[Questions Regarding the Life of the Soul and Its Relationship to the Body]

Answer, and with Allah is success:
Answer to the first question:
The benefit of neighboring the righteous friends (awliyāʾ) of Allah in their graves is seeking blessing by being near them; and among the blessing is what reaches him of the supplications of the visitors, and what encompasses him of the mercy of Allah descending upon the friends of Allah there.
And neighborhood is not a cause for intimacy, meeting, mutual visiting, and gathering between the souls of those who are buried next to one another. That is because the inhabitants of the graves are bodies without life: they do not hear, do not see, do not comprehend, do not rejoice, do not grieve, and so on — exactly like inanimate objects; rather, the body by death becomes inanimate.
The proof for what we have mentioned is what we know of the reality of death and its essence.
Answer to the second (question):
It is understood from the first answer, and it is not hidden that the dead body has had the soul removed from it, along with everything besides it of senses, feelings, perceptions, knowledge, suppositions, and so on — because you have come to know that death is the absence of life, and that life is a condition for sensation, perception, and so forth.
Answer to the third (question):
The dead person is not harmed by the violation of the sanctity of his grave, nor by what occurs of acts of disobedience beside his grave, and he does not sense that nor perceive it.
As for his perception of what reaches him of supplication and greetings of peace — and reward — he perceives that by his soul, not by means of his body; because the instruments of perception which are in his body have become null and corrupted, and the soul does not return to the body except on the Day of Resurrection.
– What has become clearly known is that the soul has departed from the body and that Allah has taken it unto Himself. After that, we do not know the precise determination of its place. What is known in general is that the souls of the righteous friends of Allah are in the place of Allah’s honor and mercy, by the proof of His saying, Exalted is He: “Rather, they are alive with their Lord, receiving provision” [Āl ʿImrān:169].
– And it has been reported that the souls of the believers are in the crops of green birds enjoying bliss in Paradise — Jannat al-Maʾwā (the Garden of Refuge) [An-Najm].
– And it is possible that their souls are in the heaven, by the proof of what has been reported that the Prophet (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) saw some of the prophets in the heaven on the Night of the Ascension (al-Miʿrāj). And it is possible that they are in other than what we have mentioned, where Allah honors them with the gifts of His generosity. In general, there is no conclusive proof for specifying the settled place of the souls of the believers.
– And the blessing of supplication and greetings of peace reaches the souls of those for whom supplication is made and those upon whom peace is bestowed, whether that is at the grave or far from it. Among the well-known supplications of the tashahhud is: “Peace be upon us and upon the righteous servants of Allah. Peace be upon you, O Prophet, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.” Al-Hādī (Peace be upon him) and others have mentioned it, and it was not legislated except because it reaches those upon whom peace is being bestowed. And it has been reported from the Prophet of Allah (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) that he said, in meaning: “Whoever says: ‘Peace be upon us and upon the righteous servants of Allah,’ it reaches every righteous servant in the heavens and on earth.” And what is known from the scholars of the People of the House (Ahl al-Bayt) (Peace be upon them), their earlier and later ones, is that they say, when mentioning the Imams (Peace be upon them) or the Imam (Peace be upon him)…
- And visiting the resting places of the righteous friends of Allah has benefits other than the reaching of supplication and greetings of peace. They are:
1- Exposing the visitor to the reward of the visitation, and the reward of bearing the hardships of travel. This is a benefit for the visitor, and it is other than the benefit that reaches the dead.
2- Making manifest to the people the virtue of the owner of the grave and proclaiming his honor with Allah and his rank with Him, and reviving that among the people if they had forgotten his standing, or preserving the vitality of his standing if they had not forgotten it. For the common believers infer from what they see of visitations the virtue of the one visited (al-mazūr) and his rank with Allah.
And if the owner of the grave is an Imām in religion and an example to be followed, then the continued visitation of his grave and the abundance of visitors to him strengthen the following of his example, fortify the resolve of those who emulate him, and tighten the bond of imitation between them and him.
3- In the visitation there is that which strengthens the connection of the successors with the predecessors, and links the past with the present, together with what is in that of calling to mind the life of the one visited, what he encountered in his life, what he attained of noble qualities, and what he presented to the people of benefits. And in calling that to mind there is what stirs the motives of the soul to strive for what he strove for, and to reach what he reached.
4- In it there is an honoring of the one visited, which is another benefit for which the visitor is rewarded, and a second act of worship for which he is recompensed.
5- In it there is the humiliation of the enemies and the causing of hurt to them through what they see of the honoring of the one visited and the manifestation of his virtue.
And this is in addition to what is in visiting graves in general of greatness and admonition- “for indeed it reminds (one) of the Hereafter.”
Answer to the fourth question:
The life of the barzakh is a spiritual life that is specific to the soul, and the body has no share in it. All of Allah’s believing friends (awliyāʾ) are martyrs (shuhadāʾ). Allah the Exalted has described them in Sūrat al-Ḥadīd as the truthful ones (ṣiddīqūn) and the martyrs (shuhadāʾ). And in the hadith: “Indeed, whoever dies upon love for the family of Muhammad dies a martyr.”
And al-Hādī (Peace be upon him) has mentioned that whoever dies on his bed while having a sincere intention to support the friends of Allah is like one whose blood is shed in the path of Allah.
And it has been established that one who is pleased with the deed of a people is a partner in their deed. And in the hadith: “You are with those whom you love.” And from ʿAlī (Peace be upon him): “Men have shared with us in these battles whom time has not yet brought forth” — this is the meaning of the narration, and it is in Nahj al-Balāghah.
On this basis, all the believers are martyrs, even though one whose blood is poured forth in the path of Allah has a special distinction. This is what the evidences indicate.
Answer to the fifth question:
What appears outwardly is that the souls of the righteous meet one another after their death, whether their resting places are close together or far apart. The proof of that is the narrations that were mentioned in the preamble to the questions.
And the believing soul meets whomever it used to love, and there is no doubt that the believer loves the believers — whether near or far, those he knows and those he does not know: “And the believing men and believing women are allies of one another.” [At-Tawbah:71]. And it is well-known that ʿAmmār said on the day he was killed:
“Today I will meet the beloved ones: Muhammad and his party.”
- And the benefit of a believer’s love for his grave being near the graves of the righteous is what he hopes for of the blessing of their nearness, and we have already mentioned that previously.
Answer to the sixth question:
We have mentioned previously that supplication and greetings of peace reach the soul of the dead person even from afar, and we mentioned the proof for that.
And visiting ʿAlī (Peace be upon him) and sending peace upon him from near the grave of al-Hādī (Peace be upon him) is not the same as visiting him and sending peace upon him from at the head of his own shrine — even though supplication and peace do reach him from here and from there — because of what we mentioned earlier of what occurs of causes of reward and virtue for whoever visits the grave of the believer from close by. So refer back to that.
Answer to the seventh question:
Reflecting upon the place of one’s grave has a benefit — otherwise al-Ḥasan (Peace be upon him) would not have thought about the place in which he would be buried, nor would he have made a bequest that he be buried near his grandfather, and that if that were not possible, he be buried near his mother.
And in the narration it is mentioned that when the Prophet (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) buried ʿUthmān ibn Maẓʿūn, he marked his grave with a large stone which he placed at his head, then said: “I will bury by his side whoever from my family dies” — this is the meaning of the narration, and it is well-known and widely transmitted.
It may be said:
– It is seen or heard that punishment occurs in the graves of some of the criminals, and this has been widely known throughout history.
– Likewise, around the graves of some of Allah’s friends and above them there occur signs indicating the honoring and exalting of the owner of the grave. That indicates that the soul of the owner of the grave has an existence near the grave or within it.
It is said in response:
The evidences have indicated that the soul does not return to the body of the dead person after its departure from it except on the Day of Resurrection and Reckoning — such as His saying, Exalted is He: “Indeed, you are to die, and indeed, they are to die. Then indeed you, on the Day of Resurrection, before your Lord, will dispute.” [Az-Zumar:30–31], and His saying, Exalted is He: “Then indeed, after that you are surely to die. Then indeed you, on the Day of Resurrection, will be resurrected.” [Al-Muʾminūn:15–16].
On that basis, whatever is seen and heard in the graves, or upon them, or around them, of signs of the honor of the dead person or of signs of his punishment — these are but kindnesses for the living, and a publicizing of the rank of the owner of the grave with Allah, and a making manifest of his virtue or of the gravity of his crime; so that the believers, with what they see of marks of honor upon the graves of His friends, grow in certainty and insight, and the criminals are restrained, by what they see of signs of retribution, from committing crimes, and that calls them to repentance and seeking forgiveness.
And making manifest to the people the honor of the owner of the grave is part of the reward for the owner of the grave. Allah the Exalted has made good remembrance of the dead person in this world an immediate reward, as Allah has related from Ibrāhīm (Peace be upon him) his saying: “And grant me a reputation of truth among later generations.” [Ash-Shuʿarāʾ:84], and His saying, Exalted is He: “And We gave him his reward in this world, and indeed, in the Hereafter he will be among the righteous.” [Al-ʿAnkabūt:27]. And He said to His Prophet (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace): “And mention in the Book, Abraham. Indeed, he was a man of truth and a prophet.” [Maryam:41], “And mention in the Book, Moses…” [Maryam:51], “And mention in the Book, Ismāʿīl…” [Maryam:54], “And mention in the Book, Idrīs…” [Maryam:56], and His saying, Exalted is He: “And We left for him [a favorable mention] among later generations: ‘Peace upon Noah among the worlds.’” [As-Ṣāffāt:78–79].
If it is said: How can what you have mentioned be a reward, when the one who is receiving the reward is dead — he neither perceives that reward, nor finds delight in it, nor enjoys it?
It is said: The reward of this world is received by the children and descendants after the death of the one who earned it. They are, in this respect, in the position of the father, and the ruling of the father is their ruling in this regard, by the proof of His saying, Exalted is He: “Say, I do not ask you for it any reward, except love for [my] near relatives.” [Ash-Shūrā:23].
And in the hadith: “Their war is my war, and their peace is my peace.” And: “Love my household for my sake.” And his saying (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) in the hadith about visiting the graves of the People of the House (Peace be upon them), despite their distance from one another and their being scattered: “They intend by that to show devotion to me and to maintain ties with me…” and so on. And the hadith: “Whoever loves them has loved me, and whoever hates them has hated me…” — and the hadiths in this chapter are many.
Moreover, a person loves good for his children and descendants, and in his lifetime strives to do the causes that lead to good reaching them after his death. He is extremely keen to realize that for them and strives to repel from them the causes of evil.
When that is realized, and he has arranged for them those causes, and firmly established them, he rejoices and is filled with joy and happiness. It may be that what occurs in the future of good for a man’s offspring is more pleasing to his eye than if it had occurred for him in his own life. Indeed, he may give precedence to the joy and future happiness of his descendants after his death over the joy and happiness of his own self during his life, and prefer them over himself in that.
– And it is not far-fetched that Allah, Glorified and Exalted, makes the pure souls aware of what He has granted them, after their death, among the people of this world — of good remembrance, beautiful praise, exalted honor, fame, and high rank.
– As for the Day of Resurrection, Allah the Exalted will make His righteous friends aware of what He favored them with in the life of this world after their death — of good praise, lofty honor, glorification, and elevation — for that is part of the reward of the believers. There is no doubt that the believer will rejoice when he learns what befell him after his death in the life of this world — of good remembrance, great honor, and the signs of honor that Allah the Exalted manifested at his grave, and so on.
– Likewise, the believer will rejoice on the Day of Resurrection when he knows that Allah the Exalted disgraced his enemy in this world and subjected him therein to various kinds of punishment.
– And among what indicates that the descendants, in the matter of reward, are in the position of their father is His saying, Exalted is He: “And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city, and beneath it was a treasure for them, and their father had been righteous. So your Lord intended that they reach maturity and extract their treasure, as a mercy from your Lord.” [Al-Kahf:82].

Source: Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.3