Discover the meaning of the term Al-ba'th (بعث) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readThe return (al-ma'ad) and the gathering (al-hashr) share one meaning: that Allah, the Most High, resurrects the dead from their graves, gathering their original parts and restoring the souls to them; this is true in our view, by transmission from the Truthful Informer. The philosophers denied it, on the basis of the impossibility of restoring the non-existent identically. The proofs of both parties, with the establishment of its reality and the nullity of the philosophers' position, are in the books of theology.
A person: ba'athan and ba'thata: he sent him alone. One says: ba'athatou ilayhi, and lah: he sent him to him; and ba'atha bi-l-kitab and the like. From his sleep: ba'athan: he woke him and roused him. In the mighty Revelation: "It is He who takes you by night, He knows what you have done by day, then He resurrects you therein until the fixed term is fulfilled" (al-An'am 60), that is: from sleep therein. Allah, after their death: He gave them life and dispersed them. In the noble Quran: "and that Allah resurrects those in the graves" (al-Hajj 7). Al-ba'th: the army, plural: bu'uth. : The scattering. And the Day of ba'th: the Day of Resurrection. In the noble Quran: "And those given knowledge and faith said: you remained, according to the Book of Allah, until the Day of ba'th; this is the Day of ba'th, but you did not know" (ar-Rum 56). Ibn Hazm said: the ba'th is a truth; it is a time at whose end the persistence of creation in the lower world concludes, everyone therein dies, then Allah gives life to the dead and revives their bones turned to dust in the graves, restores the bodies as they were, returns the souls to the bodies as they were, and gathers the first and the last on a day whose span equals fifty thousand years, in which He judges jinn and humans, recompensing each according to his knowledge.
Its origin is rousing a thing and directing it, and the meaning varies with what it is attached to: I roused the camel: I raised it and set its course.
It is that Allah sends a man to humans and jinn to call them to the right path.
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ إِن كُنتُمْ فِى رَيْبٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْبَعْثِ فَإِنَّا خَلَقْنَـٰكُم مِّن تُرَابٍۢ ثُمَّ مِن نُّطْفَةٍۢ ثُمَّ مِنْ عَلَقَةٍۢ ثُمَّ مِن مُّضْغَةٍۢ مُّخَلَّقَةٍۢ وَغَيْرِ مُخَلَّقَةٍۢ لِّنُبَيِّنَ لَكُمْ ۚ وَنُقِرُّ فِى ٱلْأَرْحَامِ مَا نَشَآءُ إِلَىٰٓ أَجَلٍۢ مُّسَمًّۭى ثُمَّ نُخْرِجُكُمْ طِفْلًۭا ثُمَّ لِتَبْلُغُوٓا۟ أَشُدَّكُمْ ۖ وَمِنكُم مَّن يُتَوَفَّىٰ وَمِنكُم مَّن يُرَدُّ إِلَىٰٓ أَرْذَلِ ٱلْعُمُرِ لِكَيْلَا يَعْلَمَ مِنۢ بَعْدِ عِلْمٍۢ شَيْـًۭٔا ۚ وَتَرَى ٱلْأَرْضَ هَامِدَةًۭ فَإِذَآ أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْهَا ٱلْمَآءَ ٱهْتَزَّتْ وَرَبَتْ وَأَنۢبَتَتْ مِن كُلِّ زَوْجٍۭ بَهِيجٍۢ [Surah الحج : 5]
وَقَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا۟ ٱلْعِلْمَ وَٱلْإِيمَـٰنَ لَقَدْ لَبِثْتُمْ فِى كِتَـٰبِ ٱللَّهِ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ ٱلْبَعْثِ ۖ فَهَـٰذَا يَوْمُ ٱلْبَعْثِ وَلَـٰكِنَّكُمْ كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ [Surah الروم : 56]