with each other in the Barzakh and on the Day of Recompense, as the ḥadith states. He places the believer among the pleasant breezes—that is, among the goodly, kindred spirits. Once it has left the body, the soul joins those of its own type, its sisters, and the companions of its deeds, and it remains with them there.

Among the souls are some that dwell in the furnace of the adulterers, male and female, and others that are in the river of blood, swimming in it while stones are cast into their mouths.

Hence the souls—whether blessed or wretched—do not share a single resting place: one spirit may be in the Highest Heights, while another is a base, earthly spirit that never rises above the ground.

He said, “If you examine the Sunnah and the transmitted reports and are granted a measure of insight into their apparent contradictions, you will find them all to be true, each one corroborating the other. The real issue lies in grasping their meaning and in understanding the soul, its rulings, and the fact that its reality is other than that of the body…

He then said: ‘The souls are divided into those that are released and those that are confined, into lofty ones and lowly ones. After their separation from the body they experience health and sickness, pleasure and bliss, pain and torment far greater than what they felt while joined to the body. There, therefore, are imprisonment, pain, punishment, sickness, and regret; and there, too, are delight, repose, bliss, and freedom.’”