f their good works to overbalance. Others suppose this
intermediate space will be a receptacle for those who have gone to war,
without their parents' leave, and therein suffered martyrdom; being
excluded from Paradise for their disobedience, and escaping hell
because they are martyrs."

There is also an interval, between the death of the body in this world and
the Last Day, called Al-Barzakh. "Behind them shall be a barrier (barzakh),
until the day when they shall be raised again." (Sura xxiii. 102). When
death takes place, the soul is separated from the body by the Angel of
death; in the case of the good with ease, in that of the wicked with
violence. It then enters into Al-Barzakh.[161]

It is a doctrine founded on Ijma', that God will not pardon Shirk, that is,
the ascribing plurality to the Divine Being. The Mushrik, one who does so,
will remain in hell for ever, for as Kufr, infidelity, is an eternal crime,
its punishment must also be eternal. "The unbelievers among the people of
the Book, and among the Polytheists shall go into the fire of Gehenna to
abide therein for aye. Of all creatures are they the worst?" (Sura xcviii.
5). "Cast into Hell every infidel, every hardened one, the hinderer of the
good, the transgressor, the doubter who set up other Gods with God. Cast ye
him into the fierce torment." (Sura 1. 23-25.)

Muslims who commit great (Kabira) sins, though they die unrepentant, will
not remain in hell for ever, for, "whosoever shall have wrought an atom's
weight of good shall {169} behold it." (Sura xcix. 7). It is asserted that
the fact of believing in Islam is a good work and merits a reward: this
cannot be given before the man enters hell to be punished for his sins, and
therefore he must be, after a while, released from punishment. "Perfect
faith (Iman-i-Kamil) consists in believing with sincerity of heart and
acting in accordance thereto, but the actions are not the faith itself.
Great sins, therefore, prevent a man from having "perfect faith," but do
not destroy faith (Iman), nor make the Muslim an infidel, but only a
sinner."[162] The Mutazilites teach that the Muslim who enters hell will
remain there for ever. They maintain that the person who, having committed
great sins, dies unrepentant, though not an infidel, ceases to be a
believer and hence suffers as the infidels do.

The orthodox belief is that Muhammad is now an Intercessor and will be so
at the Last Day. The intercessio