Death & Resurrection from Graves of Dark Bodies

Flashes of Inspiration for Seekers of Ismaili Gnosis on the Path of Truth

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When the Graves are Turned Upside Down

The 23rd Shī‘ī Ismā‘īlī Imām, Mawlānā Ḥasan ᶜAlā Dhikrihi as-Salām (d. 1166), was asked by one of his followers how we Ismā‘īlīs, the ahl al-ta’wīl (adherents of esoteric interpretation), should understand “resurrection” (qiyama) and the true or haqiqi meaning of verse 82:4 of the Qur’ān, which draws our attention to a time “when the graves are turned upside down” (Wa-idha’l-qubūru bu‘thirat). In his written reply, Imām Ḥasan⁽ᶜ⁾ first clarifies that “these graves [mentioned in 82:4] are not the physical graves.” Revealing what these “graves” mentioned in the verse in fact refer to, Mawlānā ᶜAlā Dhikrihi’s-Salām explains that

like [the ordinary, earthly] graves in which a person’s body is buried after his soul is departed, the physical body of people [while they are alive] is [already] the grave of the soul. Resurrection from that [living] grave [of the human body] is being awakened from that grave of ignorance.”

Imām Ḥasan ᶜAlā Dhikrihi as-Salām, quoted in Karim Javan, Qiyama in Ismaili History: A Study on the “Proclamation of Resurrection in Alamut and its historical context, PhD Thesis, University of London, 2018, p. 148 [bracketed text added].

Reinforcing this view which connects resurrection with awakening, the Imām then refers to a few aḥadīth or Prophetic sayings: “The Prophet — peace be upon him and his family — says: ‘People are asleep, when they die, they are awakened.’ Then he says: ‘woe to the one who is awakened after death’, and he says: ‘blessed is whoever is awakened before death’ [Qiyama in Ismaili History, 148-89]. Having quoted the Prophetﷺ, the Imām confirms that “awakening before [ordinary, physical] death is resurrection from the grave of ignorance, and the resurrector is the Qā’im-i Qiyāmat” [Qiyama in Ismaili History, 149]. Indicating and/or warning his Ismā‘īlī Jama‘at about the dangers of living a life of wickedness and not “awakening” through the useful or beneficial resurrection before physical death, Mawlānā Ḥasan⁽ᶜ⁾ — himself known as the Qā’im-i Qiyāmat due to his proclamation of the Qiyāma in 1164 at Alamut — completes the understanding murids of the Imām should have about Resurrection:

“Now, this Qiyāmat and Resurrection is useful before death. It has no use when the task [i.e. life] is terminated — after this [physical] world, it is the abode of Paradise or Hell. The Resurrection that benefits the good people is that which occurs before [compulsory, involuntary] death, and their souls reach the light of the Qiyāmat World. World. The bad people cannot be awakened at that time, even if they want to be: ‘And between them and their desires, is placed a barrier’ (34:54). ‘Every time they wish to get away therefrom, they will be forced thereinto, and it will be said to them: taste ye the penalty of the Fire’ (32:20).”

Imām Ḥasan ᶜAlā Dhikrihi as-Salām, quoted in Karim Javan, Qiyama in Ismaili History, 148-9 [bracketed text added].

Just as we may feel inspired and grateful to read the spiritual teachings of Mawlānā ᶜAlā Dhikrihi’s-Salām [or any of our Imāms for that matter], the great Muslim polymath and Ismā‘īlī dā‘ī, Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī, benefited tremendously from the sermons and sayings of our 23rd Imām, particularly in the form of a compilation of Imām Ḥasan ᶜAlā Dhikrihi’s-Salām’s teachings known as the Fuṣūl-i Muqaddas (Sacred Chapters), about which Sayyidna Ṭūsī, in his spiritual autobiography, writes:

I occupied myself day and night with reading it, and to the extent of my humble understanding and ability, I gained endless benefit from those sacred words which are the light of hearts and the illuminator of inner thoughts. It opened a little my eye of exploration and my inner sight (dīda-yi bāṭīn) was unveiled.

Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī, Sayr wa Sulūk, trans. by S.J. Badakhchani as Contemplation and Action, 31.

Having made such a great impact on his soul and intellect, we see Sayyidna Ṭūsī echoing Mawlānā ᶜAlā Dhikrihi’s-Salām’s teachings on the spiritual reality of graves, awakening, and the “voluntarily” (irādī) death and resurrection. Thus, in a short treatise on esoteric eschatology, the Āghāz wa Anjām (Origin and Destination), which was later studied by influential (non-Ismaili) sufis who incorporated it or their commentaries on it into their own theosophical treatises, Da‘i al-Du‘at Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī writes:

In this world, Mankind is in a purgatory (barzakh). Purgatory is a dark barrier (saddī ẓulmānī) between Origin and Destination: ‘And behind them there is purgatory until the Day when they are raised up’ (23:100). In this world, people are partly sleeping and some are dead. For the sleeping ones this world is like a dream, and for the dead they are dead, ‘without life’ (16:21), ‘and you cannot make those who are buried in graves to hear’ (35:22). The one who dies from this life, he will wake up from sleep, because resurrection means waking up. [The Prophet said]: ‘When they die, they wake up,’¹ and ‘The one who dies, his resurrection takes place.’² But there are two types of death. One is voluntarily (irādī): ‘Die before you die,’³ and the other is natural (ṭabī‘ī): ‘Wherever you are, death will catch up with you’ (4:78). The one who dies voluntarily will rise to eternal life: ‘Die voluntarily, arise naturally.’⁴ But the one who dies naturally will perish eternally: ‘Woe to the one who awakens after death.’

Naṣīr al-Dīn Tūsī, Āghāz wa Anjām (Origin and Destination), trans. by S.J. Badakhchani in Shi‘i Interpretations of Islam: Three Treatises on Theology & Eschatology, 55-56.

With the above spiritual counsel of our great religious guides, one can understand just how critical the “voluntary” death (i.e., to die spiritually before you die physically) and accompanying gnostic resurrection is. Fortunately, for the benefit of sincere Ismaili seekers of soul elevation and ascension, authentic spiritual guidance is not limited to the past or to previous guides. By the grace and mercy of our present, living Imam, Nur Mawlana Shah Karim al-Husayni Hazir Imam (salawatu’llahi ‘alayhi), the Ismaili Jamat of today continues to receive the special ‘ilm (knowledge) and inspiration to advance on the path of angelic transformation through the ta’yidi (divinely assisted) writings of the great ‘arif-i kamil (perfect knower) and servant of the Imam and Ismaili Jamat, ‘Allamah Nasir al-Din Hunzai. It is our hope that the following excerpts from one of Ustad-i Buzurgwar’s articles, “Experience of Death”, will encourage and inspire sincere seekers of Ismaili Gnosis to continue advancing on the Path of Truth (satpanth) towards the desired destination through iradi death and ruhani resurrection. Āmīn, Ya Rabb al-‘Alamīn.

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Key 4: Experience of Death

We have termed this topic the “experience of death.” But who has attained the experience of death, since with its occurrence all the experiences of the deceased vanish? However, it is true that among deaths there is also a special death, which is full of the observations and experiences of spirituality, certainty and recognition and abounds in the kernel of knowledge and wisdom. In order to know the reality of this kind of death you should carefully study the following explanation:

[. . . ] For the people of ma‘rifat, the special death consists of spiritual events and experiences of knowledge and recognition, which according to “Die before you die” is accepted before physical death through ‘ibādat [worship prescribed by the Imam of the time; focused meditation upon God’s Supreme Name] and spiritual exercise. The purpose of this death is recognition (ma‘rifat), in which are hidden the secrets of spiritual peace and eternal salvation.

[. . .] That spiritual death which occurs due to the special ‘ibādat [specific form of meditation prescribed by the Imam], spiritual exercise and mortification of the carnal self in the light of the guidance of the True Guide, is the introduction to spiritual events and experiences, in the sense that by it (such death), all the doors of the recognition of the self become unlocked. Thus, this voluntary death becomes the means of obtaining the realities and recognitions, spirit and spirituality and the secrets of God's recognition.

[. . .] At this point, I recall a couplet of Ḥazrat-i Pīr Nāṣir-i Khusraw, may God sanctify his secret. He says in his Rawshanā’ī-nāmah:

zi dunyā tā ba-‘uqbā nīst bisyār 
walī dar rah wujūd-i tust dīwār

There is not much distance 
between this world and the next;
Except that your existence 
is a wall between them.

This means that by special ‘ibādat and intense spiritual exercise, when the voluntary death occurs to a true mu’min, this wall of “being” will be removed and he will be able to experience the events of qiyāmat [resurrection] and spirituality.

God be hallowed! How excellent is this wisdom-filled example of the exalted Pīr, that your own carnal soul is the wall and veil between here and the hereafter! When you pass the exam of special ‘ibādat, spiritual exercise and the purification of the carnal soul, in the light of the sacred farmān of the True Guide [i.e. the living Imam], the dense and murky wall of your existence and self will either be removed from in front of you, or be made of transparent glass, or a door will be made in it. Then you will gain not only the experience of the wonders of death, but also the doors of the treasures of the knowledge of qiyāmat and spirituality and the recognition of God will be open to you forever.

‘Allāmah Naṣīr al-Dīn Naṣīr Hunzai, Imām Shinasī, trans. by Faquir Muhammad Hunzai, Rashida Noormohamed-Hunzai as Recognition of Imam, 92.

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Yā ‘Aly Madad,
Khayāl ‘Aly
May 12th, 2024

khayal.aly@gmail.com
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(khayal.aly; ismaili.poetry; khana_yi_khayr)

“To know that the ignorant are like the dead but that whoever moves from ignorance to knowledge is like a dead man who comes back to life; to know that light truly is belief; that doubt and shadows are undeniably ignorance and error - such are the signs of those who follow the household of the Prophet.”

- Pir Nasir-i Khusraw, Jami‘ al-Hikmatayn, tr. Eric Ormsby, Between Reason and Revelation, 275.

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1. A Prophetic tradition cited in al-Ghazzālī, Kitāb dhikr al-mawt wa-mābaʿduhu, tr. T. J. Winter as The Remembrance of Death and Afterlife (Cambridge,1989), p. 124.

2. A Prophetic tradition. Majlisī, Biḥār, vol. 58, p. 7.

3. A Prophetic tradition also attributed to Jesus and much quoted by the Sufis. See Majlisī, Biḥār, vol. 66, p. 317; and L. Badakhshī, Thamarāt al-quds, p. 1347.

4. Attributed to Plato by Ṭūsī in Akhlāq-i Nāṣirī, p. 188; trans. p. 138.