The Torment and Comfort of the Grave Is Perceived Through the Body — Essence of Islam Vol. 2

14 Sep, 2026 Essence of Islam 0

Essence of Islam Book Cover by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (AS)

Introduction

In this discourse from Essence of Islam (Volume 2), Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (AS), the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, expounds upon The Torment and Comfort of the Grave Is Perceived Through the Body, presenting profound spiritual insights and scriptural verities.

Book Series: Essence of Islam (Volume 2)
Author: Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian (AS)
Section: Part 17: Heaven and Hell
Navigation: Book Table of Contents | « Previous: Two Gardens for the Righteous | Next: The Philosophy of Punishment in the Hereafter »

then comprises the whole body.
At another place it is said: 212

That is to say: The fuel of the fire of hell which keeps it blazing are first those men who turn aside from God and worship other things.
As it is said: 213

You and those whom you worshipped falsely, who were called gods despite being human, will be cast into hell. Secondly, the fuel of hell are the idols. The meaning is that if these things had not existed there would have been no hell. Thus in the holy word of God, heaven and hell are not like this physical world. The source of both of them are spiritual matters. It is true that in the other world they will appear as physical, but they will not belong to this physical world.
[Islami Usul ki Philosophy, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 10, pp. 385-393]
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 2, p. 437]

We have also exposed the error of the Christians in that they think that heaven will only be a spiritual experience. We have proved that the nature of man is such that his spiritual faculties need a body for their perfect and complete functioning. For instance, it is our observation that an injury inflicted upon a certain part of the brain destroys memory, and that an injury inflicted upon another part destroys the faculty of thinking, and that a disturbance occasioned to the nervous system affects several spiritual faculties. Such being the case that a minor disturbance of the body occasions a disturbance in the functioning of the soul, how can we expect that after a total separation from the body the soul would be able to maintain its integrity? Therefore, Islam teaches that everyone is bestowed a body in the grave which is needed for the perception of delight and torment. We cannot say from what material that body is prepared except that this mortal body becomes naught and no one observes that it is revived in the grave. Very often it is cremated or is preserved in a museum or is kept outside a grave for long periods. If it were a fact that it is revived, that would have been witnessed, yet it is proved from the Holy Qur’an that a dead person is revived and we have, therefore, to accept that he is revived with another body which we are not able to see. Very probably that body is made out of the fine qualities of this body and along with it human faculties are revived. As that body is much finer than this body, the door of visions is opened widely to it and the realities of the hereafter are seen as they are. The wrongdoers then suffer a torment of despair in addition to the physical torment. It is thus an agreed principle in Islam that the torment or comfort of the grave is perceived through a body. Reason also demands this as experience has established that the spiritual faculties of man do not manifest themselves without a body.
[Kitab-ul-Bariyyah, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 13, pp. 70-71]
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 2, p. 438]

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Introduction