after forty days, and thus making progress even in that state. sort of connection between this world and the next.

Duration of barzakh

All questions connected with the life of the other world are of an intricate nature, inasmuch as they are not things that can be perceived by human senses; they are “secrets” that shall be made known only after death, according to the Qur’ān4 and, according to a saying of the Holy Prophet, “things which no eye has seen, nor has ear heard, nor have they entered into the heart of man” (Bu. 59:8). As will be shown later on, the very ideas of time and space as relating to the next world are different from those here, and therefore we cannot conceive of the duration of barzakh in terms of this world’s time. Moreover, the full awakening to the higher life will take place in the Resurrection, and the state of barzakh is therefore a state, as it were, of semi-consciousness. Hence it is that it is sometimes likened to a state of sleep as compared with the great awakening of the Resurrection, for the unbelievers are made to say: “O woe to us! Who has raised us up from our sleeping-place?” (36:52). The state of barzakh, as regards those who have wasted their opportunities in this life, lasts according to the Holy Qur’ān, till the Day of Resurrection: “And before them is a barzakh until the day when they are raised” (23:100). The question of a longer duration of barzakh for some, and a shorter one for others, does not arise, as they do not seem to have consciousness of the length of time: “And the day when the Hour comes, the guilty will swear that they did not tarry but an hour. Thus are they ever turned away. And those who are given knowledge and faith will say: Certainly you tarried according to the ordinance of Allāh till the Day of Resurrection — so this is the Day of Resurrection — but you did not know” (30:55, 56). As regards those in whom the life spiritual has been awakened during the life on earth, consciousness in the barzakh state will undoubtedly be more vivid, and there is a ḥadīth which speaks of the righteous being exalted to a higher state (raf ‘) after forty days, and thus making progress even in that state.

Various names of Resurrection

The Resurrection is spoken of under various names, the most