Death and Its Mysteries 3: Resurrection and Afterlife of the Soul

By Babatunde Jose

9“Verily, We shall indeed bring the dead back to life,”(Ya Sin 36:12).

In order to go on living after the death of the body, we should have to exist spiritually. Therefore, our soul must continue after we are dead. The belief in the soul has been based on metaphysical dissertations and on revelations that claimed to be divine. Religion, faith, sentiment, desire, and fear are not proofs: Yet, the soul manifests itself in many ways which are inexplicable, confounding the religionists and ardent ‘believers’.

It is invisible to the naked eye but it’s there all the time, just as we feel nothing of the formidable movements of the planet on which our feet rest. It appears stable, immovable, with fixed positions. But it rushes through space, bearing us with it, at an unbelievable speed of 107,000 kilometers an hour, but we feel it not.

As it is granted—and proved—that our organs of perception do not reveal things to us as they are, and often give us false or erroneous impressions concerning movements of the earth, the weight of the air, radiations, electricity, magnetism, etc., we are not justified in thinking that what we see represents the only reality; we are even invited to admit the contrary.

Invisible beings may exist about us. Who would have imagined the microbes before they were discovered? But they swarm by millions and play a considerable part in the life of all organisms.

Appearances do not reveal reality to us. There is only one reality directly appreciated by us, —that is our thought. And what is most undeniably real in man is the spirit.

Thought is the most precious, the most personal, and the most independent thing possessed by man. Its liberty cannot be attacked. You can torture the body, imprison it, drive it by material force; but you can do nothing against thought.

The universe is ruled by spirit, and when we study this spirit in man, we ascertain that it is neither physical energy nor matter. It makes use of both and it often governs them according to its will.

The breathing of the vapors of ether or of chloroform destroys all general sensitiveness, so that persons who have been placed in this extraordinary physiological state can undergo the most serious operations without feeling them.

Ramon de la Sagra presents this phenomenon as a scientific demonstration of the existence of the soul. The soul and the body are certainly not the same thing, as they are so manifestly separated here; thanks to the influence of ether or anesthesia, the soul continues to think as an individual, while the body is tortured by the surgeon’s scalpel. These two elements of the human whole are separated here by the agent of anesthesia.

Everything proves to us that the human soul is a substance distinct from the body. Despite its etymology, the “soul” is not a breath; it is an intellectual entity.

Having come this far we can now examine the question of the resurrection and the afterlife of the soul.

The concepts of resurrection and the afterlife of the soul are central to many religious beliefs, where they encompass the immortality of the soul and the promise of eternal life through resurrection.

Of the three main Jewish sects of the 1st century AD, the Sadducees held that both soul and body perished at death, the Essenes that the soul was immortal but the flesh was not, and the Pharisees that the soul was immortal and that the body would be resurrected to house it. Of these three positions, Jesus and the early Christians appear to have been closest to that of the Pharisees.

Resurrection, also known as anastasis, is the concept of coming back to life after dying. While the resurrection of Jesus is by far the most famous case, the concept of death and rebirth has been around for a very long time; long before Judaism. The religious motif of the dying-and-rising deity can be found in a number of mythological traditions, namely ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, ancient Rome, and Norse mythology, to name a few.

Tammuz, the spring and fertility god of Mesopotamia died each winter and came back to life every spring. The Greek myth of Hades and Persephone is similar.

The Egyptian god of life, fertility, and agriculture was murdered by his brother, Set. Isis embalmed Osiris’ remains and he resurrected, becoming the god of the underworld.

Hindu tradition also has a resurrection story and Resurrection is also present in Buddhist tradition. A Chinese diplomat called Songyun was crossing the Pamir Mountains when he crossed paths with the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma, who was wearing just one shoe. When asked about it, Bodhidharma said he was going home to India, and told Songyun to ask about the missing shoe when he arrived in Shaolin. When Songyun arrived and asked the monks about it, he was arrested for lying. It became evident that Bodhidharma had died years earlier, and when the monks opened up Bodhidharma’s tomb, they found a single shoe inside. Bodhidharma had resurrected from the dead.

Examples of resurrection can also be found in Norse mythology. Odin, the all-father of Germanic paganism, hung himself from a tree and pierced his body with a spear. On the ninth day, he was resurrected.

Quetzalcoatl is a feathered serpent god from ancient Mesoamerica. The important deity was worshiped by a number of civilizations, including the Aztecs, Mayans, and Toltec cultures. In virtually all cultural traditions there is a story of how Quetzalcoatl dies and comes back from the dead.

Another example is the resurrection story of Greek poet Aristeas, who died, his body disappeared, and he returned seven years later.

The legend of the phoenix is a textbook example of rebirth and resurrection, where a new phoenix rises from the ashes of the old one.

There are a few examples of resurrection in the Old Testament. One of them can be found in 1 Kings 17:17–24, where a young boy was raised from death after prophet Elijah prayed to God.

In 2 Kings 4:32–37, we can find another resurrection story. Prophet Elisha raises the son of the Shunammite woman from the dead.

Apostle Paul managed to bring a young man called Eutychus back to life after he fell from a window. (Acts 20:7-12).

In the Quran we find the story of the ‘People of the Cave’ in Surah Al-Kahf (Chapter 18 of the Quran); it narrates the tale of a group of young men who sought refuge in a cave to escape persecution for their faith in Allah. They died for 300, and when they awoke, they found that their society had changed significantly.

Ezra was a saint and a wise man. He went out one day to his own farm, came to a deserted, ruined place and felt the heat. Looking at what remained of the ruins and the bones, he exclaimed: “Oh! How will Allah ever bring it to life after its death?”(Quran 2:259)

Allah sent the Angel of Death to take his life. He remained dead for 100 years. After 100 years, Allah sent an angel upon Ezra to revive his heart and his eyes in order for him to feel and see how Allah revives the dead.

Verily, We it is Who give life and cause death; and to Us is the final return, (Surah Khaf 18:43)

 Akhirah is the term for life after death in Islam. It is believed that Allah decides when an individual dies, and the deceased remain in the grave until the Day of Judgment or Yawm al-din when the person is lifted from the grave and is brought before Allah to be judged for their deeds. This belief is called the resurrection of the body.

And all of them are coming to Him on the Day of Resurrection alone.(Surah Maryam 19:95)

 The Day of Qiyamah, also known as Yawm al-Qiyāmah or Yawm ad-Dīn, is a pivotal event in Islamic eschatology. It signifies the end of the world and the resurrection of all human beings for divine judgment. This day is emphasized throughout the Quran and Hadith, highlighting its importance in Islamic faith as one of the six articles of belief.

The day of resurrection (mentioned 70 times in the Quran) will be the time when all of humankind will be brought back to their original physical form. There will be a time on earth when everything that God created will cease. Every human being, from the past to the present, will be resurrected and examined by their deeds. This day is called the “Day of Judgment.”

“O mankind! If you are in doubt concerning the resurrection, then, verily, We created you from dust, then from a drop, then from a clot, then from a lump of flesh [both] shaped and shapeless, that We make it clear for you. And We cause what We will to remain in the wombs for an appointed time, and afterwards We bring you forth as infants: then you attain your full strength.

And among you there is he who dies [young] and among you there is he who is brought back to the most abject time of life so that, after knowledge, he knows nothing. And you see the earth barren, but when We send down water on it, it thrills and swells and puts forth every lovely kind [of growth].

That is because Allah is Reality, and it is He Who gives life to the dead, and it is He Who has power over all things, and because the Hour [of Judgment] will come concerning which there is no doubt, and because Allah will raise those who are in the graves.” (22:5-7)

 La Ilaha Illa Anta Subhanaka Inni Kuntu Minaz Zalimin

 Barka Juma’at and a happy long weekend.