The Barzakh Life (After death Period)

The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) reports that there will soon come a time in which some type of people will be sitting, with one of them reclining on his couch, and when a Hadīth from the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) reaches him, he will say: What decides the matters between you and us is the noble Qur’an. It is sufficient for us. What we find therein as lawful, we act upon it, and what we find therein as unlawful, we avoid it. Then, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) pointed out that anything he prohibited or forbade in his Sunnah is the same as what Allah prohibited in His Book, for he only conveys from his Lord.

The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) passed by two graves and said: The two buried in these graves are being tormented but not for something that you would consider significant, although it is significant in the sight of Allah. One of them used to be heedless of keeping his body and clothes clean from the traces of urine when relieving himself, while the other used to spread slander among people, transferring others' talk with the intention of causing harm, dissension, and enmity among them.

The believer is questioned in the grave by the two angels assigned with this task, namely Munkar and Nakīr, whose names are mentioned in several Hadīths. The believer testifies that none is worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said that this is the firm word about which Allah Almighty says: {Allah keeps those who believe steadfast with the firm Word [of faith] in the life of this world and in the Hereafter.} [Surat Ibrāhīm: 27]

Two old Jewesses from Madīnah entered the place of ‘Ā’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) and told her that the dead are punished in their graves. ‘Ā’ishah denied what they said and refused to believe them, for she did not like to believe the Jews who are known for lying, religious fabrications, and distortion of the Scripture. After these two Jewesses had departed, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) came and ‘Ā’ishah informed him of what they said. In response, he said: “They spoke the truth", for the dead are subject to torture that all animals can hear. Then, ‘Ā’ishah went on to inform us that she never saw the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) ever since offer a prayer without seeking refuge from the punishment of the grave.

Zayd ibn Thābit relates that while they were with the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) in a garden belonging to an Ansāri tribe called Banu An-Najjār, and the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) was riding his mule when it suddenly swerved from the path, startled and almost dropped him off its back. In that place there were four, five, or six graves, so the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) asked: Who knows the buried people in these graves? A man replied: I know them. So he said: If you know them then when did they die? The man answered: They died in the days of polytheism. Then he said: This nation will be tested in their graves, then they will receive either bliss or torment; and if it was not for the fear that you would not bury your dead, I would invoke Allah to let hear some of the punishment of the grave that I hear, for if you hear it, you will cease burying your dead, due to the fear that the screams of the dead would pluck out your hearts, or the fear of exposing your relatives, that their affairs be known. Then he turned to his Companions and said: Ask Allah to protect you from the punishment of the Fire. They said: We seek Allah's protection from the punishment of the Fire. Then he said: Ask Allah to protect you from the punishment of the grave. They said: We seek protection and refuge of Allah from being afflicted with the punishment of the grave. Then he said: Ask Allah to protect you from trials, the apparent and the hidden thereof. They said: We seek protection of Allah from the apparent and hidden trials. Then he said: Ask Allah to protect you from the trial of the Anti-Christ, as he is the greatest trial that will lead to disbelief resulting in eternal punishment in the Fire. They said: We seek protection of Allah from the trial of the Anti-Christ.

The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) informed that when a servant dies, his dwelling and specific place in Paradise or Hellfire are shown to him at the beginning and the end of each day: his place in Paradise if he is among the people of Paradise, and his place in Hellfire if he is among the people of Hellfire. It will be said to him: This is your place to which you will be resurrected on the Day of Judgment. This serves as a means of comfort and delight for the believer and a torment for the disbeliever.

The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) pointed out that among the portents of the Hour approaching is that Shar‘i knowledge will be taken away through the death of scholars. As a result, ignorance will increase and spread, adultery and immorality will be common, drinking alcohol will prevail, and men will decrease in number while women will increase so much that for fifty women there will be one man to take care of their affairs and interests.

The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) informed us that the Hour will not be established until a man passes by the grave of another and wishes that he were in his place, dead, because of his fear of losing his religion, given the predominance of falsehood and its people, and the prevalence of trials, sins, and wrongdoings.

The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) reported that the Hour will not occur until the Muslims and the Jews fight each other - until when a Jew flees to hide behind a stone from the Muslims, Allah will make the stone speak and it will call out to the Muslim that there is a Jew behind it, so that he will go and kill him.

The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) swears to the imminence of the descent of Jesus, son of Mary, (peace be upon him) to judge between people with justice in compliance with Muhammad's Shariah. He will break the cross that is glorified by the Christians. Jesus (peace be upon him) will also kill the pig. He (peace be upon him) will abolish Jizyah and urge all people to embrace Islam. Moreover, wealth will overflow and no one will accept it given its abundance and the fact that everyone will find sufficiency in what he already has, in addition to the descent of blessings and the succession of good things.

The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) reports that among the major portents of the Hour is that the sun will rise from the west instead of the east, and when people see it, they will all believe. At that point, the belief of a disbeliever will not benefit him, nor will the righteous deeds or repentance be of any avail. Then, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned that the Hour will come so abruptly that people will be busy with their life affairs. So, the Hour will come when a buyer and a seller have spread out a garment between them, but they cannot finish their transaction or fold up the garment. And the Hour will come when a man has taken milk from his she-camel but will not be able to drink it. And the Hour will come when a man is repairing his tank, but he will not be able to water his livestock therefrom. And the Hour will come when a man has lifted a morsel to his mouth but will not be able to eat it.

The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) informed that one of the signs of the Hour is the shortening of time. So, a year passes like a month, a month passes like a week, a week passes like a day, a day passes like one hour, and an hour passes so quickly like the burning of Sa‘afah, which is a palm leaf.

As the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) was sitting among his Companions, he said: This is the time at which knowledge will disappear and be taken away from people. Thereupon, Ziyād ibn Labīd al-Ansāri (may Allah be pleased with him) wondered and asked the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him): How will knowledge be taken away from us and we lose it, whereas we recite and memorize the Qur’an?! By Allah, we will recite it and make our women and children and our children's children recite it. In response, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said in wonder: May your mother be bereaved of you, O Ziyād! I considered you to be among the knowledgeable people of Madīnah. Then, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) pointed out that knowledge will not be lost by the loss of the Qur’an, but knowledge will be lost by the loss of acting upon it. A case in point is the Jews and the Christians, who have the Torah and the Gospel, yet they did not derive benefit from them or their objective, namely acting upon what they have learned.

The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) informed that people would appear in the latter time of his Ummah who would fabricate lies and say things not said by anyone before them, and they would narrate false and fabricated Hadīths. So, he (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) commanded us to keep away from them and not to sit with them or listen to their Hadīths, lest the fabricated Hadīths may settle in our souls and we become unable to get rid of them.

The great Companion Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that he heard the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) say that the period between the first blow of the Trumpet, which will cause the people to die, and the second blow, after which they will be resurrected, will be forty. Abu Hurayrah was asked: Forty what: days, months, or years? He refused to reply, as he had not heard a specification for this number from the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him). Then he mentioned that Allah, the Exalted, will send down rain as thick as men's semen, and from this rain, the people will grow in their graves as seeds grow after a flood. Then the people will be resurrected to their Lord on the Day of Reckoning.

Asmā' bint Abu Bakr As-Siddīq informed that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) stood up one day to admonish people and remind them of the Hereafter. During his sermon, he started talking about the grave, its reality, and its trials in which two angels (Munkar and Nakīr) shall question man about his Lord, his Prophet, and his religion. This will be a great trial because one will be tested with regard to one's faith and certain belief. Anyone passes this test, s/he will be successful; and anyone fails,s/he will be doomed. Upon hearing this, Muslims shouted loudly out of fear from the trail of the grave, and their loud noise prevented Asmā' from hearing what the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) was saying. When the noise calmed down, Asmā' asked a man who was near her, saying: "May Allah bless you, what did the Prophet say at the end of his speech?" The man told her that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Allah revealed to me that the people will be tried and tested in their graves with a trial close to that of the Anti-Christ," meaning that the trial of the Anti-Christ is as difficult and severe as the trail of the grave.

The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) went out after the sun had set. He heard the voice of the Jews while being tormented. He said that this was the voice of the Jews while being tormented in their graves.

When the deceased is buried, two black and blue angels come to him; one named Munkar and the other Nakīr. They say to him: What did you use to say about this man? They mean the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him). He says: He is the slave of Allah and His Messenger; I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and messenger. They say: We knew that you would say that; then his grave is widened for him seventy cubits by seventy, then it is illuminated for him. Then it is said to him: Sleep; and he will say: I wish to return to my family and inform them of my pleasant condition so that they would be happy and not grieve over me. They will say: Sleep like the sleep of a bridegroom who will not be awakened except by the most beloved of his family to him. Then, he will sleep peacefully until Allah resurrects him on the Day of Resurrection. On the other hand, if the deceased is a hypocrite he will say: I heard people saying something, i.e. that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, so I said as they were saying: and I do not really know if he was a prophet or not. They will say: We knew that you would say that; then it will be said to the earth: gather together and tighten around him. Then its parts will gather around him tightly until his ribs will be no longer in the normal arranged state as they used to be due to the severity of the pressure and the squeezing of his body parts, thereby each of his two sides will cross over the other. He will continue to be tormented in this condition until Allah, the Exalted, resurrects him on the Day of Resurrection.

The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) informed that when the deceased is placed on the bier and carried by men on their shoulders, if the deceased was righteous, it would say: Take me forward, because of the bliss it sees ahead. But if the deceased was not righteous, it would cry out in a terrible voice: Woe to it! Where are they taking it?! Due to the torment it sees ahead. Everything hears its voice except man, and if he could hear it, he would be unconscious from the intensity of what he hears.