Still others maintain that the body, rather, experiences bliss and punishment without having any life in it. This is the view of a group of hadith scholars, and Ibn al-Zāghūnī inclines towards it in his work on the life of the prophets in their graves. This question has been discussed at length in several places.

The point here is that many scholastic theologians deny that the soul exists after death or receives reward or punishment. They claim that neither the Quran nor hadith provides evidence for this, just as those who deny punishment in the grave and the intermediate state altogether claim that the Quran provides no evidence for it. This is mistaken. Rather, the Quran explains in several places that the soul continues to exist after leaving the body, and it describes bliss and punishment in the intermediate state.

He—glorified and exalted be He—mentions both the “Greater Resurrection” and the “Lesser Resurrection” within a single surah, as in Sūrat al-Wāqiʿah. At its beginning, He mentions the Greater Resurrection and states that people will fall into three groups, saying:

“When the Inevitable Event occurs—
none can deny its occurrence—
bringing some low and raising others high;
when the earth is violently shaken,
and the mountains are utterly crushed,
becoming scattered dust,
and you are divided into three groups.”

Then, at its end, He mentions the Lesser Resurrection, which occurs at death, and states that people fall into three categories after death, saying:

“Why, then, when the soul reaches the throat,
and you are looking on,
while We are nearer to him than you, though you do not see—
why, if you are not subject to judgment,
do you not bring it back, if you are truthful?
Then, if he is one of those brought near,
there will be rest, bounty, and a Garden of Bliss.
And if he is one of the companions of the right,
then, ‘Peace be upon you,’ from the companions of the right.
But if he is one of those who denied the truth and went astray,