The journey of the soul in the Qur’ān and the ḥadīth

This page is for a reader who wants the whole journey in one place: where a person comes from, what happens at death and in the grave, the Day of Resurrection, and the final abodes. It follows the order in which the Qur’ān and the ḥadīth describe the stages. Every verse is shown below with Tanzil’s Arabic and its meaning in the edition the app uses, and every narration is named by its collection and number in the list at the end, so that you can open it yourself. Under some verses the page also shows the notes of that edition; they are the edition’s words, not this page’s, and this page has not checked them. This page is written and checked by AI and no scholar has reviewed it. It gives no ruling and no verdict on any person; for your own circumstances, ask a scholar. A way to send a correction is to follow.

Before this life

The sources speak of what Allah ordained before creation. A narration in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim says that Allah ordained the measures of the creation fifty thousand years before He created the heavens and the earth (Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2653b). The verses on being tested, below, say that life and death were created to test which of you is best in deeds.

The Qur’ān also speaks of a covenant, in which the descendants of Adam were made to testify about themselves.

The edition’s note on this verse calls it the pledge of innate nature. This page adds nothing to the verse and the note about how the testimony was given. The verse gives its own reason: so that people should not say on the Day of Resurrection that they were unaware of this.

On the spirit (rūḥ), the Qur’ān says that people ask about it, and gives the answer.

The verse’s answer is that the spirit is of the affair of the Lord, and that people have been given only a little knowledge. This page says nothing more of what the spirit is.

The womb

The Qur’ān describes stages in the creation of the human being.

A narration of Ibn Masʿūd, reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim, says that the creation of each of you is gathered in the mother’s womb for forty days, then becomes a clot for a like period, then a lump of flesh for a like period; then an angel is sent and is ordered to write four things: the person’s provision, lifespan, deeds, and whether they will be wretched or blessed. In al-Bukhārī’s narration the spirit is breathed into the person after this (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3208; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2643a). The same narration warns that a person may do the deeds of the people of one abode until there is only a cubit between them and it, and then what was written overtakes them.

Birth, and the *fiṭrah*

The edition’s note explains the word fiṭrah as the natural inclination to worship one’s Lord. A narration in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī says that every child is born on the fiṭrah, and that his parents then turn him from it (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1358).

The Qur’ān says that no one bears another’s burden, and that Allah does not punish until He has sent a messenger.

This page does not say how the verse applies to a particular child who died young, or to a particular person the message never reached; for that, ask a scholar. The Qur’ān says that no soul will be wronged on the Day (21:47, below).

This life: a test, and a record

The Qur’ān says that every person has angels watching and recording, and that not a word is uttered without a watcher present.

On repentance, 39:53 says not to despair of Allah’s mercy, for Allah forgives all sins, and 4:18 says that repentance is not for those who commit evil deeds until death approaches one of them and he then says “Now I repent”, nor for those who die as disbelievers.

A narration in Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī says that Allah accepts the servant’s repentance until the soul reaches the throat; al-Tirmidhī calls it ḥasan gharīb (Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 3537). The edition’s note on 39:53 says that the only unforgivable sin is dying in disbelief in Allah or associating others with Him, and refers to 4:48, which says that Allah does not forgive associating partners with Him and forgives anything less than that for whom He wills.

On deeds and mercy, a verse reports what the angels say to those whose souls they take in a state of purity.

A narration says that none enters Paradise by his deeds alone, and when the Prophet ﷺ was asked whether this included him, he said that it did, unless Allah covered him with His mercy (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5673; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2816a). Both are in the sources, and this page does not reconcile them.

Death

The verses on the moment of death say that Allah does not delay a soul when its appointed time comes, and that the one who regrets asks to be sent back and is told “No”.

The edition’s note on 23:100 says that once they die there is no chance of returning to the world, and that they remain in that state until the Day of Resurrection. The word the edition translates as “barrier” is barzakh, which is where the next section begins.

The *barzakh* and the grave

Verse 23:100, above, speaks of a barrier until the Day they are raised. The Qur’ān also says that Allah keeps the believers steadfast in this world and in the Hereafter.

A narration in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī says that the believer made to sit in his grave testifies, and that this is what the verse speaks of; a further line in it says that the verse was revealed concerning the punishment of the grave (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1369). Another says that the deceased is asked about the Prophet ﷺ, and that the believer testifies that he is Allah’s servant and messenger, while the hypocrite or the non-believer says that he does not know (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1374).

The Sabīl library gives a supplication for refuge from four things, among them the punishment of Hell and of the grave, and says the Prophet ﷺ commanded it when one finishes the last tashahhud; the library cites this to Muslim.

For those killed in Allah’s way the Qur’ān says this.

A narration in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim says that when a person dies their deeds come to an end except for three: ongoing charity, knowledge by which people benefit, and a righteous child who prays for them (Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1631). The library’s Janāzah cards say what to do from the last breath to the filling of the grave.

The Hour and the Trumpet

The Qur’ān says the Trumpet will be blown, and that the earth and the heavens will be changed.

A narration of Abū Hurayrah says that between the two blowings of the Trumpet there will be forty, and that when he was asked whether it meant days, months or years he declined to say (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4814). The same narration says that everything of the human body decays except the tailbone, and that from it the whole body will be put together again. A narration of Ḥudhayfah ibn Asīd lists the signs that come before the Hour, among them the smoke, the Dajjāl, the beast, the sun rising from the west, the descent of ʿĪsā the son of Maryam, and Gog and Magog (Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2901a). This page does not describe them further.

Resurrection and gathering

The Qur’ān answers those who doubt that bones can be gathered by saying that Allah is able to reassemble them, down to the fingertips.

A narration in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim says that people will be gathered barefoot, naked and uncircumcised; when ʿĀʾishah asked whether men and women would look at one another, the Prophet ﷺ answered that the matter will be too serious for them to do so (Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2859a). A narration says that on that Day the sun is brought close to the creation, to a distance of a mile (Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2864), and another that seven will be in Allah’s shade on the day when there is no shade but His (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 660; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1031a).

Intercession

A long narration reports that the people, in their distress, seek someone to intercede for them with their Lord. They go to Ādam and the other prophets in turn and are sent on, until they come to Muḥammad ﷺ, who prostrates before his Lord and is told to ask and to intercede, and that his intercession will be accepted (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4712; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 193a). The Qur’ān says that no intercession is of any use without Allah’s permission.

The reckoning

The Qur’ān speaks of a record, which each person will find spread open.

Some will be given the record in the right hand and some in the left, or from behind the back.

There will be witnesses against a person: their own limbs and senses.

And the deeds are weighed.

A narration says that the first of a servant’s deeds to be called to account is the prayer; al-Tirmidhī calls it ḥasan gharīb, and later graders differ on it (Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 413). Another says that the first cases to be decided among people are those of bloodshed (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6533; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1678a). A narration in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim describes the person who comes with prayer, fasting and charity but has abused, slandered or wronged others; their good deeds are given to those they wronged, and if these run out, the sins of those wronged are put on them (Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2581).

The bridge

The edition’s note on 19:71 says that the verse refers to the bridge called the ṣirāṭ, over Hell. A long narration describes it: some will escape and be safe, some will be lacerated and let go, and some will be pushed into the Fire, while the messengers call out for safety (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6573; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 183a). A narration says that the believers, once saved from the Fire, are stopped at a bridge between Paradise and Hell, where what remains between them is settled, and that when they are cleansed they are admitted to Paradise (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6535). The Qur’ān speaks of the light of the believers.

Who enters Paradise and who enters Hell

The Qur’ān sets out the two outcomes in these verses.

A narration says that Allah will order those who had faith equal to the weight of a grain of mustard seed to be taken out of the Fire (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 22), and another speaks of those who used to testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah being brought out (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6573). Verse 39:53, on Allah’s mercy, is shown above. This page gives no verdict on any person.

Paradise

A narration in al-Bukhārī and Muslim quotes Allah as saying that He has prepared for His righteous servants what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no heart has imagined (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3244; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2824a). The edition’s note on 10:26 says that “the best reward and more” is Paradise and the seeing of Allah. Narrations say that the believers will see their Lord as they see the full moon (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 554; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 633a).

Hell

A narration says that the fire of this world is one part of seventy parts of the fire of Hell (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3265; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2843a), and another that the one with the lightest punishment has two embers placed under his feet, so that his brain boils (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6562; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 213a; in a variant, two shoes of fire, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 213b). The verse on the hypocrites speaks of the lowest depths of the Fire. This page does not describe Hell further.

After judgment

A narration says that death will be brought in the form of a ram and slaughtered, and that it will then be said to the people of both: eternity, and no death (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4730; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2849a). Verses 98:6 and 98:8, above, speak of staying forever in the Fire and in the Gardens of Eternity, and this page says no more than they do.

References

Verses of the Qur’ān, by sūrah and verse, all shown above: 2:255; 3:169; 4:18; 4:48; 4:56; 4:145; 6:61; 7:8–9; 7:172; 9:72; 10:26; 14:27; 14:48; 16:32; 17:13–15; 17:85; 18:47; 19:71–72; 20:109; 21:47; 22:5; 23:12–14; 23:99–100; 30:30; 32:11; 32:17; 36:65; 39:53; 39:68; 41:20; 50:17–18; 51:56; 53:26; 57:12; 63:11; 67:2; 69:19; 69:25; 75:3–4; 75:22–23; 82:10–12; 83:6; 84:7; 84:10; 98:6–8; 99:7–8; 101:6; 101:8.

Narrations, by collection and number as sunnah.com numbers them: al-Bukhārī by the numbering of Fatḥ al-Bārī; Muslim by Muḥammad Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī’s numbers, with the letter sunnah.com adds where it divides one; al-Tirmidhī by sunnah.com’s numbering of the Jāmiʿ.

• Before life and the womb: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2653b; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3208; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2643a; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1358.
• Repentance, deeds and mercy: Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 3537; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5673; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2816a.
• The grave: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1369; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1374; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1631.
• The Hour, resurrection and gathering: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4814; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2901a; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2859a; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2864; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 660; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1031a.
• Intercession and the reckoning: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4712; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 193a; Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 413; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6533; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1678a; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2581.
• The bridge and the two abodes: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6573; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 183a; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6535; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 22; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3244; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2824a; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 554; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 633a; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3265; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2843a; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6562; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 213a; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 213b; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4730; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2849a.

From the Sabīl library: the supplication for refuge from four things, in Adhkār of the Prayers; and Janāzah, linked, not quoted.

Where to go next

• The Qur’ān has every verse above in its sūrah, with its meanings.
• Īmān and belief in the Qur’ān and the Sabīl library gathers verses on what is believed, among them the Last Day.
• Janāzah is the library’s title on what is done at a death and at the grave.