GOTHS

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Only in the darkness can you see the stars. -Martin Luther King Jr.

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Put simply, a Goth is someone who finds beauty in things others consider dark. They love all that is dark and mysterious. That doesn't mean Goths are evil, it just means they have a different perspective to many. And it also doesn't mean Goths are unkind, violent or lacking in humour, in fact quite the opposite is true. Goths love to laugh but their humour is more of a dark sense of humour sort. They aren't sad because they like dark things - dark things make them happy and inspire them. Goths are often intelligent, romantic and artistic realists.

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Too often, Goths are mistaken for morbid, creepy, and harshly dark. Admittedly, some styles of Goth can be classed as aesthetically outward and dark. But there is a "softer" side to Goth - and that is the Romantic Goth. Romantic Goths bring out the emotional, sensual side in the Goth culture. They don’t always dress in black or wear heavy makeup, as society seems to think of all Goths. They are creative and intelligent, as well as serene and yes, romantic.

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The Romanticism emphasizes intense emotions as an authentic source of aesthetic experience, placing new transcendental emphasis on experiencing sublime beauty and emotions within art.

 

Gothic culture as a whole is considered a very sacred art form and state of being, the realm of darkness and death is one where many transformations can occur, death and rebirth, mourning, grief, lamentations & healing, the realm of the undead and the underworld are all very important sacred concepts with deep philisophical meanings and connotations.

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The very concept of immortality, the afterlife, the hereafter and also the angelic side of Christianity and all major Abrahamic faiths is not complete without the realm of Archangel Ezraeel (DEATH). Gothic art as a whole with sacred imagery such as Love, Death, Crosses, Angels, Cathedrals and Churches and Graveyards should be viewed in this light and no other way as the very imagery is one of nothing but sacredness in the most profound manner.

شب قبر
(Night of the Grave)

Burial Night or Laylat al-dafn (Arabic:لَیلَةُ الدَّفن) is the first night after the burial of a deceased person in grave. In Islamic culture, this night, its characteristics and events have been extensively discussed. According to sacred texts, the first night after burial is an important night for the person passed away and has different stages. Among its important events are meeting different angels, questioning the person and receiving his answers and the pressure of the grave. Some actions such as the prayer of burial night can help the deceased person to pass these events. The first night in the grave is beautiful and relaxing for believers and very harsh and dreadful for disbelievers and wrongdoers.

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According to religious teachings, since the time the person is in his deathbed and the first moments of death approaching, the person sees the result of his actions and will be pleased of or suffer from them. In the first hours and days after death, the soul, while being in the world of Barzakh (Purgatory), finds itself beside the physical body. Due to the great attachment it has had with the body in this world, it is attentive toward it and follows it in the movements and while it is being washed, and then sees itself with the body in the grave, when it is buried.

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As soon as the deceased person enters the grave, their first night begins and it is the roughest night they will inevitably experience. The states of the deceased person are greatly influenced by their actions, beliefs and attachment to the material world.

 

جهنم 

Inferno

Those having done bad things throughout the course of their life end up suffering the most with eternal damnation being their everlasting predicament, a miserable state of eternal suffering, torture and punishment with no regards or mercy shown to them in relations to any titles or positions they may have previously held throughout the course of their life or any amount of wealth they may have acquired during the course of their lives.

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In fact, these evil souls end up being so insignificant in comparison to the majesty and glory of God that they are simply lost & forgotten in the bottomless pit and fires of hell, tormented both spiritually and physically as maggots eat their flesh and demons rip apart their souls & torture and torment them in the everlasting eternal flames of the Inferno.

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It is because of the relation between the material physical grave and the grave in barzakh that there are certain rulings about graves in Islam, funeral, shrouding, burial rites, respecting graves, recommendation of visiting graves, making supplication and asking for forgiveness upon graves and as such in Islam.

Some regard barzakh as a world dividing and simultaneously connecting the realm of the dead and the living. Therefore, some Muslim traditions argue about possibilities to contact the dead by sleeping on graveyards.

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قبرستان

Cemeteries​

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CEMETERIES (qabrestān, gūrestān) in Persian folklore are found both inside and outside cities and villages, usually close to a holy shrine, or emāmzāda, in order to partake of its blessing. A DARGAH (Persian: درگاه‎‎ dargâh or درگه dargah, also in Urdu) is a shrine built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often a Sufi saint or dervish. Muslims may visit the shrine for ziyarat, a term associated with religious visits and pilgrimages. Dargah is derived from a Persian word which literally means "portal" or "threshold". Some Sufi and other Muslims believe that dargahs are portals by which they can invoke the deceased saint's intercession and blessing (as per tawassul, also known as dawat-e-qaboor or Ilm e dawat).

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Because cemeteries are transitional places between the realms of the living and the dead they are thought to possess great magical power in many cultures. This is one of the reasons that they are either walled or are located outside the residential areas. In Persia, too, they were probably originally located outside the boundaries of towns and villages, and only with the passage of time did residential areas grow around them. This feature of cemeteries is still evident in smaller towns and villages in Persia.

Visiting cemeteries and praying for the souls of the departed are pious acts that have been recommended to all Muslims from the time of the prophet. During these visits water is customarily poured upon the grave to refresh the departed’s soul. The desirability of pouring water on the grave of the depart­ed is sanctioned in Islam.

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A number of rituals are associated with the visiting of cemeteries. Customarily, Persians visit the grave of their departed on the seventh day (hafta), the fortieth day (čella), and additionally one year after the death (sāl). The tendency is to visit the cemetery in odd numbers, that is, 3, 5, 7, etc., as it is believed that visiting cemeteries in even numbers brings bad luck and possible harm.

A number of magical actions associated with graves and graveyards include the following: Girls who want to secure a husband for themselves may go to the grave­yard, find the grave of a man who has died young, and cook and distribute ḥalwā by the grave, others sit astride the lion statues found by the grave. Women who want to have a baby girl, wrap a handkerchief around the effigies’ heads. Individuals who wish the speedy return of a traveler go behind the lion statue and push it forward, those who desire wealth must anoint its head with oil. In the cemetery of Ḵᵛāja Rowšanāʾī in Mašhad there was a lion effigy by the grave of a pahlavān, at which women lit candles to obtain their wishes. Sterile women straddled it while cutting a cord with forty knots.