The Criterion of Existential Unity and Continuity of Human Beings in Different Worlds from the Perspective of Fayyaz Lahiji and Musawi Khomeini

Among the issues that Muslim theologians have addressed is human identity and how this identity continues in this world and the next worlds, as it is related to various topics of "divine justice". According to the principle of divine justice, human existence in its movement from this world to the hereafter has an existential unity and continuity so that the reward and punishment in the hereafter will belong to the same person who deserves them in this world. Hence, the present study seeks to answer the question: What is the criterion of the unity and continuity of human existence in this world and the hereafter according to Fayyaz Lahiji and Imam Khomeini? The answer has been studied in accordance with the chosen theological views of these two scholars about the unity of identity and the continuity of human existence in this world and the hereafter. The findings show that Fayyaz Lahiji does not consider the world of purgatory or the imaginal world in expressing the criterion of this unity. Rather, he presents his arguments on the basis of the existential truth of human (single soul) and the attachment of the body other than the worldly body (but similar to it) to the soul. But according to Musawi Khomeini's view, the existence of the imaginal world (purgatory) and the body of purgatory or imaginal body (thin and delicate body) is of great importance. Using a comparative method, this research was done based on library sources.