How different, dear readers, are those who are tortured from those who are blessed in their graves!

How different, dear readers, is he who previews the Mercy of Allah The Almighty, from him who previews His Wrath in the grave.


I want you, dear reader, to imagine these scenes and envision them with your entire soul.


Here are some images related to us by the Messenger of Allah, , about the torture of the grave:


The first image:


It is narrated on the authority of Samurah ibn Jundub, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said, "The Prophet, , very often used to ask his Companions: "Did anyone of you see a dream (tonight)?" Thereupon, dreams would be narrated to him by those whom Allah The Almighty wished to narrate. One morning, the Prophet, , said:


“Last night, two angels came to me (in a dream) and awakened me and said to me: ‘Proceed!' I set out with them and we came across a man lying down, and behold, another man was standing over his head, holding a big rock. Behold, he was throwing the rock at the man's head, crushing it. The rock rolled away and he followed it and took it back. By the time he reached the man, his head had returned to the normal state. The thrower then did the same as he had done before. I said to my two companions, ‘Subhaanallaah! Who are these two persons?’ They said: ‘Proceed! Proceed!'”


Imagine the scene: a man lying down, and another man standing over his head, holding a big rock, and throwing the rock at the head of the man lying on the ground, crushing it and then the rock rolls away. What is astonishing is that this man with the crushed head stands up from his place and hastens to bring back the stone to the thrower so he can to throw at his head once again, as if he were enjoying his torture. Who do you think this man is? We shall know in a little while.


The second image:


“So we proceeded and came to a man lying flat on his back and another man standing over his head with an iron hook, and behold, he continued to put the hook in one side of the man's mouth and tear off that side of his face to the back (of the neck) and similarly tear off his nose from front to back and his eye from front to back. Then he turned to the other side of the man's face and did just as he had done with the first side. He hardly completed this side when the other side returned to its normal state. Then he returned to repeat what he had done before. I said to my two companions: ‘Subhaanallaah! Who are these two persons?’ They said to me: ‘Proceed! Proceed!'”


This image is even more odious: it is a man lying flat on his back and another standing over his head carrying a bent-headed sharp-edged piece of iron, similar to a fishing hook. The man who was standing comes to one side of the face of the man who was lying down and does an amazing thing: he tears off his face from the edge of the mouth of that side to the back, and does the same with the nose and the eye. Who do you think this man is? We shall know a while later.


The third image:


“So we proceeded and came across something like a furnace, in which there was a great deal of noise and voices. We looked into it and found naked men and women, and behold, a flame of fire was reaching to them from underneath, and when it reached them, they cried out loudly. I asked them: ‘Who are these?’ They said to me: ‘Proceed! Proceed!'”


This is also a very terrible image of naked men and women standing in an oven-like place and making noisy loud voices, and then suddenly, they are exposed to flames coming from underneath them, causing their voices to become louder and their pain to increase. Who do you think these are? We shall know a while later.


The fourth image:


“So we proceeded and came across a river red like blood, and behold, in the river there was a man swimming, and on the bank there was a man who had collected many stones. Behold, while the other man was swimming, he went near him. The former opened his mouth and the latter (on the bank) threw a stone into his mouth whereupon he started swimming again. He returned (once again), and every time he returned to him, he opened his mouth and the other (on the bank) threw a stone into it. I asked my two companions: ‘Who are these (two) persons?’ They replied: ‘Proceed! Proceed!'”


The last image is of a man swimming in a river of blood, and another man standing on the bank of the river, carrying many stones. Every time the swimmer comes to him, he opens his mouth to him, as if he is inviting him to throw a stone into it, and he actually throws it into his mouth. Then, he swims a little with the stone and returns to him to repeat the same action once again. Who do you think this man is? We shall know in the following article who all these people are.


The Messenger of Allah  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allah exalt his mention ) said:


“I said to them [the two angels who came to him (in a dream) and awakened him and said to him: ‘Proceed!']: ‘I have seen many wonders tonight. What does all that I have seen mean?’ They replied: ‘We will inform you: as for the first man you came upon whose head was being crushed with the rock, he is the one who studies the Quran and neither recites it nor acts on its orders, and sleeps, neglecting the obligatory prescribed prayers. This will be done to him until the Day of Resurrection. As for the man you came upon, whose sides of the mouth, nose and eyes were torn off from front to back, he is the man who goes out of his house in the morning and tells many lies which spread all over the world. This will be done to him until the Day of Resurrection. As for those naked men and women whom you saw in an oven-like structure, they are the adulterers and the adulteresses. And the man whom you saw swimming in the river and who was being given a stone to swallow, he is the one who consumes Riba (usury).” [Al-Bukhari]


Do you know now who these people are?


The first is he who sleeps and neglects the prescribed prayers.


The second is the liar who promulgates false rumors among people.


The (naked) men and women are the adulterers and adulteresses.


The last one is the person who devours Riba.


I ask Allah The Almighty not to make us among such people.


Dear reader, these are but some forms of punishment of the grave received by the person who lives in disobedience of Allah The Almighty, and does not follow the way of guidance.


On the other hand, those who obey Allah The Almighty will receive from Him a great reward and abiding bliss.


It is narrated on the authority of Abu Sa‘eed Al-Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said, “I was one of those who took part in digging the grave of Sa‘d ibn Mu‘aath, may Allah be pleased with him, at Al-Baqee' cemetery. The more we dug the earth, the more it exuded the scent of musk until we reached the Lahd (the burying place).” It is narrated through Muhammad ibn Shurahbeel ibn Hasanah  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him that he said, “A man took a handful of the earth of the grave of Sa'd, may Allah be pleased with him, and looked at it later and behold! It was musk.” [Ibn Sa‘d in his Tabaqaat]


It is narrated on the authority of Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said, the Messenger of Allah  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allah exalt his mention ) said:


“If a servant dies and is buried in the grave, two black and blue-complexioned angels come to him, one called Munkar and the other Nakeer, and ask him: “What did you say about the Prophet?” If he is a faithful believer, he would say: “He is the Servant and Messenger of Allah. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except for Allah, and that Muhammad is His Slave and Messenger.” They then say to him: “We have indeed learnt that you said (and believed in) that.” Then, his grave would be extended for him as much as seventy by seventy cubits, and illuminated and he would be asked to sleep. He would say: “Let me return to my family to tell them (about my bliss).” But he would be asked to sleep like a bridegroom whom none awakens but the dearest of his family to him, until Allah The Almighty raises him from his place of repose. However, if he is a hypocrite, he would say in reply to them: “I do not know. I heard the people saying something and I repeated it after them.” They would say to him: “We have indeed learnt that you said (and believed in) that.” Then, the earth would be asked to be welded on him, and it would do accordingly so violently that his ribs would dislocate; and he remains in punishment until Allah The Almighty raises him from his lying place.” [At-Tirmithi. Al-Albaani: Saheeh in As-Silsilah As-Saheehah]


Here, the point of resemblance between the believer’s sleep (in the grave) and the sleep of a bridegroom is his living in a good manner. [Tuhfat Al-Ahwathi]


This is indeed a part of the bliss which a believer enjoys in his grave: I ask Allah The Almighty to make our graves a garden from the gardens of Paradise, and not a hole from the holes of Hell-fire.