Hawzah News Agency – The term الرجعه means “return” in Arabic, and it signifies the return of a group of human beings after their death and before the Day of Resurrection to the world anew, synchronized with the occurrence of the universal movement of Mahdi, the Promised, and this fact is neither inconsistent with logic nor mind.

From the Islamic viewpoint and the other Divine religions, man’s essence consists of his abstract soul, so-called “his self”, which continues existing eternally after his body is annihilated. Furthermore, God, the Almighty, as also specified in the holy Quran, is Omnipotent, and no one is able to circumscribe His Omnipotence.

This brief introduction clarifies that the issue of returning, based on logic, is feasible, because the “returning” of the people sounds much easier than their creation for the first time.

The Creator, who has created them with no means, is able to return them anew to the world.

Listed below are just a few examples of “returning” in the previous nations, presented in the holy Quran:

واذ قلتم ياموسي لن نومن لك حتي نري الله جهرة فاخذتكم الصاعقه و انتم تنظرون. ثم بعثناكم من بعد موتكم لعلكم تشكرون؛

(And remember when some of you said, “O, Moses! We will never believe in you until we see Allah manifestly”. Then, the thunderbolt seized you while you were beholding and waiting for some responses. Then, We raised you to life after you were dead, so that you may come to your senses and become thankful.)

In Ale Imran Sura, verse no. 49, it says about Jesus Christ:

و احي الموتي باذن الله؛

(And will bring to life the dead by Allah's leave.)

The holy Quran endorses the possibility of mass "returning” and approves its occurrence after man’s death.

In the following verses, the holy Quran refers implicitly to the returning of a group of people after their death and before the occurrence of the Resurrection:

و اذا وقع القول عليهم اخرجنا لهم دابه من الارض تكلمهم ان الناس كانوا باياتنا لا يوقنون و يوم نحشر من كل امة فوجا ممن يكذب باياتنا فهم يوزعون؛

(And when our command comes against the disbelievers, We shall bring out from the earth a gigantic beast to talk to them; because they had no faith in our Revelation and Signs. On the Day that We shall gather from every nation those who disbelieved in our signs and miracles; they shall be kept in ranks.)

Now to clarify the discussion on this issue, consider the following points:

1. The Islamic commentators are of the opinion that these two verses allude the issue of Resurrection; but the former declares one sign of the pre-Resurrection. As Jalal Ul Din Soyuti in his commentary book “Dor Ul-Manthur” narrated from Ibn Abi Shibah from Hazifah, the appearance of the gigantic beast is one of the incidents, occurring before the Resurrection.

2. There is no doubt that, the whole human beings and not a special group will be resurrected on the Day of Resurrection. In this regard, the holy Quran says:

ذلك يوم مجموع له الناس؛

(This is a Day on which the people will be gathered.)

And in Kahf Sura, verse no. 47, it notes,

و يوم نسير الجبال و تري الارض بارزة وحشرناهم فلم نغادر منهم احدا؛

(And remind them of the Day that We remove the mountains and set them in motion; and you can see the earth utterly leveled. And We shall gather all mankind together, and We will not leave out any of them.)

3. The following verse specifies the resurrection of a particular group of men, and not the whole. It says,

 و يوم نحشر من كل امه فوجا ممن يكذب باياتنا...؛

(On the Day that We shall gather from every nation those who disbelieved in our signs and miracles; they shall be kept in ranks.)

This verse is quite explicit about the resurrection of some human beings.

Conclusion:

The three above-mentioned points explicitly reveal that “the resurrection of those disbelieving the divine signs occurs before the happening of the Resurrection, because man’s resurrection on the Day of Resurrection includes the whole people”.

This explanation proves that our claim is true, and this phenomenon is known as “returning”. With regard to this fact, the Prophet’s Ahlul-Bait (a.s) as the authentic commentators of the Divine revelation has had some remarks, including:

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said,

ايام الله ثلاثة؛ يوم القائم عليه السلام و يوم الكرة و يوم القيامة؛

(The Divine days are three: The Day of Imam Mahdi’s Rising, the Day of Returning, and the Day of Resurrection.) And somewhere else, he said,

ليس منا من لم يأمن بكرتنا؛

(He who believes not in our returning to the world is not of our disciples.)

Now, consider the following points:

1. The philosophy of ‘returning’: Reflecting on the motives of “returning”, two ultimate goals of this phenomenon are clarified; first, the demonstration of Islam grandeur as well as the disgrace of unbelief, and second the reward of the believers and pious as well as the punishment of the unbelievers and sinners.

2. The salient distinction between ‘returning’ and ‘metempsychosis’: It is noteworthy to say that from the Shia point of view the issue of “returning” is not affiliated with the theory of metempsychosis, because the latter is based on the negation of Resurrection and considers the worldly life in a continual circulation; each circle is the repetition of the previous one.

This theory is based on the supposed passing of the soul at death into another body, either human or animal.

Therefore, if the soul belonged to a pious man in the past, it will be passed to a body that enjoys the time and vice versa. This passing of the soul into another body is considered as his Resurrection! while those believing in the issue of “returning” believe in Resurrection and conceive not the occurrence of metempsychosis feasible.

They believe that only a group of men return to this world before the Day of Resurrection and then turn back to their eternal abode after the Divine interests are achieved, and they will be resurrected once again along with the others, and one’s soul is never passed into another body after it is separated from the original body.

* Taken from the book "The Shia Responds" written by Ayatullah Ja'far Sobhani