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Barzakh (Arabic: برزخ, from Persian Barzakh, "limbo, barrier, partition") is an Arabic word meaning "obstacle", "hindrance", "separation", or "barrier". In Islam, it denotes a place separating the living from the hereafter or a phase/"stage" between an individual's death and their resurrection in "the Hereafter". Some scholars believe that good Muslims will have a heavenly experience during this time, and sinners will experience suffering; while some Shia scholars believe the experience will not be like the physical pain or pleasure of the temporal world. Scholars have different definitions of Barzakh. According to Ghazali, Barzakh may be the place for those who go neither to hell nor to heaven. According to Ibn Hazm, Barzakh is also the place for unborn souls, which are elsewhere described as residing in the lowest of the seven heavens, where an angel blows them into the wombs of women. The Arabic word Barzakh is derived from the Middle Persian Barzag, "barrier, partition", which in turn can be traced back to the Parthian combination burz+ax(v) ("high existence"), similar to the Persian word for hell, dūzakh < dūž+ax(v) ("evil existence"). Mentioned only three times in the Quran, and just once specifically as the barrier between the corporeal and ethereal, Barzakh is portrayed as a place in which, after death, the spirit is separated from the body – freed to contemplate the wrongdoing of its former life. Despite the gain of recognizance, it cannot utilize action. The other two occurrences refer to Barzakh as an impenetrable barrier between fresh and salt water. While fresh and salt water may intermingle, an ocean remains distinct from a river. In hadith, Ibn al-Qayyim cites that, albeit not mentioned in the Quran, souls in Al-Barzakh would be grouped with others matching in purity or impurity. In Islam, the soul and the body are independent of each other. This is significant in Barzakh, because only a person's soul goes to Barzakh and not their physical body.

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Related concepts (10)

Intermediate state (Christianity)

In some forms of Christianity the intermediate state or interim state is a person's existence between death and the universal resurrection. In addition, there are beliefs in a particular judgment right after death and a general judgment or last judgment after the resurrection. Early Christians looked for an imminent end of the world and many of them had little interest in an interim state between death and resurrection.

Islam

Islam (ˈɪslɑːm; ۘالِإسْلَام, al-ʾIslām ʔɪsˈlæːm, ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centered on the Quran and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam, called Muslims, number approximately 2 billion globally and are the world's second-largest religious population after Christians. Muslims believe that Islam is the complete and universal version of a primordial faith that was revealed many times through earlier prophets such as Adam (believed to be the first man), Ibrahim, Moses, and Isa (Jesus), among others.

Limbo

In Catholic theology, Limbo (limbus, or , referring to the edge of Hell) is the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. Medieval theologians of Western Europe described the underworld ("hell", "hades", "infernum") as divided into three distinct parts: Hell of the Damned, Limbo of the Fathers or Patriarchs, and Limbo of the Infants. The Limbo of the Fathers is an official doctrine of the Catholic Church, but the Limbo of the Infants is not.