Journey of Human Soul

                                

Human soul’s journey may be divided into four stages; let us peep into  these four destinations of human soul in the light of Quran and Sunnah.

i.  The first destination of human soul is what has been called as ‘aalm-e-arwah’.  According to various ‘ahadith’, clusters of souls have been created much before the birth of human beings and live in the world called ‘world of arwah’; the souls who are acquainted to one another before coming into this world also get acquainted to one another after coming into this world. This first destination of human soul is called ‘oola’

ii.  The second destination of human soul is human body.

Allah has created everything in pairs. This reality has been described in Quran which states: “And of all things We created two mates; perhaps you will remember” (al-dhariat-49). “And He Who created pairs (azwaj) of all things, …………….” (al-zhkhruf-12).

From these verses, it is evident that Allah has created everything in pairs. (for details plz see my article “ Reality of Creation- existence in pairs”).

Human being exists in the form of a pair of body and soul. Quran states: “He created you from one soul. After that He appointed from it(soul) its mate/pair (al-zumar-6).

From this verse it is clear that human body is created from its soul, and then that body is appointed mate/pair of that soul. (it may be noted that man does have sexual pair but that is mentioned in other verses, not in this verse). In this verse, Allah is addressing whole mankind, and saying that every person of this mankind has been created out of a single ‘nafs/soul’; that single ‘nafs’ must not be taken as Hazrat Adam. The sequence of verse is that first Allah created us out of single ‘nafs’, and after that made a pair/mate of that single ‘nafs’; if that single ‘nafs’ is Hazrat Adam, it would mean that first Allah created us out of Hazrat Adam and after that made a pair/mate of him. It would means we have been created out of Hazrat Adam before his having a wife/mate. Therefore logically we can’t take the words ‘single nafs’ as referring to Hazrat Adam. Moreover,  the addressee of this verse is whole mankind including Hazrat Adam; in other words, Allah is telling, in this verse, about the creation of whole mankind including Hazrat Adam, and Allah is saying everyone of mankind has been created out of a single ‘nafs’; that single ‘nafs’ is human soul. In this verse word ‘nafs’ has been used with meaning of ‘human soul’. In Quran, at other places too, this word ‘nafs’ has been used in the meaning of ‘human soul’. For instance sura al-naziat-40 states:  “But as for he who feared the position of his Lord and prevented the soul (nafs) from [unlawful] inclination” (al-naziat-40).

Similarly sura qaf states: “And every soul (nafs) will come, with it a driver and a witness” (qaf-21).  In this verse too, word ‘nafs’ means soul; the driver is human body through which soul acts obediently or disobediently, and in this way human body carries human soul to its destination/ station- good or bad station.

Similarly al-anam states: “And it is He who produced you from one soul (nafs) and [gave you] a place of dwelling and repository. We have detailed the signs for a people who understand” (al-anam-98).

The place of dwelling for soul, mentioned in this verse, is human body; and repository will be the final station of soul; in other words, soul rests in human body for doing deeds, and those deeds determine soul’s final destination.

From all these verses quoted above, it is clear that human being is created out of a single nafs; that ‘single nafs’ can’t be taken as Hazrat Adam; that ‘single nafs’ is human soul. (it does not mean that human beings are not offsprings of Hazrat Adam; surely they are, but that fact is mentioned in other Quranic verses, not in these verses quoted above).

In fact, every human body is created out of its soul and then is appointed mate/ pair of such soul; every human body is a true reflection of its soul; human body contains all the characteristics embedded in its soul. The greater a human body actualizes these characteristics, the more it functions like a soul. Depending upon the level of actualization, a human body can be weightless like a soul; it can fly in the air like a soul (as our Aulia Allah do); it can travel with immeasurable speed like a soul; it can see beyond the limits of ordinary human sight as a soul can do; it can be so refined like soul that no shadow of it can be formed (Hazrat Muhammad’s (saw) body had no shadow).  Human body always acts according to dictation of its soul; if the soul gives good direction, the human body acts in good way; if the soul gives bad direction, the human body acts accordingly. Human soul can’t act on its own; it can act only through human body. That is why when a human body expires, its soul is rewarded or punished according to human body’s actions. It is a misconception that soul always leads towards Allah; if it were so, why should it be punished for bad deeds of human body?

iii.  The third destination of human soul is ‘ uqba’; Uqba is non-Muslims’ paradise. 

 ‘Oola’  means first one; ‘uqba’ means coming, immediately or not, after the first ; ukhra means coming in the end. In Quranic terminology, worldly life consists of this earthly life (human body’s life) and ‘uqba’ life. The second destination of human soul, as described above, is human body; the third destination is ‘uqba’.

After trial of this earthly life, when human body expires, human soul moves into ‘uqba’. ‘Uqba’ is actually part of this world. This world consists of seven skies. Both earthly life (human body’s life) and ‘uqba’ life are to be spent in this world i.e. in these seven skies; when ‘ukhra’ starts these seven skies will be changed into some other forms (Ibrahim-48). In other words, earthly life/human body's life and uqba life  belong to this world, and when this world will come to its end, ‘ukhra’ will start.

Quran says:

“Whoever desires the life of this world and its adornments - We fully repay them for their (compensable good) deeds therein (in this world), and they therein will not be deprived. Those are the ones for whom there is not in the Hereafter but the Fire. And lost is what they did therein, and worthless is what they used to do” (hud-15-16).

“And whoever desires the reward of this world - We will give him thereof(for compensable deeds); and whoever desires the reward of the Hereafter - We will give him thereof [for compensable deeds] (al-imran-145). Similar theme is described in some other verses also.

The addressee of all such verses is whole mankind- Muslims as well as non-Muslims. These Verses convey the theme that good deeds of those who prefer worldly life to ‘ukhra’ will be compensated in this world. We know that it is not in this earthly life (human body’s life) that good deeds of everyone’s (who prefers this worldly life) are fully compensated; actually it is in ‘uqba’ life that such compensation is fully paid. Al-baqra-62 and al-maidah-69 also state about reward for non-Muslims' pious deeds; this reward also is to be given in 'uqba'.  As mentioned above, uqba is part of this worldly life; uqba is an extension of this earthly life. In other words, reward to be given to non-Muslims is given in this world. In ‘uqba’, only those good deeds which are compensable are compensated; some good deeds which are rendered worthless in worldly life are not compensated.

“…..those whose deeds have become worthless in this world and in the Hereafter, and it is they who are the losers” (al-taubah-69). 
 Similarly those who renounce their faith (emaan) -which are 'murtadeen'; who disbelieve in Allah’s signs and kill prophets and upholders of justice; and who are engaged in vanities, good deeds of all such people are rendered worthless in this world and as such are not compensated in ‘uqba’ life (al-baqra-217; al-imran-22; al-tawba-69). It means in ‘uqba’ life, there would be some/many people who would not have compensable good deeds; such people would get no reward but some punishment for some of their bad deeds; another category of such people are 'mushrakeen'. “and the uqba for the disbelievers is the Fire” (raad-35). (In Quran different categories of disbelievers have been described; in raad-35, disbelievers are 'mushrakeen').

However such people would be fully punished for their bad deeds in ‘ukhra’ life.

 

It is not that only the people preferring wordly life to ‘ukhra’ life are compensated in uqba life; the people preferring ‘ukhra’ life to worldly life are also compensated in ‘uqba’ life; all non-Muslims having pious deeds ( done for Allah's sake, not for world's sake) are compensated fully (al-baqra-62;al-maidah-69) in uqba life because in ukhra life their all good deeds are rendered worthless. Similarly Muslims' pious deeds (done for Allah's sake) are also compensated in uqba life; they are compensated in 'ukhra' life too, if they have good deeds heavier than bad ones.  The first category of people  (preferring worldly life to ukhra life; regardless of their religion) do not have any reward in ‘ukhra’ life.  “Those are the ones for whom there is not in the Hereafter but the Fire. And lost is what they did therein, and worthless is what they used to do” (hud-16). All good deeds of this category of people are rendered worthless in ‘ukhra’ life.

   Whereas second category of people (preferring ukhra life to worldly life) may be of two types- Muslims and non-Muslims. The Muslims do have a permanent reward in ‘ukhra’ life too, apart from having compensation in uqba for their good deeds. “and (those who) prevent evil with good - those will have the good uqba home”  (raad-22).  “The example of garden, which the righteous have been promised, is [that] beneath it rivers flow. Its fruit is lasting, and its shade. That is the uqba for the righteous, and the uqba for the disbelievers is the Fire” (raad-35).

The non-Muslims belonging to this second category (preferring ukhra to worldly life) are not rewarded in ukhra life, because their deeds are rendered worthless in ukhra life. 
 "And whoever denies the faith - his work has become worthless, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers" (al-maidah-5).

However non-Muslims belonging to this second category (preferring 'ukhra' to worldly life) would be compensated fully in 'uqba' for their compensable deeds.

 iv. The fourth destination of human soul is ‘ukhra’. 

This is the final stage of journey of human soul. As Sura hud-16   states,  all those people (preferring wordly life to ukhra life) are fully compensated in ‘uqba’ life and are consigned to Hell in ukhra life because they have left with no more good deeds to be compensated for in ukhra; in other words, all non-believers and  Muslims who prefer worldly life to ‘ukhra’ life are to be sent to Hell in ukhra life; whereas other Muslims who prefer ‘ukhra’ life to worldly life are consigned to Paradise, if their good deeds are heavier than their bad deeds.

We may conclude that journey of human soul consists of four destinations; the first one is oola(aalm-e-arwah); the second one is human body (earthly life); the third one is uqba- both human body’s life and uqba life constitute worldly life. The fourth one is ‘ukhra’. Good deeds of all such people –both muslims and non-muslims- who prefer worldly life to ukhra life are fully compensated in uqba life; such people do not have any reward in ukhra life but punishment for their bad deeds. The people preferring ukhra life to worldly life are also compensated for their good deeds in uqba, but they have reward for their good deeds in ukhra life too, if they are muslims and  if their good deeds are heavier than their bad deeds. It may be noted that  all good deeds of non-believers are compensated in uqba life. Uqba is actually paradise for the non-believers;  there is no reward for them in ukhra life; because in ukhra life all good deeds of non-believers are rendered worthless.

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