In Islamic eschatology, Barzakh is the realm separating a person’s death from resurrection and Judgment Day.
The Arabic word barzakh means a barrier, partition, or interval. In Islamic teachings, it commonly describes the intermediate state that begins when a person dies and continues until the resurrection. The dead are therefore not yet in the final, everlasting condition associated with Paradise or Hell.
The Qur’an uses the term for a barrier or partition, and later Islamic theological traditions developed its afterlife meaning in detail. Accounts of the grave, questioning by angels, and experiences of comfort or punishment are often connected with this intermediate period, although interpretations vary among Islamic schools and commentators.
Barzakh should not be confused with Jannah, the final paradise, or Jahannam, the final hell. It is also distinct from al-A'raf, a term associated in Qur’anic interpretation with a separating barrier or an elevated place between the saved and the damned. The duration of Barzakh ends with the resurrection and final judgment.