"They call it Al Orf, and more frequently in the plural, Al Araf, a word derived from the verb _Arafa_, which signifies to distinguish between things, or to part them; though some commentators give another reason for the imposition of this name, because, say they, those who stand on this partition will _know_ and _distinguish_ the blessed from the damned, by their respective marks or characteristics: and others way the word properly intends anything that is _high raised_ or _elevated_, as such a wall of separation must be supposed to {168} be. Some imagine it to be a sort of _limbo_ for the patriarchs and prophets, or for the martyrs and those who have been most eminent for sanctity. Others place here such whose good and evil works are so equal that they exactly counterpoise each other, and therefore deserve neither reward nor punishment; and these, say they, will on the last day be admitted into Paradise, after they shall have performed an act of adoration, which will be imputed to them as a merit, and will make the scale of their good works to overbalance. Others suppose this intermediate space will be a receptacle for those who have gone to war, without their parents' leave, and therein suffered martyrdom; being excluded from Paradise for their disobedience, and escaping hell because they are martyrs." There is also an interval, between the death of the body in this world and the Last Day, called Al-Barzakh. "Behind them shall be a barrier (barzakh), until the day when they shall be raised again." (Sura xxiii. 102). When death takes place, the soul is separated from the body by the Angel of death; in the case of the good with ease, in that of the wicked with violence. It then enters into Al-Barzakh.[161] It is a doctrine founded on Ijma', that God will not pardon Shirk, that is, the ascribing plurality to the Divine Being. The Mushrik, one who does so, will remain in hell for ever, for as Kufr, infidelity, is an eternal crime, its punishment must also be eternal. "The unbelievers among the people of the Book, and among the Polytheists shall go into the fire of Gehenna to abide therein for aye. Of all creatures are they the worst?" (Sura xcviii. 5). "Cast into Hell every infidel, every hardened one, the hinderer of the good, the transgressor, the doubter who set up other Gods with God. Cast ye him into the fierce torment." (Sura 1. 23-25.)