That which you shall read in this book is a small effort to portray the path that a human being must traverse after he leaves this world (Dunya) and continue on the journey towards His Lord. It is an attempt to discover the impact of our conduct in Dunya on the various stages of that journey, which will culminate in the meeting with God. It is an effort to unravel the mystery of man’s reality and his ultimate destination.

Raymond Moody, the American physician, philosopher and psychologist, has compiled a large number of reports about the experiences of people who were in the process of dying, or who had narrowly escaped death. In 1975 he presented his findings in a book called ‘Life after Life’1.

After observing nearly a thousand of these experiences, he coined a new phrase, “Near Death Experience” which was popularly abbreviated to NDE. In 1981, the International Association for Near-Death Studies2 was founded with the intention of collecting, studying and publishing reports of near-death experiences.

These experiences are so widespread in American hospitals that according to a Gallup report published in 1992, eight million Americans reported having had them3. This is in spite of the fact that many of those who have had this kind of experience are reluctant to talk about it. While studying the reports of 150 patients who had been declared brain-dead but had subsequently somehow returned to life, Moody discovered that their near-death experiences could be classified into a few groups.

One group reported that they had emerged from their own bodies while they were in a fully conscious and aware state, and that they could observe the actions of the team of doctors from above their bodies. Another group felt that they were in a body that was different from their familiar material body; Moody called this the spiritual body4.

This spiritual body had all the sensory organs of the material body, except that its movement and perception were not restricted even by stonewalls. Other reports described losing all sense of time, entering a state of deep relaxation, and confusion when viewing their own body from outside. Some people reported seeing the souls of the dead in spirit forms welcoming them.

Another group reported seeing a holy personality from their religious tradition who had come to guide them on their new journey. Yet others claimed that they were not initially aware that they were in a new body until they realized that their relatives could not see or hear them; meanwhile their own sight and hearing was greatly enhanced, allowing them to see and hear everything.

The foregoing descriptions, which are corroborated by other independent evidence, make clear to us that we know a lot less about the human being than we think. In the words of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (d. 2004), who in the course of her work studied countless cases of NDE, “We have to have the courage to open new doors and admit that our present-day scientific tools are inadequate for many of these new investigations.”5

When we turn to religious teachings, we find that man is presented as a wondrous being whose potentials are greater than his physical body suggests. He is a creature that is constantly growing and changing, and in the course of his journey he passes through many stages. He begins from a drop of liquid and spends the first few months of his life cocooned in a dark and hidden world.

At this stage of his life, he does not do anything of his own volition; natural processes alone govern his development, transforming his form and features and colour without consulting with him. This phase of life is very long when compared to his previous existence as a drop of fluid, but very short when compared to the next phase when he will step out into the world. For a new-born baby who has just come from its mother’s womb the world is surreal, a huge and exciting place, full of dazzling features; mountains and valleys, oceans and forests, cities and hamlets, foods and clothing, skies and stars, and most importantly, human beings; other people like him, whom he can talk to, ask for assistance, get to know and get used to; more than that, he can grow to love them and make sacrifices for them.

All this variety is quite dazzling for the baby who has just left his brief life in a tiny and dark space. However, this exciting and seemingly everlasting world will gradually lose its charm for him and the days will come when his wonder will change to disappointment and anxiety. In time his vision will deteriorate, his hearing fade, his teeth will fall off, his bones will turn brittle, his muscles will become weak, his face will age and his memory will begin to fail. Once more he will become like a child and all the beauty he was familiar with will pass and disappear; soon he has to leave again.

Where will he go to this time? To a bigger world or a smaller one? A better one or worse? Or none at all? What was the purpose of his life here? Is there anyone who can answer these questions? Can anyone truly know? Is there really another world or worlds after this one? And is it at all important for us to know about what is to come in the future? Is there actually anything that is waiting for us? Who can tell, and who has the master map for this journey?

Some people become convinced that there is nothing after death, but they don’t have any proof for it. But why should this journey, that has already taken us through several stages, come to a sudden halt without a satisfactory outcome? This group does not speak from knowledge; rather, they base their assumption on a lack of knowledge about the future. So should we trust their lack of knowledge?

On the other hand, there has always been a small group of people who stated that they knew what is to come. They claimed that they did not speak from themselves, but on behalf of the One Who has created this path and laid it out. They said that they do not speak out of conjecture or lack of information; rather they speak of what they know and perceive. They said that the Creator of mankind had informed them of these realities and directed them to inform others.

Their words were compelling, their personalities noble, their hearts pure and their morals sublime. Their speech rang with honesty and many in their audience acknowledged the truth of their words and found them to resonate with their inner disposition. Their words not only appealed to those of their own time but reached out to attract future generations of people also.

Amongst them was Muhammad (S) ibn Abdullah, who becomes famous for his scrupulous honesty and righteousness, earning him the title al-Amin (the trustworthy). He left no stone unturned in his attempts to make his followers understand the road that they would need to walk on after death and the provisions that they would require for it.

He would say, “O mankind! Indeed, you are labouring painfully towards your Lord and one day you will meet Him.” (Surah al-Inshiqaq, 84:6).

He would say, “Your objective should be to grow to an extent that you become ready to meet God, and thereafter eternally abide “in a seat of honour in the presence of an Omnipotent King.” (Surah al-Qamar, 54:55).

He would say, “God waits to meet you and wants you to live near Him for eternity.”6 He would say, “God forbid that on the Day when you meet Him you carry the burden of wrongdoing (zulm), because, “he who bears iniquity on that Day would indeed despair7, because your Lord does not despise anything more than wrongdoing.”

He would say, “Your Lord is the Purest of the Pure, and if you enter into His presence in a pure state He will envelop you in His mercy and send you a greeting of peace”8. Yes, all this is for you, the one who sprang from a small drop of fluid, do you remember your insignificant beginnings?

But Muhammad (S) did not just talk about the final destination; he also defined for us the path towards it as clearly as he could. Although it was not possible to truly describe it, he spoke of it often, in the hope that we would realize its significance. He taught us that whatever we do in this world would have a great impact on the future stages of our journey and our ultimate destination.

What you shall read in this book is an effort to explore what Muhammad (S) told us about this journey. It is not possible to accurately describe a world whose dimensions remain yet hidden to us. Even for one who is intimately conversant with that world, it is impossible to explain its features to someone who has no experience of it. A three-dimensional being can never understand a world of four dimensions, let alone one that is multi-dimensional. Therefore, that which I shall try to describe hereunder, is only a brief sketch so that we may get a notion of this journey, and more importantly so that we may prepare the provisions that we shall need along the way.

We are grateful and indebted to Muhammad (S) and all the noble individuals who spent their lives to make us familiar with this indispensable knowledge.

• 1. Moody Raymond. 1975. Life after Life: The Investigation of a Phenomenon – Survival of Bodily Death. Seattle: Mockingbird Books.
• 2. For more information about this institution see www.iands.org
• 3. Mauro, James, “Bright lights, big mystery”, Psychology Today, July 1992.
• 4. In Islamic philosophy and mysticism this body is called the imaginal body (al-jism al-mithali).
• 5. Life after Life, Introduction, p. XIII.
• 6. “But those who keep their duty to their Lord, for them are Gardens underneath which rivers flow, wherein they will be safe for ever. A gift of welcome from their Lord. That which Allah hath in store is better for the righteous”. (3:198).
• 7. “And the faces shall be humbled before the Living, the Self-subsistent Allah, and he who bears iniquity is indeed a failure." (20:111).
• 8. “Their salutation on the day when they shall meet Him will be: Peace. And He hath prepared for them a goodly recompense." (33:44).