In my earlier blog I had discussed about mausoleums as expression of the inexpressible. In my this blog I would like to discuss what is the Islamic philosophy which makes this mausoleums so celestial. The philosophy of death and life after death
Death means the end of life in the physical world and departure of soul from the human body. The very concept of being departed suggests not being in this world but in some other world. It suggests that one continues to live and exist even after death. The soul remains and continues to exist in the form of spirit in spiritual world. Death doesn’t wipe out the total existence but brings to an end the physical life and allows one to live a spiritual life.
This understanding of life after death demands a certain physical space for the dead to pass the rest of their life. Islam allows the dead to be buried in the earth i.e. by the act of burial, the dead are provided a place to stay in the earth and wait till the “day of resurrection” (al’-akhira), when an angel will take all of those sleeping in their graves to God and they will be summoned to judgement. It’s the day of judgement when one will have to account for their doings on earth during physical existence. Mausoleum is considered their home to live after their death or house of spirits.
Islam is a religion of faith, that believes in unity - unity of all existences, all creations, emanations of one creator. According to Islam, the ultimate reality and goal of existence is union with the divine, ‘the Allah’. The soul is a feminine principle, which comes in union with Allah, the masculine principle. Death is considered to be the most significant phenomenon of life by which such union becomes possible; it is a transitional element, a threshold, which leads to Allah, a journey of self to self.
“Death is a liquid which unites fluid with the fluid”……Al-Ghazali
The burial place is important as it marks the point where the dead became Wasla with Allah i.e. unite with God.
