Thus,  the martyrs  partake  of life in the  Intermediate  Realm differently to the other dead. It has been definitely established by innumerable incidents and narrations that they manifest life in the way described above and suppose themselves to be alive. Indeed, their level of life has been illuminated and proved on numerous occasions by such occurrences as Hamza (May God be pleased with him) – the lord of the martyrs –  protecting  those  who  have  recourse  to  him,  and  his  performing  and  making performed tasks in this world. I myself, even, had a nephew and student called Ubeyd. He was killed at my side and in my place and became a martyr. Then, when I was being held as a prisoner-of-war at a place three months’ distance away, I entered his grave in a true dream, which was a sort of dwelling-place under the earth, although I did not know where he was buried. I saw him living the martyrs’ level of life. He evidently thought that I was dead and said that he had grieved over me greatly. He thought  he was alive, but having retreated  before the Russian  invasion,  had made himself  a  good  home  under  the  ground.  Thus,  owing  to  such  indications,  my unimportant  dream  convinced  me about  the above-mentioned  truth as certainly as having witnessed it.

The Fifth Level of Life is that of the spirits of the dead in their graves. Yes, death is a change of residence, the liberation of the spirit, a discharge from duties; it is not  annihilation,   non-existence,   and   a  going  to  nothingness.   Many  evidences illuminate and prove this level of life, such as the innumerable occasions the spirits of saints have assumed forms and appeared to those who unveil the realities, and the other dead have communicated with us while awake or sleeping and have told us of things that are conformable with reality. In fact, the Twent y-Ninth Word, which is about the immortality of man’s spirit, demonstrates this level of life with incontrovertible proofs.

SECOND QUESTION

Who creates death and life that He may try you, which of you is the best in conduct.(67:2)

Verses like this in the All-Wise Qur’an, the Criterion of Truth and Falsehood, make it understood that death is created like life; it too is a bounty. But on the face of it, death is dissolution, non-existence, decay, the extinction of life, the annihilator of pleasures; so how can it be created and a bounty?

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