which may help the development of the higher life. It shows that the consciousness of a higher life has sprung up in him immediately after death. On another occasion, we are told that evil-doers are made to taste of the evil consequences of their deeds in this state of barzakh, the consciousness of the chastisement becoming clear on the Resurrection Day: “And the evil chastisement overtook Pharaoh’s people—the Fire; they are brought before it every morning and evening and on the day when the Hour comes to pass: Make Pharaoh’s people enter the severest chastisement” (40:45, 46).

It should be noted that while, in the Holy Qur’ān, the guilty are spoken of as receiving chastisement in the state of barzakh, in Ḥadīth this punishment is spoken of as ‘adhāb al-qabr, or the punishment meted out in the grave. In Bukharī the chapter on ‘adhāb al-qabr3 begins with quotations from the Holy Qur’ān, one of which is the verse relating to the punishment of Pharaoh’s people in barzakh quoted at the conclusion of the previous paragraph. This shows that Bukhārī regards these two punishments as one, and thus he establishes the identity of qabr and barzakh. Again, the 90th chapter of the same book has the following heading: “The dead man is shown his abode morning and evening” (Bu. 23:90). Under this heading, a ḥadīth is narrated from ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Umar reporting the Holy Prophet as saying that “when a man dies, his abode (in the next life) is brought before him morning and evening, in Paradise if he is one of the inmates of Paradise, and in fire if he is one of the inmates of fire” (Bu. 23:90). This report also shows that the punishment meted out in the grave (‘adhāb al-qabr) means only the spiritual condition of the guilty people in the state of barzakh.

Similarly, the righteous are spoken of as tasting the fruits of good deeds immediately after death: “And think not of those who are killed in Allāh’s way as dead. Nay, they are alive, being provided sustenance from their Lord; rejoicing in what Allāh has given them out of His grace; and they rejoice for the sake of those who, (being left) behind them, have not yet joined them, that they have no fear nor shall they grieve” (3:169, 170). These verses show that the departed ones are even conscious of what they have left behind, and this establishes some speaks of the righteous being exalted to a higher state (raf ‘)