What Is Al-Barzakh? The Life Between Death and Judgment

As-Salamu `alaykum. What is “Al-Barzakh”? I have heard that God has created special place for dead people. Do their souls live there? What about the Prophets? Do their souls also live there?My second question is: Does the dead person know what goes on in this life and what happens to his relatives? Thank you.

Literally Al-Barzakh means interval or a barrier between two things. Allah Almighty says: {Between them is a Barzakh (Barrier) which they do not transgress.} (Ar-Rahman 55:20)

Technically, it stands for an intermediary stage between this life and another life in the Hereafter; it’s an interval between death and the Day of Resurrection. Allah says: {Before them is a Partition till the Day they are raised up.} (Al-Mu’minun 23:100)

Where Do Souls Go in Al-Barzakh?

This does not mean that there would be special places for every soul, but the souls of dead people are in different places according to the level of their faith. Some of them will be on the highest paradise with the souls of Prophets and martyrs.

Some believers will be in a particular place in Paradise before the Day of Judgment. While some others will have their graves like gardens of Paradise and some will have it like pits of the Hell-Fire.

All of these cases and states of people will be in the period of Al-Barzakh, each one according to the status of his faith.

Can the Dead Hear the Living?

The dead person does not know anything of the life of living people because he or she lives in a completely different world. However, it is reported that the dead person feels the footsteps of those who walk over him or her.

Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) looked at the people of the well, in which the bodies of the disbelievers killed in the Battle of Badr were thrown and said, “Have you found true what your Lord promised you?” Umar asked, “You are addressing dead people.” The Prophet replied, “They hear better than you do, but they cannot reply.” (Al-Bukhari)