The Barzakh
In Islaam there is no support for the Hindu belief in reincarnation or the transmigration of souls wherein souls inhabit new bodies after bodily death. [1] Some of those who embrace this doctrine believe in a principle known as Karma, [2] that the deeds which a person accumulates in this life will determine the state in which he will be reborn. If he was bad, he is reborn in the womb of a woman from a lower level of society (caste) and he has to do good deeds so that he may be reborn on a higher level. If, on the other hand, he was good, he is reborn in the womb of a higher caste woman as a pious or holy man and continues to be reborn to successively higher caste women more pious and holy until he reaches perfection as a member of the Brahmin caste. When he becomes perfect, the cycle of rebirth ends with his soul dissolving and reuniting with the world soul, Brahma, in a process known as "Nirvana".
According to Islaam and all divinely revealed religions, when a person dies on earth he will not be reborn until the Day of Resurrection. After the destruction of the world, all of mankind will rise up from the dead to be judged by Allaah, the only God worthy of worship and the Greatest of Judges. From the time a man dies until he is resurrected, he remains in a suspended state known in Arabic as the "Barzakh". "It should not seem strange to think that someone who died thousands of years ago, may be waiting for thousands of years before finally being brought back to life', because the Prophet (SAW) had said that everyone's death is the beginning of his resurrection. Time only exists for those living on earth. Once a man dies, he leaves the time zone and a thousand years becomes a blinking of an eye.
Allaah illustrated that reality in a story which He related in Soorah al-Baqarah about a man who doubted Allaah's ability to resurrect a village; to bring it back to life after its death. So Allaah caused him to die for a hundred years and when he was resurrected, questioned him as to how long he had "slept". He replied, "A day or a part of a day." [3] Similarly people who awaken from long comas often think that little or no time has passed. Often one sleeps for hours yet on awakening he feels as though he had only just closed his eyes. So there is no point in trying to imagine waiting for centuries in the Barzakh, because time in that state has no relevance.
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1 This belief has been adopted by some heretical Isma 'ilite Shi-ite sects like the Druze of Lebanon and the Nusayrites (Alawites) of Syria. (See Shorter Encyclopedia of Islaam, pp.94-5. 454-4).
2 Karma primarily means action, work or deed. In its secondary sense it signifies the effect of an action, or the sum total of 'effects' of past actions. Thus, it is stated in the Chandogya Upanishad (Veda) that those whose past deeds have been good will after death be reborn from the womb of a Brahman woman. Whereas those whose deeds have been evil will be reborn from the womb of an outcaste woman (See. Dictionary of Religions, p. 180).
3 Lit. a partition. Allaah said, "(They will remain in falsehood) until when death comes to one of them, he will say, 'O my Lord send me back that I may do the good deeds I neglected.' By no means! It is only words which he says. Behind them is a partition (Barzakh) until the day they are raised up." (Soorah al-Mu'minoon 23:99-100).
......Extracted from "Allah's covenant with Aadam", an article by Shaykh Abû Amînah Bilâl Philips
