Gleanings — Paragraph 306
Source (Arabic)
وأمّا ما سألت، بنی نوع انسانی بعد از موت ظاهری غیر از انبیا و اولیا آیا همین تعیّن و تشخّص و ادراک و شعوری که قبل از موت در او موجود است بعد از موت هم باقی است یا زائل میشود و بر فرض بقا چگونه است که در حال حیات فیالجمله صدمه که بمشاعر انسانی وارد میشود از قبیل بیهوشی و مرض شدید شعور و ادراک از او زایل میشود و موت که انعدام ترکیب و عناصر است چگونه میشود که بعد او تشخّص و شعوری متصوّر شود با آنکه آلات بتمامها از هم پاشیده انتهی
Translation
Thou hast asked Me whether man, as apart from the Prophets of God and His chosen ones, will retain, after his physical death, the self-same individuality, personality, consciousness, and understanding that characterize his life in this world. If this should be the case, how is it, thou hast observed, that whereas such slight injuries to his mental faculties as fainting and severe illness deprive him of his understanding and consciousness, his death, which must involve the decomposition of his body and the dissolution of its elements, is powerless to destroy that understanding and extinguish that consciousness? How can anyone imagine that man’s consciousness and personality will be maintained, when the very instruments necessary to their existence and function will have completely disintegrated?