The Lives of Man: Guide to the Human States - Before Life, in the World and After Death
by Imam Abdallah Ibn Alawi Al-Haddad
Translated by Mostafa al-Badawi
What happens after Death? Who are "Munkar and Nakir?" What will Heaven and Hell be like? What signs should we expect before the day of Judgement? Who is the Dajjal? When will the Mahdi appear? These and many other questions are answered, on the basis of the Qu'ran and Hadith, in this fascinating book. Imam al-Haddad explains that every human being passes through the "lives:" before conception, life in the world, life in the grave, the Resurrection, and finally, the Garden of the Fire. A complete Muslim must be aware of each of these if he is to be sufficiently prepared for eternal life.
Imam Abdallah Ibn-Alawi Al-Haddad (d. 1720), lived at Tarim in the Hadramaut valley between Yemen and Oman, and is widely held to have been the ‘renewer’ of the twelfth Islamic century. A direct descendant of the Prophet, his sanctity and direct experience of God are clearly reflected in his writings, which include several books, a collection of Sufi letters, and a volume of mystical poetry. He spent most of his life in Kenya and Saudi Arabia where he taught Islamic jurisprudence and classical Sufism according to the order (tariqa) of the Ba'Alawi sayids.
Mostafa al-Badawi, author of the Fons Vitae Imam al-Haddad Spiritual Masters series, is a disciple in the Sufi order of Imam al-Haddad. Mostafa al-Badawi is one of the world's premier translators of Islamic spiritual texts. He is a Consultant Psychiatrist and member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He studied under many shaykhs, foremost among whom is the late Habib Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad. His other translations include: Book of Assistance, The Lives of Man, Two Treatises, The Prophetic Invocations, and Degrees of the Soul. He is also the author of Man and the Universe: An Islamic Perspective, recently published. He resides in Madinah.
