying persons' souls are at the threshold of Barsakh, they are freed forever from the confines of their bodies, the physical world, and time. The dying persons realize with their full mental capacity that they are not entering into a state of sleep; they feel panic because – however pious they may have been – they are sure they are not ready to die or that they have not prepared enough good deeds for their Eternal Life. The panic is due to the fact that they see ethereal beings (i.e., the angels of death) for the first time. The good people will feel glad when informed of their reward in Paradise. Of course, unrepentant sinners and polytheists will be in the worst state of panic ever, as the angels of death inform them of their fate in Hell while rebuking them severely. We are not to pity those sinners; they used to deny and ridicule the Hereafter and the metaphysical realm and deem them as mere mythology in order to go on worshiping their bodies and following their desires, whims, as well as carnal lusts and appetites. Thus, their moment of dying is filled with remorse, fear, and sorrow because it is too late for them, and this is worse than the angels of death rebuking them severely. Death in the Quran is called "certainty", as we infer from this verse: "And worship your Lord until you attain certainty." (15:99). Hence, this means that at the moment of death, one gains certainty about everything: one's life-test result, one's fate, the transience of life, the existence of the metaphysical realm, etc. Upon dying, people are divided into three categories mentioned in the Quranic Chapter 56: two categories informed of their reward in Paradise (i.e., the Forerunners and those on the Right) and one category (i.e., those on the Left) informed of their fate in Hell. Hence, the dialogue of the angels of death is different within each of the three categories. These verses describe the moment of dying: "So when it has reached the throat. As you are looking on. We are nearer to it than you are, but you do not see. If you are not held to account. Then bring it back, if you are truthful. But if he is one of those brought near. Then mercy, and flowers, and Garden of Bliss. And if he is one of those on the Right. Then, "Peace upon you," from those on the Right. But if he is one of the deniers, the misguided. Then a welcome of Inferno. And burning in Hell. This is the Certain Truth." (56:83-95). Hence, these verses describe at first the moment of dying as the soul reaches the throat and is about to be released forever from the confines of the body, severing all ties with it, while those persons surrounding  the death-bed stare at the dying person whose soul is leaving the body and they cannot stop what is going on, as Almighty God's angels are nearer to the dying person than anyone else, taking the soul away into the ethereal Barsakh realm, never seen by the living people. This shows God's Dominance and Omnipotence. The challenge is as follows: if one is skeptic, one should try to return the soul into the dead body of a person or try to stop death coming near this person. Since no one can do that, they must believe in God's Supreme Power and Control over the universe and over all creatures. Atheists, sinners, and disbelievers cannot stop the death of their loved ones and they also cannot keep off or postpone their own death. The sinners upon dying will in vain plead for mercy or for a second chance of life, but it will be too late for them. No human or earthly power can stop the death of a dying person when this person's soul is seized by the angels of death, who inform the soul of its eternal reward or fate that will be realized after the Day of Judgment and the Last-Day events from which no one can be absent. The phrase (those brought near) in 56:88 refers to the higher rank of Paradise-dwellers; i.e., the Forerunners mentioned in 56:10-26, who are the most pious persons of sincere belief and many good deeds. Their moment of death is a happy one as they are informed of mercy and Paradise. The lower rank of Paradise-dwellers are those on the Right mentioned in 56:27-40, whose piety and deeds are accepted by God but their deeds has not reached the quantity and quality of the deeds done by the Forerunners; this category also includes those who have committed grave sins but atoned for them within piety and sincere repentance and performed many good deeds before they died. Both categories of Paradise-dwellers will experience peace from the angels of death who take their souls. In contrast, as for those on the Left, who are mentioned in 56:41-56, and who are disbelieving sinners who have denied the Quranic verses and have been misguided in terms of faith and behavior, the angels of death rebuke them and inform them of their fate in Hell torment. In 56:95, we are informed that this is the absolute certainty or truth that the dying persons will experience at the moment of their dying.       

The dialogue of the angels of death with the pious persons:

 As for those dying persons who have spent their lives in piety and obedience within monotheistic belief, the angels of death allay their fears and tell them never to grieve, and their souls enter into the Barsakh realm after they are informed of their being among the Paradise-dwellers, as they will enter into Paradise after the Day of Resurrection. God says in the Quran: "Those who are good when the angels take them, they will say to them, "Peace be upon you; enter Paradise, for what you used to do."" (16:32); "Unquestionably, God's allies have nothing to fear, nor shall they grieve. Those who believe and are pious. For them is good news in this life, and in the Hereafter. There is no alteration to the words of God. That is the supreme triumph." (10:62-64); "Surely, those who say: "Our Lord is God," and then go straight, the angels will descend upon them: "Do not fear, and do not grieve, but rejoice in the news of the Garden which you were promised. We are your allies in this life and in the Hereafter, wherein you will have whatever your souls desire, and you will have therein whatever you call for. As Hospitality from the All-Forgiving, Merciful Lord."" (41:30-32). Hence, God's allies are those God-fearing, pious monotheists of all eras who performed good deeds, seeking to please their Almighty Lord God during their lifetimes.

The dialogue of the angels of death with the disobedient sinners:

 Some persons assume that they are labeled (i.e., nominally) as Muslims or that they are included under the banner of the Islamic faith, although they have spent their lifetimes in sins and within disobedience of the Lord God; they have never repented at all and were heedless of the Hereafter, and they will regret this wretched status upon dying, after it will be too late for them, as they have lost their chance (and will never be given a second one) to perform good deeds to earn Paradise, and thus, they have lost their real future by being unprepared, as they were busy with wealth and possessions of the transient world. They will scream while declaring their repentance to the angels of death, but in vain, of course: "But repentance is not available for those who commit sins, until when death approaches one of them, he says, "Now I repent,"..." (4:18); "Those wronging their souls while the angels are taking them away-they will propose peace: "We did no wrong." Yes you did. God is aware of what you used to do." Enter the gates of Hell, to dwell therein forever. Miserable is the residence of the arrogant ones." (16:28-29); "Until, when death comes to one of them, he says, "My Lord, send me back. That I may do right in what I have neglected." By no means! It is just a word that he utters. And behind them is a barrier/Barsakh, until the Day they are resurrected." (23:99-100); "O you who believe! Let neither your possessions nor your children distract you from the remembrance of God. Whoever does that-these are the losers. And give from what We have provided for you, before death approaches one of you, and he says, "My Lord, if only You would delay me for a short while, so that I may be charitable, and be one of the righteous." But God will not delay a soul when its time has come. God is Informed of what you do." (63:9-11). Those disobedient ones include those who did not immigrate to flee religious persecution, though they have been able to move away and could afford immigration, and instead, they have allowed transgressors to oppress them and misguide/mislead them away from the Straight Path of their Lord God: "While the angels are removing the souls of those who have wronged themselves, they will say, "What was the matter with you?" They will say, "We were oppressed in the land." They will say, "Was God's earth not vast enough for you to emigrate in it?" These - their refuge is Hell. What a wretched retreat! Except for the weak among men, and women, and children who have no means to act, and no means to find a way out. These - God may well pardon them. God is Pardoning and Forgiving." (4:97-99).

The dialogue of the angels of death with polytheists:

 God does not accept the repentance of disobedient ones, sinners, and polytheists when declared upon the moment of their dying, when it will be too late for them: "But repentance is not available for those who commit sins, until when death approaches one of them, he says, "Now I repent,"..." (4:18). Polytheists typically deny and disbelieve in God's Verses as they believe instead in false notions, beliefs, and narratives ascribed falsely to God and to His religion. Upon dying, polytheists will be asked by the angels of death about their allies/deities/saints worshiped by them all their lives: "Who does greater wrong than he who invents lies about God, or denies His Verses? These - their share of the decree will reach them. Until, when Our envoys come to them, to take their souls away, they will say, "Where are they whom you used to pray to besides God?" They will say, "They have abandoned us," and they will testify against themselves that they were faithless. He will say, "Join the crowds of jinn and humans who have entered into Hell before you." Every time a crowd enters, it will curse its sister-crowd. Until, when they are all in it, the last of them will say to the first of them, "Our Lord, these are the ones who misled us, so inflict on them a double torment in Hell." He will say, "Each will have a double, but you do not know."" (7:37-38). Some polytheists have specialized all their lives in ascribing lies and falsehoods to God and to Muhammad (i.e., Sunnite, Shiite, and Sufi authors/sheikhs/clergymen); some other polytheists (esp. Sufis) spread such lies by claiming that God talks to them or inspires them within visions/dreams or revelation, and the moment of dying of such polytheists is described in this verse: ""Who does worse injustice than someone who invents falsehood against God, or says, "It was revealed to me," when nothing was revealed to him, or says, "I will reveal the like of what God revealed"? If only you could see the unjust ones in the floods of death, as the angels with arms outstretched: "Give up your souls. Today you are being repaid with the torment of shame for having said about God other than the Truth, and for being too proud to accept His Verses."" (6:93). The angels of death kick and slap polytheists: "If only you could see, as the angels take away those who disbelieve, striking their faces and their bottoms: "Taste the agony of the Burning."" (8:50); "How about when the angels take them at death, beating their faces and their bottoms? That is because they pursued what displeases God, and they disliked His approval, so He nullified their works." (47:27-28). Self-deified polytheists are imitating and following the footsteps of Moses' Pharaoh who declared his self-deification and imposed on people to worship him as a deity/god: "And gathered and proclaimed. He said, "I am your Lord, the most high." So God seized him with an exemplary punishment, in the last and in the first." (79:23-25). Upon dying by being drowned in the Red Sea, Moses' Pharaoh, in vain and after it was too late for him, declared his submission to, and belief in, the Lord God: "...when he was about to drown, he said, "I believe that there is no God except the One the Israelites believe in, and I am of those who submit. Now? When you have rebelled before, and been of the corrupters." (10:90-91). God never accepts such repentance declared upon dying; the same applies to self-deified polytheists/transgressors who, within the worst fear, will demand a second chance of life or postponement of their death in order to repent, but in vain.      

CHAPTER III: About the Metaphysical Realm of Barsakh

Each one of us has two deaths, two lives, and two Barsakh realms:

 One of the often forgotten Quranic facts about death is that every human beings dies twice and lives twice; this is will be experienced on the Last Day, and within the final judgment, the sinners will say the following: "They will say, "Our Lord, you made us die twice, and twice you gave us life. Now we acknowledge our sins. Is there any way out?"" (40:11). This fact is asserted again in this verse: "How can you deny God, when you were dead and He gave you life, then He will put you to death, then He will bring you to life, then to Him you will be returned?" (2:28). Hence, our souls have been in a state of death in the Barsakh realm before we were born; this is the first death. Our first life is when the soul enters into the embryo; the second death is when the soul leaves the body for good to return to Barsakh and the body decomposes and turns to dust. The second life is on the Day of Resurrection, and this is the eternal life of all human souls, some in Hell and some in Paradise after the judgment of the Last Day. Hell-dwellers and Paradise-dwellers will never die; i.e., in this case, death itself will die; it will end forever and will never re-exist. Thus, the bliss and pleasures of Paradise-dwellers continue forever, and this applies also to the endless, relentless, and unabated torment of sinners and disbelievers in Hell: "Those who reject Our Verses - We will scorch them inside Hell. Every time their skins are cooked, We will replace them with other skins, so they will experience the torment..." (4:56); "Beyond him lies Hell, and he will be given to drink putrid water. He will guzzle it, but he will not swallow it. Death will come at him from every direction, but he will not die. And beyond this is relentless torment." (14:16-17); "He who will enter the Gigantic Hell-Fire. Where he will neither die, nor live." (87:12-13); "Whoever comes to his Lord guilty, for him is Hell, where he neither dies nor lives." (20:74); "As for those who disbelieve, for them is the Fire of Hell, wherein they will never be finished off and die, nor will its torment be lightened for them. Thus We will repay every disbeliever." (35:36). Of course, within the Quranic indications, we can understand how souls in Barsakh remained before being born in this world and before wearing human bodies. The Barsakh realm is a metaphysical location of timelessness, where all souls of human beings (from Adam to the last person on earth) have been created by God at one time from one soul that generates all human souls. "O people! Fear your Lord, who created you from a single soul, and created from it its mate, and propagated from them many men and women..." (4:1); "It is He who created you from a single soul, and made from it its mate..." (7:189); "He created you from one soul, then made from it its mate..." (39:6); "And it is He who produced you from a single person, then a repository, then a depository..." (6:98). This metaphysical Barsakh-level depository (or storing place) contains the souls of the dead and the souls of those yet to be born. The Resurrection on the Last Day will occur to all souls together at the same time and the same manner: "Your creation and your Resurrection are only as a single soul..." (31:28). God has inscribed monotheism (i.e., the belief in the One True God, Allah, the Lord of the universe) into all human souls within this ethereal realm of Barsakh timelessness: "And when Your Lord summoned the descendants of Adam, and made them testify about themselves. "Am I not your Lord?" They said, "Yes, we testify." Thus you cannot say on the Day of Resurrection, "We were unaware of this." Nor can you Say, "Our ancestors practiced polytheism before; and we are their descendants who came after them; will you destroy us for what the rejecters did?"" (7:172-173). Each soul is born on earth and made to wear a body in order to be tested for a certain duration while they are dominated by time. Within the predestined death-time specified for each person, the soul is taken by the angels of death; it leaves the body for good to return to its original place: Barsakh. This is the second death, as the first one was when souls were in Barsakh before being born on earth. On the Last Day, resurrected soul will be brought back to life, while wearing new, eternal bodies woven/created from their (bad or good) deeds, and these bodies will never die nor get worn-out and they will be able to live/exist for eternity, either in Hell-torment or in Paradise-bliss. Thus, the second death is similar to the first one: a state of coma or senselessness within the timeless Barsakh level. This is how we experience death twice when souls exist in the mysterious Barsakh realm; likewise, we live twice: one time temporarily on earth and one time forever in the Hereafter after the Day of Judgment; as Hell-dwellers and Paradise-dwellers will never die.    

The Barsakh realm:

 Our physical realm of existence is contained within the dimension of time, and this is why to explain and simplify the topic of the Barsakh realm which we tackle here, we name the one of yet-to-be-born souls (of the first death BEFORE the test of life) as Barsakh Level One and the second one of the souls of the dead (of the second death AFTER the test of life) as Barsakh Level Two. Hence, we assert the following: the soul of our late father is now inside Barsakh Level Two in his second death, because he fulfilled his first lifetime duration. Before our father was born, his soul was in Barsakh Level One, and this was his first death. The souls of our yet-to-be born grandchild is still in Barsakh Level One. And because souls in both Barsakh Level One and Barsakh Level Two are in a state of slumber and senselessness, the souls of our late father in Barsakh Level Two and our grandchild in Barsakh Level One cannot contact each other, as souls in both levels never talk or see one another (even souls of the dead never contact one another). Similarly, living people cannot contact or talk to the dead ones when they visit their tombs; as the graveyards contain senseless bodies turned into bones and dust, and souls of the dead in Barsakh Level Two cannot contact living ones on earth. Again, souls of those who are yet to be born cannot contact one another at all. In sum, the dead cannot hear, see, sense, or feel anything at all; God asserts this fact to Muhammad: "Nor are equal the living and the dead. God causes whomever He wills to hear, but you cannot make those in the graves hear. You are only a warner." (35:22-23). We infer that the phrase (God causes whomever He wills to hear) in 35:22 refers to, among other things, to making yet-to-be-born souls hear about God and monotheism as per 7:172-173.

Refuting the mythology about souls of the dead in Barsakh contacting the living people on earth:

 Part of the religious mythology worldwide in all eras (and the mythology of the Sunnite, Sufi, Shiite Muhammadans is no exception) is the strange, false notion that the souls of the dead have the ability to contact (and grant the wishes of) living people. This is the reason (within many cultures worldwide) behind worshiping and sanctifying mausoleums of the so-called 'saints' and seeking their benediction and aid to provide solutions to problems of their worshipers. This laughter-inducing myth is refuted in the Quran: "If you pray to them, they cannot hear your prayer. And even if they heard, they would not answer you. And on the Day of Resurrection, they will reject your polytheism. None informs you like an Expert." (35:14). Thus, how come that some people assume that the dead can contact them or hear them?! God says the following in the Quran: "You cannot make the dead hear, nor can you make the deaf hear the call if they turn their backs and flee." (27:80); "You cannot make the dead hear, nor can you make the deaf hear the call when they turn away." (30:52); "Those you call upon besides God are servants like you. So call upon them, and let them answer you, if you are truthful. Do they have feet with which they walk? Or do they have hands with which they strike? Or do they have eyes with which they see? Or do they have ears with which they hear?..." (7:194-195); "Those they invoke besides God create nothing, but are themselves created. They are dead, not alive; and they do not know when they will be resurrected." (16:20-21). Hence, the dead people's bodies have turned into bones and dust, and this is why they are buried into the earth from which they are created and from which they will be resurrected: "From it We created you, and into it We will return you, and from it We will bring you out another time." (20:55). Thus, the real human beings (i.e., their souls) have returned to Barsakh in a state of senselessness and timelessness; they cannot be contacted by anyone and they cannot contact anyone. The last feeling a dying person feels is the dialogue held with the angels of death. Once resurrected, each human being will feel as if he/she slept for a day or part of a day and they will remember the moment of their death as if it has occurred moments ago. This is because of the timelessness of the Barsakh metaphysical realm; hence, Adam, the father of all humanity, and the last one of his progeny on earth will get the same feeling, upon Resurrection, of having slept for a brief duration, though Adam died thousands of years ago in terms of man-made calculations of the time on earth. Even within the parable of the man whom God caused to sleep for 100 years, he woke up while feeling that as if he slept for a short duration: "Or like him who passed by a town collapsed on its foundations. He said, "How can God revive this after its demise?" Thereupon God caused him to die for a hundred years, and then resurrected him. He said, "For how long have you tarried?" He said, "I have tarried for a day, or part of a day." He said, "No. You have tarried for a hundred years..." (2:259). This asserts the fact that death is about senselessness and timelessness; this is asserted in the Quranic story of the people of the cave whom God caused to sleep for 309 years: "Even so, We awakened them, so that they may ask one another. A speaker among them said, "How long have you stayed?" They said, "We have stayed a day, or part of a day." They said, "Your Lord knows best how long you have stayed."..." (18:19). Hence, in this Quranic story, the people of the cave never felt the passage of time nor the changes that occurred to their city: new generations, rulers, etc., and this is why they were afraid of religious persecution when they sent someone with money to get some food: "..."Send one of you to the city, with this money of yours, and let him see which food is most suitable, and let him bring you some provision thereof. And let him be gentle, and let no one become aware of you." "If they discover you, they will stone you, or force you back into their religion; then you will never be saved."" (18:19-20). Upon Resurrection on the Last Day, both sinners and good ones will feel as though they slept for a day or part of a day (or "an hour", as per Quranic terms). "On the Day when the Hour takes place, the sinners will swear they had stayed but an hour. Thus they were deluded. But those endowed with knowledge and faith will say, "You remained in God's Book until the Day of Resurrection. This is the Day of Resurrection, but you did not know."" (30:55-56); "On the Day when the Trumpet is blown - We will gather the sinners on that Day, blue. Murmuring among themselves: "You have lingered only for ten." We are fully aware of what they say, when the most exemplary of them in conduct will say, "You have lingered only a day."" (20:102-104). The Quran makes the link between the last feeling of a dying person on earth before the soul enters into Barsakh and the first feeling after the soul leaves Barsakh on the Day of Resurrection to show that the Barsakh duration in between both feelings is never felt by the soul as no contact, feeling, or dialogue would ever occur in Barsakh. "Who does worse injustice than someone who invents falsehood against God, or says, "It was revealed to me," when nothing was revealed to him, or says, "I will reveal the like of what God revealed"? If only you could see the unjust ones in the floods of death, as the angels with arms outstretched: "Give up your souls. Today you are being repaid with the torment of shame for having said about God other than the Truth, and for being too proud to accept His Verses." "You have come to Us individually, just as We created you the first time, leaving behind you everything We gave you. We do not see with you your intercessors-those you claimed were your partners. The link between you is cut, and what you had asserted has failed you."" (6:93-94). Thus, the context of 6:93-94 shows clearly the dialogue held at the moment of dying for the unjust ones and how this dialogue is continued on the Last Day. Between both moments in 6:93-94, there is the Barsakh realm which is a state of senselessness and no contacts/dialogues occur. Hence, death and Resurrection are felt as one joint process: "The daze of death has come in Truth: "This is what you tried to evade." And the Trumpet is blown: "This is the Promised Day."" (50:19-20). Thus, after feeling and experiencing the moment of death, one feels next the Resurrection on the Last Day, and between both moments, one feels nothing at all in Barsakh. This Quranic fact refutes and negates the Sunnite mythology of angels questioning judging the dead people in their tombs (as if it were a miniature experience of the Last Day before it takes place!), and this myth harkens back to the Pharaonic mythology that tells us about Osiris, the Pharaonic god of death and of the dead, who in his court judges and questions the dead souls to decide to make them enter into bliss or into torment. Barsakh is a state of senselessness and timelessness as if souls are in deep slumber until the Day of Resurrection: "Until, when death comes to one of them, he says, "My Lord, send me back. That I may do right in what I have neglected." By no means! It is just a word that he utters. And behind them is a barrier/Barsakh, until the Day they are resurrected." (23:99-100). The term "Barsakh" in the Arabic tongue literally means a "barrier" which prevents two things from reaching or contacting each other; e.g., in this life, this applies to seas and rivers, as the salty sea-water will not go into the sweet, drinkable river-water: "He merged the two seas, converging together. Between them is a barrier, which they do not overrun." (55:19-20); "And it is He who merged the two seas; this one fresh and sweet, and that one salty and bitter; and He placed between them a barrier/Barsakh, and an impassable boundary." (25:53). The Barsakh realm, then, is a barrier between the first life in this physical realm and the second, eternal life in the Hereafter that will commence after the Last Day; thus, it is impossible that this Barsakh realm may contain a type of life for the souls of the dead and it certainly contains no judgment at all. The Quran never mentions that the souls of the dead would be tormented or live in bliss, as dead people in their tombs cannot hear or sense anything until resurrected on the Last Day; see 35:22, 60:13, 22:7, 82:4, and 100:9. For further details about this topic, we refer readers to our book (in English) titled "The Myth of the Torment Of the Grave", found on this link: (http://www.ahl-alquran.com/arabic/book_main.php?main_id=101). Yet, the Quran mentions that within an ethereal, metaphysic world, souls of Moses' Pharaoh and his people who were drowned in the Red Sea are tormented (and thus, they feel the passage of time) in a way we cannot imagine: "...while a terrible torment besieged Pharaoh's people – Hell; they will be exposed to it morning and evening. And on the Day the Hour takes place: "Admit the people of Pharaoh to the most intense torment."" (40:45-46). This applies to the people of Noah who drowned in the deluge/flood and are tormented until the Day of Resurrection: "Because of their sins, they were drowned, and were hurled into a Fire..." (71:25). Those people who are killed for God's sake and because they served His cause are living in the ethereal Barsakh Paradise, but how this is happening cannot be imagined or sensed by our limited minds; God tells us not to deem such people as 'dead' because they are alive in the Barsakh Paradise: "And do not say of those who are killed in the cause of God, "Dead." Rather, they are alive, but you do not perceive." (2:154). Thus, there are Quranic indications to help us understand the fact that these souls are alive in a unique manner, enjoying bliss and pleasures within the unreachable dimension/location of the Barsakh Paradise: "Do not consider those killed in the cause of God as dead. In fact, they are alive, at their Lord, well provided for. Delighting in what God has given them out of His grace, and happy for those who have not yet joined them; that they have nothing to fear, nor will they grieve. They rejoice in grace from God, and bounty, and that God will not waste the reward of the believers." (3:169-171). This means that these souls in the Barsakh Paradise somehow felt the existence of those who were with them on earth and wished that they may join them in this sheer bliss. The Quranic example of this is found in the parable in the Quranic Chapter 36 about a man who was killed for being a believer and he entered into this Barsakh Paradise, as he supported the three messengers of God sent to a certain town (and who were threatened by disbelievers to be stoned to death; see 36:18), and he paid the price for being outspoken and vociferous regarding telling the Truth; this man somehow in the Barsakh Paradise felt the existence of his people on earth and wished that the believers among them may join him in this sheer bliss. "Then a man came running from the remotest part of the town. He said, "O my people, follow the messengers."" (36:20); "I have believed in your Lord, so listen to me." It was said, "Enter Paradise." He said, "If only my people knew. How my Lord has forgiven me, and made me one of the honored."" (36:25-27). Thus, it is a Quranic fact that the souls of those who were killed for God's sake can feel other people living on earth, but the living people cannot contact or feel the existence of these souls that reside in the Barsakh Paradise. Thus, because they paid their life to please their Almighty Lord God, they are alive in the Barsakh Paradise (not 'dead' as assumed by their loved ones and as wished by their enemies), whereas other souls of the dead are senseless in deep slumber in the Barsakh level or repository/depository. In contrast, the self-deified Moses' Pharaoh went to extremes of disbelief as he denied God's existence and ridiculed Him and as he put believers to death; he met his death by being drowned in the Red Sea while chasing the believers led by Moses during the Exodus; he chased them to maintain his control, persecution, and torture inflicted on the Israelites. This is why Moses' Pharaoh is mentioned in the Quran as a leader/imam to all polytheistic transgressors on the Last Day, leading them into Hell. The reward of Moses' Pharaoh after he died, after living within serving the evil ways of Satan, is to be tormented in Barsakh along with his evil people who drowned with him. This means that Moses' Pharaoh and his people feel the passage of time during their Barsakh-level torment until the Last Day; see 28:38-42; 40:36-37, 79:21-25, 40:45-46, and 11:98-99. 

Rituals of the burial of the dead:

 The Quran mentions that human beings are honored by the Lord God: "We have honored the Children of Adam, and carried them on land and sea, and provided them with good things, and greatly favored them over many of those We created." (17:70). Part of this honoring of human beings is to bury their dead; this is taught by God who sent a raven to teach the murderous son of Adam to bury his brother whom he murdered: "Then his soul prompted him to kill his brother, so he killed him, and became one of the losers. Then God sent a raven digging the ground, to show him how to cover his brother's corpse. He said, "Woe to me! I was unable to be like this raven, and bury my brother's corpse." So he became full of regrets." (5:30-31). Yet, human beings have invented rituals of the burial of the dead that have nothing to do with Islam; e.g., to wash the dead bodies with water before burial, to cover them with shrouds or to clothe them, to attend funerals or funerary ceremonies or customs, or to mummify them so as to prevent the process of decomposition. The only Islamic act regarding the burial of the dead person is to pray (at the tomb or the cemetery) for this person and implore God to have mercy on him/her after the burial is done. God has prevented Muhammad from praying for the souls of the dead disbelieving hypocrites at their tombs: "You are never to pray over anyone of them who dies, nor are you to stand at his graveside. They rejected God and His Messenger, and died while they were sinners." (9:84). The word "Messenger" here refers to the Quran: God's Word. The Ancient Egyptians during the Pharaonic Era exaggerated their honoring their dead: they filled the burial chambers with food items and inscribed 'holy' incantations and magic words on the walls so as to grant 'bliss' to the souls of the dead. Such practices have nothing to do with Islam; yet, many Egyptians until now bring certain food items to be consumed (and distributed to the poor) as they visit cemeteries and tombs of their relatives and ancestors and hire Quran-reciters to recite/sing Quranic verses (a sin/blasphemy which is very insulting to God and to His Word) over the tombs of the dead. Again, such practices have nothing to do with Islam (i.e., Quranism). 

  Lastly, we assert here that those who have chosen to distance themselves from the Quran, regarding the topic of death and any other topics of religion, as they have disbelieved in the Quran, have willingly entrapped themselves in endless intellectual labyrinths. God says the following in the Quran: "Is he who was dead, then We gave him life, and made for him a Light by which he walks among the people, like he who is in total darkness, and cannot get out of it? Thus the deeds of disbelievers are made to appear good to them." (6:122). As always, God says nothing but the Absolute Truth.