The Grave

Whenever ‘Uthmaan ibn ‘Affaan went to a grave, he would cry. So they asked him, “How come when you remember jannah and naar that wouldn’t affect you like when you remember the grave?” ‘Uthmaan ibn ‘Affaan said, “I heard RasulAllah say, ‘The grave is the first step of akhirah. If you make it through it, whatever comes after will be easier. And if you do not make it through the grave, whatever will happen after it is will be difficulty. And that is why I cry whenever I remember the grave.’ RasulAllah(SWS) said, ‘Everything horrific that I have seen – the grave is more horrific.’” Pretty soon we will be there – everyone will be there. We will leave the comfort of this dunya behind. Every single one of us will be put in that hole in the earth.

There was an old woman who used to clean the masjid. She was ill and then she died late at night. The sahabah buried her. They did not wake up RasulAllah(SWS) because it was night. Later RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam asked, “Where is that old woman?” The Sahabah said, “She became ill and we buried her.” RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “Why didn’t you call me?” RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was the father for this woman; he cared about every single one of them: the weak and the strong; the old and the young. He sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “Show me her grave.” He visited her grave and said, “These graves are dark, but Allah swt will give them light because of my salah on them.” And the grave, as soon as it meets you, because you belong there, the grave will squeeze you painfully. [Bukhari]

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “The grave squeezes. If anyone would have been saved from this squeeze, it would have been Sa’ad ibn Mu’adh. Even Sa’ad ibn Mu’adh, the waliy of Allah, the grave squeezed him.” RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, this is the man whom the ‘arsh of Allah [Throne of Allah] shook for his death. This is the man whom the gates of heaven open for. This is the man, who had 70,000 angels accompany his janazah, but the grave squeezed him, but then it released him. Sa’ad ibn Mu’aadh was one of the leaders of Ansar; he was a leader in welcoming RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam; he was the best host to RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. He defended RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam until he died.

Once, a child was being buried. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “If anyone would have been saved from the squeezing of the grave, it would have been this child, but even it is squeezed.”

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam told us that two angels will descend on the person that is in the grave – munkar and nakir. They would scream at him and they would shock that person and surprise him. Their way of conversation is not very polite. They are very tough and strong. They expect a straight and immediate answer from you. Whether you are a believer or not, they will come in that fashion. 

These two angels will come down and ask three questions: “Ma rabbuk? Wa ma deenuk? Wa man nabiyuk?” Who is your Lord? What is your religion? And who is your Prophet?

Only three questions. This is the test we should prepare for. We study years for tests. How much time are we giving for this most important test? We know the questions, and we know the answers.

The believer would say, “My Lord is Allah. And my religion is Islam. And my Prophet is Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam.” They would hear a sound coming from above, “Qad saddaqa ‘abdi” – “My servant is saying the truth.” So Allah swt is verifying the answer. That is why Allah says in the Qur’aan: “Allah sets firm the believers on the firm statement in this world.” And what is the firm statement? La ilaaha illallah. Allah will set the believer firm on La ilaaha illallah.

When the angels ask the non-believer, “Who is your prophet?” He would say, “Huh? What? I don’t know. I heard the people say this and I said it.” The angels would smash him with a hammer that would turn him into dust. That person is saying what he heard the people say about the Prophet (saws) – what Abu Jahl said, what newspapers wrote, etc. This is not the answer the angels are looking for. It needs to be clear that imaan in Muhammad is what you will be asked about in the grave. They want to hear you say, “Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is my nabi.” It is not sufficient to say that there is one God. You have to believe in God’s representatives, His Messengers – Muhammad, ‘Eesa [Jesus], Musa [Moses], Ibraheem [Abraham]. They are the ones conveying the Message of Allah to the people of the earth.

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that this is the last test the believer will go through, the last ibtilaa`.

Al-Bulkhari narrates that Asmaa` bint Abi Bakr narrated that RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam stood in the masjid and gave a Khutbah. He started talking about the fitna of the grave until there was an uproar in the masjid – loud noises. What was that noise? The Sahabah radiyallahu anhum were crying. Asmaa` said, “I couldn’t hear the Khutbah. And I waited until the noise calmed down and then I asked a man next to me, ‘BarakAllahu feek. What was the last thing RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said?’ RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, ‘It has been revealed to me that you will go through fitna in the grave similar to the fitna of ad-dajjaal.’”

They were crying and weeping because their hearts were soft. For us – we are not affected. If we are, it is a very temporary affect. One of us could witness a janazah, and we can see the grave with our eyes and see the end of the human being as he is dumped in a hole, and in the cemetery we can be joking and laughing. This is qaswat al-qalb, hard hearts, similar to rocks. The sahabah just heard RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam talking about the grave and Asmaa` said she couldn’t hear what RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was saying. We are suffering from a disease that needs to be cured. This disease is worse than a medical heart problem. If we were suffering from a medical heart problem, we would spend our time and efforts to cure it. But if we are suffering from diseases like this, we let them go and don’t even worry about it.

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “This Ummah will go through tests in the grave. And if it wasn’t for the fact that you would not bury your dead, I would have asked Allah subhaana wa ta’aala to allow you to hear what is happening underground.”

Ibn Taymiyyah says that not only did RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam hear this, but we know of some people who hear the punishment of the grave and people seeing dead bodies coming out from the graves and being punished and they are screaming and the scars are on their bodies.

Ibn Taymiyyah says that when you sleep, your soul is separate from the body. Nevertheless, sometimes the dreams can be so intense that your body can start moving and acting upon that dream, even though your eyes are closed and your soul is gone from the body. 

Ibn Taymiyyah says that similarly, the punishment can be so severe, that the body starts acting upon that punishment, and you can see dead people coming out of the graves, running, and the angels are torturing them.

After the questioning of the believer, when the believer has given the right answers, a voice cries from the heaven, “An sadaqa ‘abdi” – “My servant is telling the truth. So furnish his grave from paradise, and provide him clothes from paradise and open for him a gate to paradise.” This grave on earth is hooked up to jannah. It is directly connected to paradise. This person in the grave is able to see his place in Jannah. He is not able to go there, but he can see it. Then a very handsome person will walk into the grave. The dead person would say, “Who are you?” That person would say, “I am your good deeds and I came to spend time with you until the day of judgement.” So the believer would not be alone.

One of the tabi’een said to one of his students, “You have studied under me for 30 years. Tell me what you have learned.” The student said, “I learned eight things. [One of these things is that] every one of us have some loved ones and some loved things. Some of these loved things we are going to leave in the dunya; some we will leave at home; some of these loved things will come with us to our graves. But then when we are in our grave, none of the loved things will be with us, except for our things. That is why I have taken my good deeds to be the most beloved to me.”

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says that the believer will have window showing paradise, and a window showing hell. And he will be told, “This is where you could have been if you were not a believer. And this is what you have got because of your imaan.” When he sees that, he would say, “Ya rabb, ‘aqi mis sa’ah.” – “O Allah, start the day of judgement so that I can go to my family and my wealth!” His family and wealth is in jannah; he does not go back to what is in the world.

After the corrupt, or evil person, is questioned, an announcement will be made from the heavens, “He is a liar! Furnish his grave from hellfire, give him clothes from hell fire and open for him a gate to hell fire.” We have graves under the surface of the earth that we think are part of this dunya, but we don’t know that the people of jannah see jannah from their graves and the people of naar see an-naar from their graves. And an evil, ugly person will come to him in the grave. The person will ask, “Who are you?” The person will say, “I am your evil deeds and I will be with you until the day of judgement.” That man will have stinking, rotten smell. Two windows will be opened – a window to jannah and a window to hell fire. He will be told, “This is where you could have been if you were a believer.” Not only is he suffering physically, but he’s suffering psychologically because of regret. “This is where you will be in hellfire.” He will say, “Ya rabb, do not let the day of judgement start.”