Question: Which enters the Paradise: Soul or Body or Both? After resurrection, it is the body (after reuniting with the soul?) which enters the Paradise. This has been emphasized throughout the Book. See verses 13:5, 17:98-99, 20:55, 34:7, 75:3-4. However verses 27-30 in Sura 89 state that it is the Soul (Nafs)* which enters the Garden!
(17:99) "See they not that Allah who created the heavens and the earth has the power to create the like of them (anew)? ...." (75:3-4) "Does man think that We cannot assemble his bones? Nay we are able to to put together in perfect order the very tips of his fingers..."
(89:27-30) (To the righteous soul will be said) "O (tho) soul, in (complete) rest and satisfaction! Come back thou to thy Lord - well pleased (thyself), and well-pleasing unto Him! Enter thou, thee among my Devotees! Yea, enter thou My Heaven!" (31:28) "Your creation and your rising (from the dead) are only as (the creation and the rising of) a single soul..." (Pickthall) In Islam, the bliss in Paradise is not complete without the corporeal and sense pleasures. Otherwise, how can one drink Zanzabil (76:17), feel the moderate temperature (76:13), enjoy maidens (55:56) and drink honey and milk (47:16-17). These are all joys in state for the faithful. Yousuf Ali (note 6128 for verse 89:27-30) also says that it is the soul which enters the heaven, and not the gross body which perishes (His comment is contradictory to what verse 75:3-4 says!). Read verse 31:28 also. It says man's creation or resurrection is in no wise but as an individual soul*. Pickthall's translation (see box above) is more clear. _____________ * Unlike in Vedic scriptures, the Quran does not clearly recognize the SOUL as a distinct entity from the BODY. The soul is often referred as a source of all inclinations and desires (3:61, 12:53). The Arabic word `Nafs' has been translated differently by different translators: as SOUL, MIND, SPIRIT and even as HEART! The word `Nafs' at times refers to the individual (12:53), sometimes to the Soul (6:93, 39:42), and sometimes to God Himself (6:12,54)!. Of particular interest is verse 21:35 which says "Every soul shall have a taste of death.... ". This verse could mean: (i) that the Soul gets a taste of death after separation from the body, as Yousuf Ali interprets or (ii) that the Individual gets a taste of death as it is generally implied on most occasions (3:61, 51:21). Those who are of the opinion that `Nafs' in 21:35 only mean the real Soul would then have to consider this verse as another contradiction to verses 39:42 and 89:27-30 which imply that the Soul is taken back by Allah, momentarily during sleep and decisively at death. Does it mean that the Soul has no death?
Answer: there are many facts here not contradictions: the soul exists in our body since our birth and it leaves us when we die. During the process of separation of the sould from body the soul has a taste of death. Then it goes around the unvierse. For mertydoms their soul bounds to their new bodies and go to God. In the day of judgment all other souls will have new bodies. During sleep our souls go to God and returns back to the body unless someone dies during his sleep.What souls do until the day of judgment God knows. A relative of mine Who died at young age told to us in a vision that they praise God.
