‘paradise’ at death is the greatest torture possible. God describes the death of the disbelievers as a
tearing of the soul from the body. Allah says:
“By the (angels) who tear out (the souls of the wicked) with violence...” (Qur’an, 79:1)
It tears because that soul doesn’t want to leave. It believed it was already in its heaven. It didn’t
realize that there is something greater. So much greater.
For the believing soul, it’s different. The believer is in prison—not paradise. Why? What is a
prisoner? A prisoner is someone who is trapped. A prisoner is kept from his home, stuck, while he
wishes to be somewhere better. The worldly body is a prison for the believer, not because this life is
miserable for the believing soul, but because that soul yearns to be somewhere greater. It yearns to be
Home. No matter how wonderful this life is for a believer, it is a prison compared to the Perfect life
that awaits them. This soul’s attachment is to God and the true paradise with Him. It wants to be
there. But this worldly life is what keeps that soul from returning—for a while. It is the barrier, the
prison. Although, the heart of a believer holds the only true paradise of this life, the soul still seeks
what is beyond. The soul still seeks its Home, but this soul must remain in the bars of the body for an
appointed term. It must ‘do the time’, before it can be released to go Home. The attachment of the
believing soul is not to the imprisoning body. When the sentence is over and a captive is told he can
go Home, he would never hold on to the prison bars. So Allah describes the death of the believer
very differently. God says:
“By those (angels) who gently take out (the souls of the believers)...” (Qur’an, 79:2)
The believing soul slips easily out of the body. Its ‘prison sentence’ is over and now it’s going Home.
It doesn’t hold on like the disbelieving soul that thought it was already at the best it can get.
And so I could not imagine a more perfect analogy than the one used by our beloved Prophet.
Indeed this life is a prison for the believer and a paradise for the disbeliever. We will all be called
back by the very same caller. The question is, will we live our life so that when that call comes we
hold on to the bars of the prison? Or will we live so that the call is a call of release. A call back
Home.