Ma'ad — Rawzat

The Quranic Certainty of the Return

The concept of al-ma’ad (the return) pervades the Quran — it is, after tawhid, the most frequently addressed topic in the Quran. The divine’s insistence on the reality of resurrection answers the hardest human denial: “When we are bones and crumbled particles, will we really be resurrected as a new creation?” (17:49)

The Quran’s answer is categorical:

“Does man think that We will not assemble his bones? Yes, [We are] Able to [even] make right his fingertips.” (75:3-4)

“From the earth We created you, and into it We will return you, and from it We will extract you another time.” (20:55)

The resurrection is not merely a future hope but the completion of the divine’s intention in creation: the divine created humanity to know and return to the divine. Death is not the end of that journey but its next stage.

The Sequence of Eschatological Events

1. Death — The Separation of Soul and Body

“Every soul will taste death.” (3:185, 21:35, 29:57)

The Quran identifies death as tasting — an experience, not an absence. The soul does not cease at death; it separates from the physical body. The angel of death (Malak al-Mawt, identified in tradition as ‘Izra’il) comes for every soul at its appointed time.

“And Allah takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that do not die [He takes] during their sleep. Then He keeps those for which He has decreed death and releases the others for a specified term.” (39:42) — Sleep is a “minor death” (wafat sughra): the soul partially separates from the body each night. Death is the final, permanent separation.

The moment of death and the questioning: The soul’s experience at death — particularly the arrival of the angels and the final vision — is addressed in many hadith. The Prophet (SAW): “The believing soul, at death, sees its place in Paradise, and the disbelieving soul sees its place in the Fire.”

2. Barzakh — The Intermediate State

“And behind them is a barrier (barzakh) until the Day they are resurrected.” (23:100)

The barzakh (literally: a barrier, an isthmus) is the intermediate state between death and resurrection. The soul exists in barzakh from the moment of death until the Day of Resurrection.

The nature of barzakh:

Not the final judgment — that comes on the Day of Resurrection
Not simple unconsciousness — the Quran and hadith indicate the soul has experiences
The souls of martyrs are described as alive with their Lord: “And never think of those who have been killed in the cause of Allah as dead. Rather, they are alive with their Lord, receiving provision.” (3:169)
Punishment in the grave (‘adhab al-qabr): those who rejected the truth experience anticipatory suffering; those who believed experience anticipatory peace

3. The Signs of the Hour — Al-Ashrat al-Sa’a

Before the final Resurrection, Islamic tradition identifies major and minor signs. Among the major signs: the return of ‘Isa ibn Maryam (AS), the appearance of the Mahdi, the emergence of Dajjal (the antichrist), Gog and Magog, the rising of the sun from the west, and the great gathering.

In the Ismaili ta’wil: these signs have their esoteric counterparts. The “Mahdi” who guides is the Imam present in every age; the “return of ‘Isa” is the recurrence of the same spiritual reality that ‘Isa embodied in every prophetic cycle. The “signs of the Hour” point to the soul’s internal eschatology — the signs that the soul’s own Day of Reckoning is approaching.

4. The Resurrection — Yawm al-Qiyama

“On the Day the trumpet will be blown and you will come forth in multitudes.” (78:18)

“The Day when mankind will stand before the Lord of the worlds.” (83:6)

The resurrection is bodily and spiritual: the body is reconstructed and reunited with its soul for the final reckoning. The Quran’s description of resurrection makes clear that every person, from the first human to the last, will stand before the divine simultaneously (ma’a ba’d — the “after” of the resurrection is outside ordinary time).

The Quran’s specific images:

The earth splitting open: “When the earth is shaken with its [final] earthquake.” (99:1)
The mountains reduced to dust: “And the mountains are removed and become a mirage.” (78:20)
The heaven rolled up: “The Day We will fold the heaven like the folding of a [written] sheet for the records.” (21:104)
The graves overturned: “And when the graves are overturned.” (82:4)

5. The Weighing — Al-Mizan

“And the weighing [of deeds] that Day will be the truth. So those whose scales are heavy — it is they who will be the successful. And those whose scales are light — those are the ones who will lose themselves for what injustice they were doing toward Our verses.” (7:8-9)

The Mizan (the Balance) is the divine instrument of perfect justice — every deed, every intention, every moment of the soul’s life is weighed with absolute precision.

“So whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it, and whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it.” (99:7-8) — The Mizan’s precision: the smallest act has weight. This is simultaneously terrifying (no evil escapes judgment) and hopeful (no good is wasted).

6. The Book of Deeds — Al-Kitab

“And the record [of deeds] will be placed [open], and you will see the criminals fearful of that within it, and they will say: ‘Oh, woe to us! What is this book that leaves nothing small or great except that it has enumerated it?’” (18:49)

Every soul will receive its book — the full record of its life’s choices. Some receive it in the right hand (the believers), some in the left (the rejecters). The book makes denial impossible: “Read your record. Sufficient is yourself against you this Day as an accountant.” (17:14)

7. The Sirat — The Bridge

Islamic tradition describes al-Sirat al-Mustaqim (the Straight Path — which appears throughout the Quran as the path of right guidance) taking an eschatological form: the bridge over Hell that every soul must cross to reach Paradise. The believers cross with varying degrees of ease depending on their faith and deeds; those whose deeds are insufficient fall.

The ta’wil of the Sirat: The Ismaili tradition reads the Sirat’s eschatological form as the batin of its Quranic use. The “straight path” that every Muslim prays for in al-Fatiha (ihdina al-sirat al-mustaqim) is the path of walayah — following the Imam and Da’i. The soul that has genuine walayah in this life crosses the Sirat of the afterlife; the soul that rejected walayah finds the crossing impassable. The ta’wil is that the eschatological bridge is the consequence of the spiritual path chosen in this life.

Janna and Jahannam — Paradise and Hell

Janna — The Garden

“And give good tidings to those who believe and do righteous deeds that they will have gardens [in Paradise] beneath which rivers flow. Whenever they are provided with a provision of fruit therefrom, they will say: ‘This is what we were provided with before.’ And it is given to them in likeness. And they will have therein purified spouses, and they will abide therein eternally.” (2:25)

The Quran’s description of Janna is sensory and specific: gardens, flowing rivers, food and drink, companionship, cool shade, silk garments. Islamic theology has generally maintained that these descriptions are to be taken as describing real pleasures — greater than any worldly pleasure but genuinely pleasurable.

The highest pleasure of Janna: “For them will be whatever they will therein and with Us is more.” (50:35). And the most frequently cited hadith: the believers in Janna will be permitted to see the divine’s face — “ru’yat Allah” — the direct vision of the divine, which is described as the supreme pleasure that makes all the others pale.

Jahannam — The Fire

“Fear the Fire, which has been prepared for the disbelievers.” (3:131)

“Indeed, those who disbelieve in Our verses — We will drive them into a Fire. Every time their skins are roasted through We will replace them with other skins so they may taste the punishment.” (4:56)

Jahannam is presented with similar specificity: fire, boiling water, the zaqqum tree with bitter fruit that burns the stomach, the wailing of its inhabitants. The Quran uses diverse images — all pointing to the complete reversal of the soul’s experience of divine mercy, warmth, and life.

Is Jahannam eternal? The majority Sunni position holds that the believers who sinned will leave Jahannam eventually through the Prophet’s intercession (shafa’a); only the kafir (those who rejected faith to the end) remain eternally. Some hadith suggest even this eternal punishment may one day transform. The Ismaili tradition interprets Jahannam’s fire through ta’wil: it is the soul’s condition of separation from walayah, the spiritual fire of being cut off from the divine’s mercy.

Shafa’a — Intercession

“Who is it that can intercede with Him except by His permission?” (2:255)

Intercession (shafa’a) — the ability of certain souls (the prophets, the righteous, the martyrs) to intercede for others before the divine on the Day of Judgment — is affirmed in the Quran with the condition of divine permission. The Prophet Muhammad’s intercession (shafa’a al-‘uzma, the greatest intercession) for his community is central to Sunni and Shi’i eschatology.

In the Ismaili ta’wil: the intercession of the Imam for the members of his community is the batin of prophetic intercession. The Imam’s walayah is the shafa’a in this world — the Imam’s ta’wil is what lifts the soul toward its destination.

The Ismaili Ta’wil of Ma’ad — The Return in This Life

The most distinctive feature of Ismaili eschatology is the insistence that the eschatological events have their batin in the soul’s current life. The Return (ma’ad) is not only a future event — it is a present spiritual reality.

The ta’wil of resurrection: The soul that receives the Imam’s ta’wil experiences a “resurrection” in this life — the dead nafs (the soul governed by the nafs al-ammara) is raised to life by the divine’s ‘aql through the Imam’s teaching. “O you who have believed, respond to Allah and to the Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life.” (8:24) — The divine call that “gives you life” is the call to ta’wil, the call to genuine knowing.

The ta’wil of Mizan: The weighing of deeds has its batin in the soul’s honest self-examination (muhasaba) in this life. The soul that practices daily muhasaba is already undertaking its personal Mizan.

The ta’wil of Sirat: The straight path of the afterlife is the path of walayah in this life. The soul that follows the Imam and Da’i in this world is already crossing the Sirat; the soul that rejects walayah has already begun to fall.

The ta’wil of Janna and Jahannam: “And indeed, Jahannam is encompassing of the disbelievers.” (9:49) — Present tense. The Ismaili reading: the soul that is cut off from the divine’s guidance is already in its personal jahannam; the soul that has genuine walayah and practices genuine ‘ibadah experiences its personal janna in the spiritual contentment and knowledge it carries within.

The Prophet (SAW): “Paradise is surrounded by hardships and Hell is surrounded by desires.” — The eschatological realities are approached through the choices of this life.

The Five Principles and Their Unity

Ma’ad completes the first four of the Five Principles of Usul al-Din:

Tawhid: The divine is One — the source and return of all
‘Adl: The divine’s Justice — the guarantee that the Mizan is real
Nubuwwa: Prophethood — the divine’s guidance sent to humanity for the return journey
Ma’ad: The Return — the destination that gives the journey its direction

And in the Ismaili tradition, the fifth: 5. Imamah: The Imamate — the living guide for the journey in every age, the batin of both nubuwwa and the promise of the return

“Indeed, we belong to Allah and indeed to Him we will return.” (2:156) — The most frequently recited verse of Quranic consolation. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un: We are the divine’s, and to the divine we return. The return is not merely future — it is the soul’s deepest nature, its origin and its destination.

Ma'ad — The Return and the Resurrection