salaam, I’ve just copy pasted elements from : THE LIFE BEYOND THE GRAVE
basically gives a rough idea on Barzakh. I read a really good book on life after death I will see if I can trace it online and post a link InshAllah.
The interval between Death and Resurrection is called Barzakh. During this period a believer feels happy whereas a disbeliever suffers torments. The real reward or punishment will be given on the Day of Judgment after due reckoning.
When a man dies, he is consigned from this world to Barzakh. Regardless of the fact whether the dead body is laid in the grave or cremated, he retains the power of understanding and comprehension.
The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is reported to have said that when the corpse is put in the bier and the people carry the dead body to the graveyard, if he is a pious person, he requests them to carry him as fast as they can and if he is a wrong doer, he curses the wretchedness in store for him and asks where he is being led to.
He is also reported to have said that except human beings everything else hears the cries of the dead body. If a man were to hear the cries of the dead body, he would faint.
The literal meaning of the word Barzakh is ‘barrier between two things’. From the Islamic point of view Barzakh is the period which intervenes between this world and the life Hereafter commencing immediately after the death of a man and ending on the Day of Resurrection. As soon as a man dies, he enters Barzakh.