What is Alam-e-Barzakh or simply Barzakh?

Alam means world and Barzakh means separation or barrier. So, Alam-e-Barzakh is a world of separation, or a barrier to something. It is a world that separates the physical plane (Earth) that we know and the relatively unknown, the spiritual plane.

This plane of spirituality is also called the afterlife, the next life, the hereafter and the next world. So, Alam-e-Barzakh is an area where the souls that rest in human bodies on the physical plane go towards Barzakh when the human body breathes its last. The soul then leaves the body.

Barzakh is essentially a resting place for souls until the day of judgement, or the day of resurrection or Qayamat. When will Qayamat come? Only god knows.

New souls enter Barzakh as the same consciousness as they were in a physical body. The soul that leaves the body after death or inteqaal is the same person or consciousness, but the only difference is that this person does not have a body now. This thinking person now finds himself in a new world or realm immediately after death and is very surprised by everything.

This new person, who was in an ageing body or any kind of body five minutes back, now finds himself without a body five minutes after death. Actually, it’s seconds after death that the same person realises that he has left the body and can now see his own lifeless body lying at home, in the hospital or anywhere else.

He is so surprised by this transformation, that he is left confused and disoriented. He has no idea what to do. But gradually other things start happening and understanding begins to dawn on him that something major has happened and that, maybe, he has died and really left his body. Then the realisation also comes to him that now he cannot go back inside his body and that he has to go someplace else.

This ‘some place else’ is Alam-e-Barzakh, the barrier between the physical plane and the soul world.

All human souls that leave Earth arrive in Barzakh for their new orientation and training. They now begin to learn the ways of the soul and the rules and recommendations to be followed.

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Journey of the soul

As the soul continues on its journey in Barzakh, it learns new things, expands its consciousness and then with every set of new lessons learned, the soul ascends and rises higher to a new level, that is above its current level.

Learning and soul transformation in Alam-e-Barzakh raises the vibration and frequency of the soul. The soul is then taken to the next higher level of transformation that matches its current vibration and frequency. It is completely up to the soul and its wish to grow forward, move upward and rise higher and higher, expanding its consciousness.

We have talked about what the soul can do once it reaches Barzakh. But what will the new soul find in Barzakh? The soul will get to meet all those friends, family and relatives who had departed before him or her on Earth. They will be there and share their love, compassion and understanding with him.

What the soul finds

Every soul that lands in Alam-e-Barzakh will find things reaching out to him from all directions. These things will be in different shapes and sizes - some pleasant to look at, while others looking unpleasant and ugly, even horrible.

What would these ‘things’ in so many forms be actually? These multiple forms whose looks will either fill your heart with happiness or fill it with fear will in reality be your aamaal.

They will be your positive and negative deeds, actions and thoughts that you had on the Earth plane. As a soul in a physical body, you thought and did so many good and not-so-good things in your life. They will all come back to haunt your spirit or uplift it in the afterlife in a physical form.

Your aamaal and Barzakh

What becomes important here is your aamaal, your deeds and actions that you performed as a human being on Earth, the physical plane.

You do so much, put in so much effort into building your successful life here on Earth. You are seeking to build a great life for yourself daily, aren’t you? Right from morning to evening, or even late at night, many of you are sacrificing so much to build your dream and make it concrete and visible.

What if I say that as you go about your life every day, every hour in following your dream, you are also doing one more thing simultaneously. You may ask, “What thing?” My reply, “You are building your Barzakh daily.”

Yes. In the seen and known world, your actions and thoughts are building a world that you wish to live in. But, what you are also doing at the same time is building a world for yourself in the unseen and unknown (to you) — the world of Alam-e-Barzakh.

On the Earth, you are building your world consciously. You seek tirelessly to get everything that you wish for here, but you are not really sure what you will get and what will remain unreachable for you.

But silently and unconsciously, brick by brick, your own personal Barzakh is getting created in the next world, the afterlife, by you. Even more important, you will receive and get everything in Barzakh exactly what you created yourself here on Earth.

Importance of ‘small’ things

Small things that you and I may consider unimportant here on Earth become big and important, even crucial in Alam-e-Barzakh.

Here are two ‘small things’ that we don’t pay much attention to on Earth, but they result in you and me either experiencing ‘cool or pleasant air’ or ‘a blast of hot fiery air’ that can burn our skin in Barzakh.

First thing —> Backbiting (gheebat, chugli karna or gossiping)

Backbiting is what you and I do when we discuss someone we know - who also knows us - in a critical way when he or she is not present in front of us. We may think we are speaking the truth about the person, but many times we may be indulging in false and hurtful statements about that person.

This small action on our part is considered a major sin in Islam, haraam and categorised as ‘Gunah-e-Kabeera’.

Interestingly, backbiting has become so common in our society that most of us don’t even consider it as any kind of ‘gunah’ or sin. We just think of it as normal conversation and remain critical or make false statements about some person easily and smoothly. We don’t even feel guilty about this act of ours.

But what happens when that person ‘X’ who is the topic of my backbiting conversation with you, he/she comes to know that Raza was talking ‘this and that’ about him/her?

Let me tell you what happens as a result of my ‘gheebat’ or backbiting.

• That person X now feels bad, angry and hurt that Raza spoke such a thing about him or her, which is obviously wrong. He keeps thinking, “I never did what Raza was saying; I never said what Raza was saying I said and I never meant anything like that which Raza talked about. It’s all wrong.”

This person X may also be so surprised that Raza spoke like this at all about him or her. Moreover, the relationship of X with Raza is close to being over now, as it becomes a strained relationship that has stains of hurt and betrayal. It is no longer a happy and clean relationship now. All this happens on the physical plane on Earth.

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What happens later on the spiritual plane or Alam-e-Barzakh or the afterlife as a result of this backbiting on my part?

When I land as a soul in Barzakh, after my time on Earth is over, then I am shown a book of my ‘aamaal’ by higher beings. This is a book that has documented in detail all my deeds, actions and thoughts that I had when I existed in human form on Earth.

There I am shown pages and pages of each day of my life, containing details of my deeds and actions. I am then shown a page of a day when I was backbiting about the same person X. I am surprised by this, but now I am also shocked by something else that I see happening on the page. I see that any good deed that I did on that day, or some other day’s good deed of mine, is getting deleted from my ‘aamaal diary’ and getting transferred to the ‘aamaal diary’ of person X.

Yes, this is what I will actually see. My ‘gheebat’ of person X will ultimately be beneficial to that person X in Alam-e-Barzakh. In return, I will lose my good deeds and the level of my bank of savings of good deeds and ‘aamaal’ will get depleted. I can do nothing and feel so much regret that I did ‘gheebat’ and backbiting at all on Earth, in the physical plane.

So, this was all about backbiting of a person who knows us and we know that person. We could not keep quiet, when we had nothing good to say about that person X and we lost so much in the afterlife or the next world, as a result.

But there is also such a thing called ‘jaayaz gheebat’ or permissible backbiting.

In this, I criticise or say things about ‘Taasubi’ people who harbour preconceived opinions and have racial/religious/social prejudice. If I talk behind the back of such a person or people and call them out for their known negative attitude, then this is ‘jaayaz gheebat’.

Also, if I talk behind the back of a person who is ‘Naasebi’ or harbours known hatred or enmity towards the family or followers of Prophet Mohammad, then this too will come under the category of ‘jaayaz gheebat’.

Now, any ‘najaayaz gheebat’ that is not permissible in Islam, will result in me suffering blasts of hot, fiery air in Alam-e-Barzakh that can burn my skin there. Though I won’t have any physical body there as a soul, but the sensation will be the same, as if I had skin on my body.

Second thing —> A positive ‘small thing’

Now what is something positive that you and I can do which may be considered small on Earth, but mean something big in Barzakh?

You can pray for good health, peace and prosperity in the life of 1–2 people daily. Who will be those 1–2 people you can pray for?

— Some relative (rishtedaar) of yours who you know is facing some trouble or challenge in life

— Someone in your friend circle

— Someone you are acquainted with

If you can pray for their health and prosperity and if ilaahi maslahat (God’s will) is there that their personal trouble or challenge gets solved, then this act of yours is happily noted in your ‘aamaal diary’. This ‘aamaal diary’ in Barzakh will note this act of yours as a good deed or ‘achcha aamaal’ on the day.

There is no limitation of religion or caste, or even if the person you want to help is a non-believer or atheist. You can pray for any person who you know needs help.

After all, Allah is rehman and raheem (merciful and compassionate) for all aalameen (all His creations), not just for muslimeen (all Muslims).

I hope you have now got an idea that as you build your life here daily, at the same time, your daily thoughts and actions are building the life you will experience in Alam-e-Barzakh one day.

Hope you get to see lots of good ‘aamaal’ in your Barzakh diary that day.

Ameen.

Ever since the inteqaal of my father on April 6, 2025, there are moments when some memory flashes in front of my eyes and I clench my fist. For a few seconds, there is a burst of anger inside me and then it subsides gradually.

I am now getting into the habit of reminding myself to repeat “Relax, it’s maslahat” whenever a strong negative emotion begins to cloud my brain.

My father, Janab Syed Gulam Hasnain Naqvi ibne (son of) Janab Syed Mohammad Salman Naqvi was a person of strong character. He was always positive-minded and ready to motivate and encourage anyone if he thought his words would help. He would always motivate me to do well in whatever work I chose to do.

While working professionally, I would change jobs and join some other company or organisation that, I thought, would work for me. Daddy wasn’t happy that I kept changing jobs. Then I joined a company which was fairly well known. I worked there for a few years, then I decided to leave. I told my father about my decision, he stopped me from resigning. Second time, I again told him I wanted to leave, he once more explained things to me and stopped me from resigning. Then the third time came and I resigned without telling daddy. He got disturbed and explained things to me yet again.

I didn’t listen. He went to my office, met my boss in the company, asking him to stop me from resigning. Boss said I wouldn’t listen to him. Finally, daddy wrote a letter to me, sharing his feelings about me leaving a good job. He called me and gave that letter to me. I read it and stayed with my decision. He must have felt quite hurt about it, but what could he do, when the son is adamant, may be, even obstinate and won’t listen to him?

Whenever I remember this incident, I just shake my head now quietly and say to myself, “Maybe, it was maslahat.”

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This year, while undergoing treatment in two hospitals in March 2025 where he was hospitalised and admitted, I have another reason to get angry with myself and fill myself with regret. That reason was my inability to question the decision of the doctors to let my father remain in ICU for 10 days combined in both hospitals.

I understand now that the only reason that was important at that time in his state of health was ‘dialysis’ as his creatinine level had gone up to a high level of 6.8. Doctors insisted on urgent dialysis or the possibility of daddy going on ventilator support, where they wouldn’t be able to do anything much.

I discussed this with daddy, who was admitted to the ICU a day before with the primary complaint of heavy breathing while walking just a few steps. Daddy had no option but to nod his head lightly after thinking for a minute or two. I discussed it at home with my brother and mother. Finally, we gave the go-ahead and the first dialysis of his life was done on my father on March 13, 2025. He then underwent eight dialyses, with the last dialysis being done on April 4, 2025, two days before his inteqaal. I prefer to use this word, rather than the negative and heavy sounding word ‘death’ for a valid reason. I have talked about this reason in my Hindi article ‘Khwabon Mein Mili Haunsle Ki Khushbu’

Now, the anger and regret on my side is that after the first dialysis was done, why didn’t I request the doctor to shift him to a private room. This way I could have been in front of him and with him, so he wouldn’t have felt alone.

After all, the only treatment that was going on for daddy was administering medicines via IV that was connected to the dialysis line on his neck. He didn’t have any blood pressure problems or anything else that required 24/7 monitoring. At least, this is my thinking. Yes, his heart was weak and a pacemaker was also installed. Yet, I still feel that his treatment could have been done satisfactorily in a private room by the nurses. Maximum time of 24 hours, I feel was sufficient for monitoring after dialysis, then he should have shifted to a private room.

Was this done? No.

Why wasn’t this done? Because I never requested and urged the attending doctors to do so. As a result, daddy had to stay alone for 22 hours daily in the constricting confines of an ICU with no known face coming in front of him to assure him that everything was fine.

Visitors were allowed one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening. This is how much time we got to spend with daddy when he was in the ICU.

Daddy was well aware of his surroundings in the ICU. He was adequately alert, he was talking and yet, not even once it came to my mind to question why he continued to stay in the ICU after a maximum stay of 24 hours.

Staying alone for so many hours and days in the ICU can negatively impact a normal person, forget what it would do to an 80-year-old patient undergoing dialysis and suffering weakness and yet sufficiently alert.

I feel that all this loneliness and resulting thoughts that daddy would have had was a big factor that negatively impacted my father’s health. Other patients in the ICU were mostly unconscious or barely conscious, but daddy was alert and conscious there. Whenever I came to visit him in the ICU, he would say in an angry tone, “Kaha chale jaate ho tum?” I would tell him that I am outside, in the hospital only.

Then he forced me to write down my mobile number on a piece of paper that he kept somewhere near him. I told him my number was already there in his file kept near his bedside. But still, he wanted my number. Later, once, he even managed to talk to me using the phone of a nursing staff in the ICU.

He did say once in the ICU, “Yahan koi kisi ko poochhta nahi hai.” That was an extreme statement, as the nursing staff did their duty of feeding him, administering medicines to him and taking care of his hygiene. But through this statement, he was essentially saying, “Don’t leave me alone here, take me out of here.”

But did I do that? Did I request the doctors to shift my father from the ICU quickly? My answer, “No”.

This answer ‘No’ and many other such indecisions continue to swim in front of my consciousness at times even now. As this happens, I get angry, clench my fist and then quietly say to myself now, “Relax, it’s maslahat. Yahi maslahat hai.” This helps bring down my level of anger and regret and I begin to open my clenched fists.

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Maslahat brings down my tension level.

Maybe, if I could have done all those things that I now regret not doing, not saying or not thinking, daddy’s heath would have been better. He would be here with us today. But, it’s really a big ‘MAYBE’.

Because I have no idea whether anything I could have done at that time, which I now think I should have done - would have helped. Probably something else would have come up, some other health challenge, that would have deteriorated my father’s health.

Daddy was not sleeping well in the hospital. He was just tossing and turning in bed, or regularly asking me to help him get up and sit on the bed. He just did not feel comfortable lying on the bed.

Now that I think, all these symptoms and more were signs that his departure time from this world was coming. We didn’t understand this, neither did he.

So, now what am I left with in my mind? A numbness and a level of realisation that ‘it’s maslahat’, ‘yahi maslahat hai.’

This is what I am now accepting mentally, my brother is also accepting it, as well as my mother and my brother’s wife. We were all in my father’s bedroom, when he took his last breath in this world and went away quietly into the next world.

‘Maslahat’ seems to have brought down my anxiety level. Any tension I had related to my father’s passing away into the afterlife has gone down. What has helped in another way is the fact that after his inteqaal on April 6, 2025, daddy has appeared in the dreams of four people, looking strong and healthy. I have talked about these dreams in my Hindi article, which you can also read.

Probably the dreams are a message from daddy’s soul telling us from the afterlife that he is fine and with people who love him.

What will be, will be is what counts now.

What will be, will be and it seems nothing can change it. Now I always keep it in my mind before attempting to do anything, that whether the result I want will come to me, or not, it will be ‘maslahat’.

All I can do is put in whatever effort I can, request for divine guidance to take the right decision at the right time and channel whatever thoughts I have into my effort. My next step? Just be an observer of the result.

The result is not in my hand, I tell myself. Whatever will be, will be.

It’s all maslahat.