A senior Sayyid scholar, who did not disclose his name, writes:

I saw my father in dream and asked him some questions, which he replied as follows:

1- The souls, which are involved in punishment in Purgatory (Barzakh); what kind of hardships do they suffer?

Reply: Since you are in the world, I will explain lo you by way of an example. It is like you enter a mountain pass and all around there are high mountains, which you are incapable of scaling; in those circumstances, a ferocious wolf starts chasing you and there is no way to escape.

2- Have the charitable and good deeds that I performed on your behalf, reached you?

Reply: All of it has reached me, but I will explain to you its details through an example.

When you are in a crowded public hot bath, where it is difficult to breathe due to smoke and crowd, in such a situation an opening appears and cool air reaches you; how nice would you feel? Same is our condition when you send some gifts to us.

3- I saw my father in health and radiance and only his lips were injured and blood smeared. I asked why they were as such, and inquired: Would the injuries be cured if I performed a good deed on your behalf?

Reply: Its cure is only with your respected mother, because it is due to the insults I heaped on her. Her name was Sakina, but I always called by the nickname of Sakku Khanam and she was extremely displeased by it. If you can make amends on my behalf with her, there is hope that I would be cured.

The respected narrator says: I related the whole incident to my mother. She replied: Your father always called me Sakku Khanam in a ridiculing way and I used to be extremely angry, but I never expressed any displeasure and did not utter a single word against him, but since at this moment he is in pain and distress, I will forgive him and pray for him sincerely.

These three questions and their replies contain many subtle points, to understand which is very important. I shall explain them to the readers in brief.

Good characters are beautiful forms in Purgatory (Barzakh)

It is proved from logic and textual evidences that man is not destroyed with death. On the contrary, his soul leaves his material body and is joined to a subtle body and is accompanied with all senses that it possessed in the world: sight and hearing, joy and sorrow, which are more severe and powerful than the worldly faculties, because the facsimile body is at the peak of subtlety, so material eyes cannot see it. As if it is lesser than the material body, like air; although that body is a compound, but since it is subtle, it cannot be seen.

From death till Judgment Day; this condition of soul is called as facsimile world and world of Purgatory (Barzakh).1 The point to be remembered is that those who have departed from this world with good fortune, in Purgatory (Barzakh), they would witness their good traits of character and fine moral acts and gain advantage from them.

Similarly, the unfortunate souls will be regretful and punished, because of their bad character and acts and see it in the worst and horrifying forms and wish to get away from them, but they would not be able to. Thus, in the words of the scholar quoted above; it is akin to being chased by a ferocious wolf to escape which is impossible.

Now pay attention to this holy verse:

يَوْمَ تَجِدُ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَا عَمِلَتْ مِنْ خَيْرٍ مُحْضَرًا وَمَا عَمِلَتْ مِنْ سُوءٍ تَوَدُّ لَوْ أَنَّ بَيْنَهَا وَبَيْنَهُ أَمَدًا بَعِيدًا وَيُحَذِّرُكُمُ اللَّهُ نَفْسَهُ وَاللَّهُ رَءُوفٌ بِالْعِبَادِ

"On the day that every soul shall find present what it has done of good and what it has done of evil, it shall wish that between it and that (evil) there were a long duration of time; and Allah makes you to be cautious of (retribution from) Himself; and Allah is Compassionate to the servants." (Surah aal-‘Imraan 3:30).

It is one of the graces of the Almighty Allah that He has warned about the pit falls of the hereafter in this world only, so that His servants may not be involved in any hardship and difficulty.

Don't Hurt Anyone Verbally

Another important point, which is necessary to mention here is that one should be extremely cautious about the sins of the tongue, including calling people by names, which he may not like or which may cause him distress.

So much so that the Messenger of Allah (S) said: Do not call your slave and maid servant as 'slave' or 'slave girl ', on the contrary call him or her as 'my son' or 'my young man'.

One should not consider such sins as small and insignificant, because a sin, which a man considers trivial, would become a permanent entry in his scroll of deeds. Secondly the forgiveness of this sin not only depends on divine forgiveness, but is also subject to forgiveness of one whom he has caused distress.

Sometimes it so happens that a person causes distress to a Muslim by playing a dirty joke and docs not even considers it a sin or mistake, so that he might make up for it or try to satisfy that person and thus after death he would remain involved in chastisement for this one single sins for a long period of time. The following verse proves the veracity of this:

Divine Grace In Contact With Souls

Another point should also be understood; that the living are in contact with the dead. It is having two aspects: one is the contact of the living with souls of deceased through a true dream and through this knowing their fate and circumstances, which makes them aware of some hidden matters and as a result of it ones faith i n life after death becomes strong.

Also whatever is mentioned in Islamic ideology is testified true through this. In this way, the contact of the living with dead is also beneficial for the dead. For example, reduction in their hardships and troubles to some extent and their relief: as mentioned in the above story how the dead person got relief when the Sayyid lady was satisfied. There are many testimonies of this. Herc we will be content with only one story:

Knife Is Returned To The Owner

Late teacher, Ahad Amin has narrated in KitAbu ‘l-Takamul fil Islam that two employees of the department of posts set out from Tehran for Ziyarat of lmam Husayn ('a).

Since at that time it was illegal to travel for Ziyarat to the holy places, they were compelled to choose the Qachar route and they lost their way in an arid desert. They became so thirsty that one of them died and the other was also involved in deep trouble, but at last he managed to reach Tehran.

After some time, he saw his travel companion in dream that he was staying in an extremely beautiful garden having all the luxuries. He said: Thanks be to Allah, I have all comforts, but everyday a scorpion stings my toe, which causes me so much pain that I reach to the verge of death. I was told that it was due to the fact that one day when I was visiting one of my friends I stole a little knife and concealed it in the left comer of my house.

I request you to go to my place, convey my greetings to my wife and tell her to give that knife to you. Take it and restore it to the owner and ask him to forgive me. Perhaps the Almighty Allah would condone my sin. This person says: I acted accordingly and after that I saw him again in dream. He was absolutely pleased and comfortable; he also thanked me for that.

Oppressions Recompensed In Full

In Raudat ul-Kafi, a lengthy tradition is narrated from Imam Zayn ul-Abidin (‘a) regarding accounting and restoration of rights and oppressions and their requital on Judgment Day; in which Almighty Allah says:

"I am God and no one else is worthy of worship, except Mc. I am such a just ruler that does not say anything other than justice. I would adjudge you with justice. Today, no injustice would be done to anyone. Today, I would take back the right of the oppressed from the strong. I will take back the debts from the debtors. I will recompense injustice fully and no oppressor would be able to proceed from there when a right of someone or some oppression remains on him. O people, demand your rights from one another and if someone has taken away your right forcibly, demand it from him, I am your witness against him."

It is mentioned at the end of the tradition that a Qarshi man asked the Imam: O son of Allah's Messenger, if there is a right of a believer on a disbeliever, how it will be taken away from him, because he is from the folks of Hell? Imam ('a) replied: The sins of the believer would be reduced to the extent of the right on that disbeliever. That disbeliever, along with his infidelity, would be involved in more chastisement.

Qarshi asked: If some right of a Muslim is on another Muslim, how it would be recovered? He replied: A part of the good deeds of that usurper would be included among the good deeds of the rightful person.

Qarshi asked: What if the oppressor is not having any good deeds to his credit? Imam ('a) replied: Some sins of the rightful person will be taken and added to the sins of that oppressor.

It is also necessary to mention that if a disbeliever is having some right on a Muslim, since the disbeliever is not worthy of the good deeds of the Muslim, justice demands that in accordance to his right, reduction would be made in his chastisement and to understand this matter, one can refer to the story of the worshipper who had borrowed five Qirans from a Jew, as mentioned in the beginning of this book.

Imam Zayn ul-Abidin ('a) says: On Judgment Day, the hand of man will be held up high so that everyone may see it, after that it would be announced: One who has some rights on him may take it; and nothing is more difficult for the folks of gathering (Mahshar) that they should meet someone who recognizes them and who might demand some right from them.

Who Is The True Destitute?

The Messenger of Allah (S) asked his companions: Do you know who is a destitute? People replied: Among us destitute is one, who does not possess any capital or property. His Eminence said:

"In fact in my Ummah, destitute is one who is raised on Judgment Day with good deeds like Prayer, fast, Zakat, Hajj etc., but at the same time he had also abused someone, usurped someone's wealth or shed someone's blood etc. Thus, his good deeds would be given to that person and when his good deeds would be over and still rights remain on him, sins of the rightful one would be put in his account."

It is learnt for traditional reports that the Judgment Day would be a day of such complete divine justice that even if a person has wronged an animal or held back its rights, it would be demanded from him and the latter would be restored its rights.

Imam (‘A) Never Whipped His Camel

Imam Zayn ul-Abidin ('a) had a female camel, on which he had performed twenty Hajjs. Once when he was going somewhere on her, she stopped on the way; the Imam raised his whip, but did not hit the beast. On the contrary, he said: If there had been no fear of reprisal, I would have lashed her.

In Bihar ul-Anwar, volume of Resurrection, it is mentioned that the Holy Prophet () once noticed a she-camel fully loaded and at the same time her legs were also tied up. The Messenger of Allah (S) asked: Where is the owner of this she-camel? Tell him to be prepared for justifying this act on Judgment Day.

Charity Of The Living Reaches The Dead

Another divine favor is that Allah has allowed the dead to benefit from the charity of living on their behalf and regarding this, there are a large number of traditional reports and incidents.

Through authentic chains of narrators, it is narrated from Imam Ja 'far as-Sadiq ('a) that he said: Often it happens that the deceased is in hardships and the Almighty Allah bestows him relief and he is told that it is due to the prayer of so and so believer friend on your behalf. He becomes pleased at that. He gets relief and pleasure due to supplications and repentance performed on his behalf, like a living man is overjoyed when he receives a gift.

Imam ('a) also said: Prayer, fast, Hajj, alms, supplications and other good acts performed for the dead enter his grave and their reward is noted down for the one who performs them, as well as for the dead.

He said in another tradition that there are many sons with whom the parents are displeased during their lifetime, but after their death due to the good deeds, they perform on behalf of parents, the parents become reconciled to them. On the other hand, there are many sons, whose parents were satisfied with them during their lifetimes, but after death they disown them, because they do not perform good deeds on behalf of the deceased parents.

It is necessary to mention that the best deed on behalf of parents, relatives and other believers is that first of all their pending obligatory duties should be fulfilled; like the Hajj or other worship acts they missed. Or someone should be appointed on their behalf to perform them. In paying alms, precedence should be given to the relatives of the deceased.

Now, please consider the following story:

In the same book, the late teacher, Ahmad Ami n has narrated that after a man died, as a good turn for him; his wife cooked something every Thursday evening and sent it through her orphaned son to the houses of poor. That child, in spite of being himself hungry used to take that food and give it to the poor and return home and to sleep. Till one night he lost his patience and ate up that food on the way and came home fully satiated and went to sleep. That night the wife saw her husband i n dream telling h er: I received the food sent by only today.

When the woman awoke, she asked the son: Whom did you feed yesterday and the previous Thursday evenings? I saw your father I in dream; he was saying that only this time the food has reached him. The boy told her the truth: Every week, I used to give the food to beggars, but yesterday I was so hungry that I ate it myself.

The woman realized that the best service to the deceased is that his orphaned child should be fed properly. That is why it is mentioned i n traditions that it is not right to give alms (Sadaqah) to others when the relatives of that person are in need.

• 1. Refer to Surah Mominoon 23:100.