{{Short description|Islamic eschatological term, place where dead go before Judgment Day}} {{More citations needed|date=December 2012}} {{Islam}} {{Eschatology}} '''Barzakh''' ({{langx|ar|برزخ}}<ref name="Cambridge University Press">{{cite book |url=https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%B2%D8%AE_(%D8%A5%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85)#cite_note-1 |title=Lisan al-Arab dictionary |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1998 |isbn=9780521591850 |editor=Richard G. Hovannisian |page=49 |editor2=Georges Sabagh}}</ref>) is a Persian word meaning "obstacle", "hindrance", "separation",<ref>{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of Islam|year=1960|pages=1071–1072}}</ref> or "barrier".<ref>{{cite book|last=Ali|first=Abdullah Yusuf|title=The Qu'ran|publisher=Tahrike Tarsile Qu'ran, Inc|location=Elmhurst, NY. Sur 23: 99-100}}</ref> In Islamic eschatology, it denotes a barrier separating the world of humans (heaven, earth, underworld) from the world of spirits.<ref>{{Citation |title=Barzak̲h̲ |url=https://referenceworks.brill.com/doi/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_1249 |access-date=2025-10-06 |language=en |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_1249|url-access=subscription }}</ref> It can also refer to a phase/"stage" between an individual's death and their resurrection in "the Hereafter".<ref>Jane Dammen McAuliffe Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān Volume 1 Georgetown University, Washington DC p. 205</ref> It is also considered as a place where souls rest until the day of judgement. It bears resemblance to the intermediate state in Christianity.
Some scholars believe that good Muslims will have a heavenly experience during this time, and sinners will experience suffering;<ref name="DarulIfta2022">{{cite web |last1=Ibn Adam |first1=Faraz |title=What happens to the souls in barzakh? |url=https://daruliftaa.net/what-happens-to-the-souls-in-barzakh/ |website=Dar ul-Iftaa |access-date=18 April 2022 |quote=Checked and Approved by, Mufti Husain Kadodia.}}</ref> while some Shia scholars believe the experience will not be like the physical pain or pleasure of the temporal world.<ref name="Purgatory-al-islam">{{cite book |last1=Abdul Husayn Dastghaib Shirazi |url=https://www.al-islam.org/hereafter-maad-sayyid-abdul-husayn-dastghaib-shirazi/barzakh-purgatory-stage-between-world-and |title=The HereAfter (Ma'ad) |date=23 January 2013 |publisher=al-islam.org |chapter=Barzakh (Purgatory) - The Stage Between this World and the Hereafter |access-date=18 April 2022}}</ref>
Scholars have different definitions of ''Barzakh''. According to Ghazali, Barzakh may be the place for those who go neither to hell nor to heaven.<ref>''Islam and Rationality: The Impact of al-Ghazālī. Papers Collected on His 900th Anniversary, Band 1'' {{ISBN|978-9-004-29095-2}} page 100</ref> According to Ibn Hazm, Barzakh is also the place for unborn souls, which are elsewhere described as residing in the lowest of the seven heavens, where an angel blows them into the wombs of women.<ref>Jane Dammen McAuliffe Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān Volume 1 Georgetown University, Washington DC p. 206</ref>
==Etymology== Although listed in Wehr's Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic under the root b-r-z,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wehr |first=Hans |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WTak55pG-_IC |title=A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic |date=1979 |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |isbn=978-3-447-02002-2 |pages=65 |language=en}}</ref> it is likely that the word is borrowed from Middle Persian.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Cheung |first=Johnny |title=On the (Middle) Iranian borrowings in Qur'ānic (and pre-Islamic) Arabic |date=2016-06-06 |pages=4–5 |url=https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01445860 |access-date=2024-05-06 |language=en}}</ref>
==Quran and hadith== Mentioned only three times in the Quran, and just once specifically as the barrier between the corporeal and ethereal, Barzakh is portrayed as a place in which, after death, the spirit is separated from the body – freed to contemplate the wrongdoing of its former life. Despite the gain of recognizance, it cannot utilize action. The other two occurrences refer to Barzakh as an impenetrable barrier between fresh and salt water. While fresh and salt water may intermingle, an ocean remains distinct from a river.
In the hadith tradition, Ibn al-Qayyim writes that souls in al-Barzakh are grouped with others matching in purity or impurity.
==Separation of body and soul== In Islam, the soul and the body are independent of each other. This is significant in Barzakh, because only a person's soul goes to Barzakh and not their physical body. Since one's soul is divorced from their body in Barzakh, the belief is that no progress or improvements to one's past life can be made. If a person experienced a life of sin and worldly pleasures, one cannot try to perform good deeds in order to reach ''Jannah''. Whatever one does in their lifetime is final and cannot be changed or altered in Barzakh. However, there is belief that the fire which represents the own bad deeds can already be seen in Barzakh, and that the spiritual pain caused by this can lead to purification of the soul.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.eslam.de/begriffe/f/feuer.htm|title=Feuer|website=eslam.de|access-date=2020-01-03}}</ref>
==Interpretations== In mainstream Sunni and Shia Islam, Barzakh has been defined as "an intermediary stage between this life and another life in the Hereafter"; "an interval or a break between individual death and resurrection";<ref name="Keywords2015">{{cite book |last1=Siddiqui |first1=Ahdur Rasheed |title=Qur'anic Keywords: A Reference Guide |date=2015 |publisher=Islamic Foundation |location=Leicestershire, UK |page=31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o2hjCwAAQBAJ&q=definition+of+Akhirah |access-date=18 April 2022 |chapter=Barzakh|isbn=9780860376767 }}</ref> "The Stage Between this World and the Hereafter"; the period between a person's death and his resurrection on the Day of Resurrection. Based in least in part on the verse "Before them is a Partition till the Day they are raised up." (Q.23:100) Some scholars believe that good Muslims will have a heavenly experience during this time, and sinners will experience suffering; while some Shia scholars believe there is no experience of physical pain or pleasure in Barzakh.<ref name="Purgatory-al-islam"/>
=== Mainstream scholarly discourse === Some Muslim scholars stress the importance of Barzakh, while others simply ignore it.
* Modern Muslim thinkers de-emphasize Barzakh, and focus instead on a person's individual life and the Day of Judgment. In this view, the state of Barzakh is simply looked past and skipped once a person dies.<ref name="Oxford Dictionary">{{cite encyclopedia |entry=al-Barzakh |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam}}</ref> * Muslim scholars who do believe in Barzakh still have varying interpretations of this intermediate state based on different traditions. Some traditions suggest that a person's deeds in their life will affect their experience in Barzakh. In these traditions, the state known as "Azaabul-Qabr," will be one where a person is punished for their deeds in their past life. While those in a second state known as "Tan'eemu Ahlit-Taa'ah Fil Qabr," will receive the blessings and bounties of Allah because of their faith and good deeds. *Al-Ghazālī states, "After the First Blast, all created beings shall abide for forty (it is unknown if it is a year or month or etc.) in the Intermediate Realm barzakh. Then shall God quicken Seraphiel, and command him to deliver the Second Blast, as He has said (Exalted is He!): ''Then shall it be blown again, and lo! they stand, beholding'' : they shall be on their feet, watching the Resurrection."<ref>{{cite book|last=Ghazali|first=Al-|title=The Remembrance of Death and the Afterlife|year=1989|publisher=The Islamic Text Society|pages=176}}</ref> *Al-Zamakhshari explains Barzakh to mean hā'il, "an obstacle." His adaptation of the meaning of the word coincides with mentions of Barzakh in Quran 25:53. *Abdullah Yusuf Ali referred to a Barzakh state as a "quiescent state." The soul lies in a resting state until Yawm al-Qiyāmah.
=== Sufism === In Sufism the Barzakh or ''Alam-e-Araf'' is not only where the soul resides after death, but also a place it can visit during sleep and meditation.<ref>Prognostication in the Medieval World: A Handbook. Deutschland, De Gruyter, 2020. p. 415</ref>
Ibn 'Arabi defines Barzakh as the intermediate realm or "isthmus". It is between the World of Corporeal Bodies and the World of Spirits, and is a means of contact between the two worlds. Without it, there would be no contact between the two and both would cease to exist. It is described as simple and luminous, like the World of Spirits, but also able to take on many different forms just like the World of Corporeal Bodies can. In broader terms Barzakh, "is anything that separates two things". It has been described as the dream world in which the dreamer is in both life and death.<ref name="Ibn Al-Arabi 2006 29n,50n, 59,64–8, 73,75–8, 82, 102">{{cite book|last=Ibn Al-Arabi|first=Muhyiddin|title=The Universal Tree and The Four Birds|year=2006|publisher=Anqa Publishing|pages=29n,50n, 59, 64–8, 73, 75–8, 82, 102|editor=Angela Jaffray}}</ref>
The word ''Barzakh'' can also refer to a person. Chronologically between Jesus and Mohammad is the contested Prophet Khalid. Ibn Arabi considers this man to be a ''Barzakh'', meaning a Perfect Human Being. Chittick explains that the Perfect Human acts as the ''Barzakh'' or "isthmus" between God and the world.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Chittick|first=William C.|title=The Perfect Man as the Prototype of the Self in the Sufism of Jāmi|journal=Studia Islamica|year=1979|issue=49|pages=135–157|publisher=Maisonneuve & Larose|doi=10.2307/1595320|jstor=1595320}}</ref>
According to Ibn Arabi,{{cn|date=August 2024}} Khalid was a prophet whose message never emerged. Before he died, he told his sons to open his tomb forty days after his death to receive the message of Barzakh. The sons, however, feared that they would be looked down upon for opening their dead father's tomb; therefore they decided not to exhume their father. Thus, his message was never shared. An Ottoman scholar{{who|date=August 2024}} explained that for Khalid to give the knowledge of Barzakh he would have had to travel through the different worlds and then return; because he was not exhumed, his message was never heard. Ibn Arabi explains that because this mission ended in failure, it does not conflict with the Prophet Mohammed's statement: "I am nearest of men to Jesus son of Mary, for there is no prophet between him and me."<ref name="Ibn Al-Arabi 2006 29n,50n, 59,64–8, 73,75–8, 82, 102" />
=== Shia === The idea of Barzakh has significance in Shia Islam, though different from its significance in Sufism. The Prophet and the Shia Imams, particularly the sixth Imam (Ja'far al-Sadiq), have explained through various hadiths the treatment, condition, processes, and other intricate details regarding the passage of Barzakh.<ref>{{cite web |author=Shaheed Sayyid Abdul Husain Dastghaib Shirazi |title=Barzakh is the Veil of this World |url=http://shiastudies.net/article/english/Article.php?id=163 |access-date=2012-12-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231001606/http://shiastudies.net/article/english/Article.php?id=163 |archive-date=2013-12-31 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In Shia theology, there are seven checkpoints in Barzakh.<ref>{{cite web |author=Sayyid Abdul Husayn Dastghaib Shirazi |title=The Hereafter |url=http://www.al-islam.org/the-hereafter-maad-ayatullah-dastaghaib-shirazi |website=Al-Islam.org|date=23 January 2013 |publisher=Ansariyan Publications|access-date=2015-01-26}}</ref> The first is kindness/trust/wilayah. Second is salaat. Third is zakaat or khums. Fourth is fasting. Fifth is hajj. Sixth is cleanliness. Seventh is rights. It is believed that the terms and conditions to understand Barzakh are limited in scope and full comprehension because it is Shia's belief that it is incomprehensible, to a certain degree, until one actually reaches the realm beyond our physical world. A common analogy used is that of a baby in the womb. Just as the baby cannot possibly begin to understand the vast outside world until they experience it for themselves, we cannot hope to understand what Barzakh entails until we transition there ourselves. Though despite this obstacle, the Shia Imams, as cited through various sayings, have explained Barzakh to a significant degree as compared to other sects within Islam.<ref>{{cite web |author=Sheikh Abbas Qummi |title=MANAZELUL AKHERAH |url=http://www.ziyaraat.net/books/ManazilulAakhira.pdf |website=ziyaraat.net |publisher=Madinatul Ilm Islamic Centre |access-date=2015-01-26}}</ref>
=== Contemporary interpretations and uses === The term has also found its way into more contemporary, non-religious sectors of life. At least three bands have adopted the name "Barzakh," including an Indonesian Jakarta black metal band, a Tunisian oriental metal band and Naqash Ali Shawkat band. ''Barzakh'' was used as the title of a 2011 documentary following citizens of a war-torn Chechen community searching for a lost friend who they believe may have transitioned from our physical world to the realm of Barzakh.<ref>{{cite web |title=Barzakh |website=IMDb |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1813175/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 |access-date=2012-12-07}}</ref>
==Comparative theology== The concept of Barzakh has been compared to the Christian idea of an "intermediate state".<ref name="Gale">behind paywall{{cite encyclopedia |entry=Afterlife: An Overview |author=Jane I. Smith |title=Encyclopedia of Religion |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/afterlife-overview |access-date=2024-08-26}}</ref> It has been further compared to the purgatory although this is errorneous and the concept is closer to the idea of the limbo.
Aʿrāf is also thought of as a place where souls go whose good and bad deeds are too evenly matched to go directly to Paradise or the Fire.<ref name="Gale"/>
==See also== * Araf (Islam) * Bardo * Intermediate state (Christianity) * Malakut * Matarta in Mandaeism * Punishment of the Grave * Sheol * Siahat-e Gharb
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * Archer, George (2017). [https://www.gorgiaspress.com/a-place-between-two-places ''A Place Between Two Places: The Qurʾānic Barzakh.''] Gorgias Press: Piscataway, NJ. {{ISBN|978-1-4632-0612-3}}. * Corbin, Henry (1977). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=feE9DwAAQBAJ Spiritual Body and Celestial Earth: From Mazdean Iran to Shi'ite Iran]''. Princeton University Press.
{{Heaven}} {{Hell}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Islamic eschatology Category:Afterlife places Category:Islamic cosmology Category:Islamic terminology Category:Limbo