The A to Z of Death
Part 6
Click here for part 1 | Click here for part 2 | Click here for part 3 | Click here for part 4 | Click here for part 5
Resurrection
During the sojourn in the grave, souls visit each other and converse with one another,[1] regardless if they are buried close together or far apart.[2] One such example is mentioned by the Prophet (sallAllāhu ‘alayhi wasallam): The souls of the believers are brought to the believing soul and are overjoyed at receiving him, just as a person is when his absent, loved-one visits him. They will ask the person, ‘What has so-and-so and so-and-so been doing?[3] What has so-and-so down, did she marry again?’[4] The Angels will say, ‘Let him rest, he has toiled through this worldly life.’[5] They will ask about a person who has already passed away, he will reply, ‘He has passed away,[6] has he not already come?’ When they realise he has not, they will say, ‘Inna lillāhi wa inna ilayhi rājiʿūn.[7] He has been taken to his mother, al-Hāwiyah,[8] the worst of all mothers, the worst of murabbīs!’ [9]
The deeds he did are then presented to them and when they see the good, they delight in them and say, ‘Allāh, this is your blessings bestowed on Your servant, so complete it.’ When they see a bad deeds, they say, ‘Allah, forgive Your servant.’
This meeting will happen to the souls that are blessed, not the souls that are punished as they are too preoccupied with their punishment.[10]
In the life of the Barzakh, the souls, even though they are joined to the bodies in the graves, are simultaneously in other places as well. The souls of the Prophets are in the highest levels of Paradise. The souls of martyrs are in the bodies of green birds flying about in paradise wherever they want. Some martyrs, however, are prevented from entering Paradise because of debt. Some souls will be by a river running by the door of Paradise. Some souls will remain trapped in the grave and some will be punished in the grave.[11]
As the Last Day draws near, on earth, Allāh will dispatch a cool breeze[12] originating from Yemen and Shām. A pure wind, its scent sweeter than musk and its caress, softer than silk.[13] It will seize every believer on earth, even those with just an atoms weight of faith, under their armpits and take their lives. Only the worst of people will then be left on earth,[14] not a single person who can say Allāh Allāh[15] or lā ilāha illAllāh,[16] devoid of any shame and engaging in public intercourse just like donkeys or animals.[17] They will once again worship the idols of their forefathers,[18] having succumbed to the temptations of Shayṭān, and not a single person will be left who can distinguish good from bad.[19]
Some time later, a fire will burn from a depression in ʿAdn, Yemen and from Haḍramawt, both by the Red Sea and it will drive everyone to the place of the gathering:[20] Shām.[21] They will be driven there, walking, riding, and even crawling on their faces,[22] along with monkeys and pigs. The fire will be behind them all the way, spending the night where they spend the night, with them when they rest, and consuming any who are left behind.[23]
Friday is a day that concerns the angels brought close to Allāh, the sky, the earth, wind, the mountains and the seas. This is the day on which the Last Day will fall,[24] during the daytime,[25] soon after Fajr, before sunrise.[26] It will fall so suddenly,[27] that two persons spreading a garment between them will not be able to finish their bargain, nor will they be able to fold it up. A man will be carrying the milk of his she-camel, but cannot drink it. Another will not be able to prepare the tank to water his livestock from it. Some people will have raised food to their mouths but will not have time to eat it.[28]
The Trumpet will blast, reverberating through creation. The earth will convulse, the mountains will disintegrate, and the oceans will boil over. Everything will be destroyed and everyone will die,
إِنَّ زَلْزَلَةَ السَّاعَةِ شَيْءٌ عَظِيمٌ يَوْمَ تَرَوْنَهَا تَذْهَلُ كُلُّ مُرْضِعَةٍ عَمَّا أَرْضَعَتْ وَتَضَعُ كُلُّ ذَاتِ حَمْلٍ حَمْلَهَا وَتَرَى النَّاسَ سُكَارَى وَمَا هُم بِسُكَارَى وَلَكِنَّ عَذَابَ اللَّهِ شَدِيدٌ
“The final earthquake will be a terrifying event: on the Day you see it, every nursing mother will think no more of her baby, every pregnant woman will miscarry, you will think people are drunk when they are not, so severe is Allāh’s punishment.”[29]
The first person to hear that trumpet would be someone busy in setting right the tank meant for providing water to the camels. He would swoon and the rest of man would also swoon.[30]
Then, after the passage of forty [years],[31] Allāh will send down rain which would be like dew, and from it, the bodies of people will grow out of the earth.[32] A second trumpet blast will sound and man will be resurrected, standing and looking (around),[33] coming out as if they were swarming locusts,[34]
يَوْمَ تَرْجُفُ الرَّاجِفَةُ ﴿٦﴾ تَتْبَعُهَا الرَّادِفَةُ ﴿٧﴾ قُلُوبٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ وَاجِفَةٌ ﴿٨﴾ أَبْصَارُهَا خَاشِعَةٌ ﴿٩﴾ يَقُولُونَ أَإِنَّا لَمَرْدُودُونَ فِي الْحَافِرَةِ ﴿١٠﴾ أَإِذَا كُنَّا عِظَامًا نَّخِرَةً ﴿١١﴾ قَالُوا تِلْكَ إِذًا كَرَّةٌ خَاسِرَةٌ ﴿١٢﴾ فَإِنَّمَا هِيَ زَجْرَةٌ وَاحِدَةٌ ﴿١٣﴾ فَإِذَا هُم بِالسَّاهِرَةِ
“On the Day when the Blast reverberates, and the second blast follows, hearts will tremble, eyes will be downcast. They say: What! Shall we be brought back to life after we have turned into decayed bones? They say: that would truly be a fateful return! But all it will take is single blast, and see, they will be back above the ground!”[35]
وَنُفِخَ فِي الصُّورِ فَإِذَا هُم مِّنَ الْأَجْدَاثِ إِلَى رَبِّهِمْ يَنسِلُونَ قَالُوا يَا وَيْلَنَا مَن بَعَثَنَا مِن مَّرْقَدِنَا هَذَا مَا وَعَدَ الرَّحْمَنُ وَصَدَقَ الْمُرْسَلُونَ إِن كَانَتْ إِلَّا صَيْحَةً وَاحِدَةً فَإِذَا هُمْ جَمِيعٌ لَّدَيْنَا مُحْضَرُونَ فَالْيَوْمَ لَا تُظْلَمُ نَفْسٌ شَيْئًا وَلَا تُجْزَوْنَ إِلَّا مَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ
“The Trumpet will be sounded and behold! They will rush out to their Lord from their graves. They will say, ‘Woe to us! Who has resurrected us from our resting place?’ They will be told, ‘This is what the Lord of Mercy has promised, and the messengers told the truth.’ It was just one single blast and then – behold! They were all brought before Us. Today no soul will be wronged in the least; you will only be repaid for your deeds.”[36]
The souls will be fully reunited with their bodies which will be the same as they were in this life except that they will be uncircumcised, they will have no need of urinating or defecating, they will not die, and, in this state, they will be able to see Angel and jinn.[37]
Man will be raised naked, barefoot and uncircumcised, in far too much terror to take note of his nakedness.[38] Some may be raised in their clothes or their shrouds, but these will quickly disintegrate leaving them naked.[39] They will all stand on a vast land that is reddish white, like a fine load of bread, with no landmarks at all.[40] Each person will only have the space of his own two feet to stand therein.[41]
The first to be raised will be the Prophet (sallAllāhu ‘alayhi wasallam).[42] The martyrs will be raised with their wounds red and bleeding, exuding the scent of musk.[43] The pilgrim who died in the state of iḥram will be raised reciting the talbiyyah.[44] The Muʾadhdhin will be raised calling the adhān,[45] and having the longest necks.[46] In general people will be raised doing the deed they did when they passed away.[47]
The disbeliever will be resurrected deaf, dumb and blind,[48] as he was in the grave, and given back his sight just before he is to be hurled into Hell.[49] Some will be resurrected, crawling on their faces.[50] The arrogant will be resurrected like ants in the form of men, humiliation enveloping them from all sides. They will be driven to a prison in Hell, its hottest fire rising over them and their drink will be the puss falling from the inhabitants of Hell.[51] A leader of ten people or more, will be resurrected in chains, the only thing able to release him being justice, if he was just in this world, otherwise his injustice and oppression will seal his fate.[52] Whoever concealed religious knowledge will be raised wearing a bridle of fire and whoever spoke about the Qurʾān without knowledge will also be raised wearing a bridle of fire.[53] A person who had wealth, but did not pay the zakāh due on it, will be raised and a bald-headed poisonous serpent with two black spots over its eyes will encircle his neck and bite his cheeks and say, ‘I am your wealth, I am your treasure.’[54]
A period of time after this, people will be clothed. The first to be clothed will be Ibrāhīm from the garments of Paradise,[55] then Muḥammad (sallAllāhu ‘alayhi wasallam), also from garments of Paradise the likes of which has never been seen,[56] then the rest of the Prophets.[57] The righteous will be clothed in noble garments and the evil doers in trousers of tar and other awful garments.[58]
The sun will draw close, until it is just a mile away and people will stand in their own sweat, the level of which is determined by their deeds. Some will be ankle deep in that sweat, others knee deep, shoulder deep or bridled by it.[59] The sweat would be so copious that Allāh’s Messenger (sallAllāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) said that ships could even sail on it![60] All will be affected by this except for a select group of people who would be standing under the shade of Allāh’s Throne. Amongst these will be: a just ruler, a youth who grew up worshipping Allāh, a man whose heart is attached to the Masjid, two people who love each other for Allāh’s sake, a man who is tempted by a woman of standing and beauty but says, ‘I fear Allāh,’ a man who gives in charity and hides it such that his left hand does not know what his right hand has given, and a man who remembers Allāh in private and his eyes shed tears while doing so.[61]
There they will stand for one day the length of which is 50,000 years by the reckoning of this world. However, for the believer it will be made to seem the same as the length of one obligatory prayer he prayed in this world or less,[62] or like the time when the sun is about to set to when it has set.[63]
Man will be in such terror, difficulty and despair during that standing that they will go from Prophet to Prophet asking them to intercede with Allāh to at least start the Judgement and allow them to move from that place. Each Prophet will refuse, saying, ‘Myself! Myself!’ until finally they go to the Prophet (sallAllāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) who will accept the request and intercede with Allāh. Judgement Day will then begin.[64]
[donationbanner]
Source: www.islam21c.com
Notes:
[1] Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Rūh, pp. 17-18. Cf. Ibn Abī al-Dunyā from Jābir that Allāh’s Messenger (SAW) said, ‘Shroud your deceased well because they will have visitors in their graves,’ and ibn Ḥajr, Fatḥ 11:386 said the isnād was ḥasan.
[2] Ibn Taymiyyah, al-Majmūʿ 24:368
[3] Nasāʾī #1833
[4] Ibn al-Mubārak, al-Zuhd #443, cf. Albānī, al-Ṣaḥīḥah #2758
[5] Nasāʾī #1833
[6] Ibn al-Mubārak, al-Zuhd #443
[7] Ibn al-Mubārak, al-Zuhd #443
[8] Ibn al-Mubārak, al-Zuhd #443
[9] Nasāʾī #1833
[10] Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Rūh, pp. 17-18
[11] Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Rūḥ, pp. 344-349
[12] Muslim #2940 from ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAmr.
[13] Muslim #1924 from ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAmr. Muslim #2937 from Nawās b. Samʿān
[14] Muslim #2937 from Nawās b. Samʿān
[15] Muslim #148 from Anas. Muslim #177 from Abū Hurayrah
[16] Aḥmad #13860 from Anas
[17] Muslim #2937 from Nawās b. Samʿān
[18] Muslim #2940 from ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAmr
[19] Muslim #2940 from ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAmr
[20] Muslim #2901. Abū Dāwūd #4311, Tirmidhī #2183 from Ḥudhayfah b. Asad. Tirmidhī #223 from ibn ʿUmar
[21] Aḥmad #20022 from Ḥakīm b. Muʿāwiyah. Bazzār #3965 from Abū Dharr
[22] Aḥmad #20022, Tirmidhī #2192 from Ḥakīm b. Muʿāwiyah
[23] Abū Dāwūd #2482, Aḥmad #6871 from ibn ʿAmr
[24] Ibn Mājah #1084, Aḥmad #15548 from Abū Lubābah. ʿIrāqī said the isnād was ḥasan. Aḥmad #7687-10303 from Abū Hurayrah.
[25] Abū Nuʿaym as the statement of Abū Hurayrah. Muslim #854 from Abū Hurayrah.
[26] Aḥmad #10303 from Abū Hurayrah
[27] They ask you about the Hour, when will it arrive? Say: My Lord alone has knowledge of it: He alone will reveal it, a time that is momentous in both the heavens and the earth. It will come upon you suddenly. [Q7:187]
[28] Bukhārī #6506, Muslim #2954 from Abū Hurayrah
[29] al-Ḥajj (22):1-2
[30] Muslim #2940 from ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAmr
[31] Muslim #2955 from Abū Hurayrah where he mentioned that the period of forty but refused to say if it was days, weeks or months. Some of the Companions were of the view that the period was forty years, cf. Ṭabarī 11:27, Qurṭubī, al-Tadhkira 1:491-510
[32] Muslim #2940 from ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAmr
[33] Muslim #2940 from ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAmr
[34] Qamar 54:7
[35] al-Nāziʿāt 79:6-14
[36] Yā Sīn 36:51
[37] Ḥākim, cf. Albānī, al-Ṣaḥīḥah #1668 and Ibn Taymiyyah, Majmūʿ 7:253
[38] Bukhārī #6527, Muslim #2194 from ʿĀʾishah. Bukhārī #6525, Muslim #6860 from ibn ʿAbbās. Ṭabarānī, al-Awsaṭ #833 from Umm Salamah. Ṭabarānī, al-Kabīr 24:34 from Sawdah
[39] Allāh’s Messenger (SAW) said, “The deceased will be resurrected in the clothes in which he died.” [Abū Dāwūd #3114. cf. Albānī, al-Ṣaḥīḥah #1671] “When one of you is given the duty of preparing his brother (for the funeral), cover him in his shrouds well because they will be raised in those shrouds.” [Khaṭīb, cf. Albānī, al-Ṣaḥīḥah #1425].
The scholars differed about how to reconcile these ḥadīths with the one that states that man will be raised naked, falling into one of three views: 1) They will be raised in them initially, but then they will disintegrate leaving them naked. 2) It refers to the martyrs specifically who are buried in their clothes 3) Garments here refers metaphorically to deeds, as is used in the Qurʾan in 7:26. cf. Ibn Ḥajr, Fatḥ 11:467
[40] Bukhārī #6521
[41] Ḥākim from Jābir
[42] Muslim #2278 from Abū Hurayrah, ibn Ḥibbān #6478 from ʿAbdullāh b. Sallām
[43] Bukhārī #2803, Muslim #1876 from ibn ʿUmar
[44] Bukhārī #1267, Muslim #1206 from ibn ʿAbbās
[45] Ibn Shāhīn, al-Targhīb #567
[46] Aḥmad #12729 from Anas
[47] Muslim #2878 from Jābir
[48] cf. al-Furqān 25:34
[49] Qurṭubī, al-Tadhkira
[50] cf. al-Isrāʾ 17:97 and Bukhārī #4760 and Muslim #2806 from Anas.
[51] Tirmidhī #2493, Aḥmad #6677
[52] Aḥmad #9570-22516 from Abū Hurayrah.
[53] Abū Yaʿlā #2585
[54] Bukhārī #1403-4565 from Abū Hurayrah
[55] Bukhārī #3349-3447-4626, Muslim #2860 from ibn ʿAbbās
[56] Bayhaqī 1:320, Bayhāqī, al-Asmāʾ #839. cf. Ibn Ḥajr 6:480,11:467, Qurṭubī, al-Tadhkira 2:533
[57] Ibn Shaḥin, al-Targhīb #567. Bayhaqī, Shuʿab 1:549. Ḥalīmī, al-Minhāj
[58] Muslim from Abū Mālik concerning the woman who wails.
[59] Muslim #2864 from al-Miqdād b. al-Aswad
[60] Ahmad #12588
[61] Bukhārī #6806, Muslim #1031 from Abū Hurayrah.
[62] Aḥmad #11717 from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī. Ibn Ḥibbān #7419 from ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAmr
[63] Ibn Ḥibbān #7333 from Abū Hurayrah
[64] Bukhārī#4712, Muslim #194 from Abū Hurayrah
