Chapter: The Deceased Is Shown His Place In Paradise Or The Fire; And Confirmation Of The Torment In The Grave - We Seek Refuge With Allah From That

When any one of you dies, he is shown his seat (in the Hereafter) morning and evening; if he is amongst the inmates of Paradise (he is shown the seat) from amongst the inmates of Paradise and if he is one from amongst the denizens of Hell (he is shown the seat) from amongst the denizens of Hell, and it would be said to him: That is your seat until Allah raises you on the Day of Resurrection (and sends you to your proper seat).

When a person dies, he is shown his seat morning and evening. If he is one amongst the inmates of Paradise (he is shown his seat) in Paradise and if he is one amongst the denizens of Hell-Fire (he is shown his seat) in the Hell-Fire. Then it is said to him: That is your seat where you would be sent on the Day of Resurrection.

I did not hear this hadith from Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) directly but it was Zaid b. Thabit who narrated it from him. As Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) was going along with us towards the dwellings of Bani an-Najjar, riding upon his pony, it shied and he was about to fall. He found four, five or six graves there. He said: Who amongst you knows about those lying in the graves? A person said: It is I. Thereupon he (the Holy Prophet) said: In what state did they die? He said: They died as polytheists. He said: These people are passing through the ordeal in the graves. If it were not the reason that you would stop burying (your dead) in the graves on listening to the torment in the grave which I am listening to, I would have certainly made you hear that. Then turning his face towards us, he said: Seek refuge with Allah from the torment of Hell. They said: We seek refuge with Allah from the torment of Hell. He said: Seek refuge with Allah from the torment of the grave. They said: We seek refuge with Allah from the torment of the grave. He said: Seek refuge with Allah from turmoil, its visible and invisible (aspects), and they said: We seek refuge with Allah from turmoil and its visible and invisible aspects and he said: Seek refuge with Allah from the turmoil of the Dajjal, and they said We seek refuge with Allah from the turmoil of the Dajjal.

If you were not (to abandon) the burying of the dead (in the grave), I would have certainly supplicated Allah that He should make you listen the torment of the grave.

" Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) went out after the sun had set and he heard some sound and said: It is the Jews who are being tormented in their graves.

When the servant is placed in his grave, his companions retrace their steps, and he hears the noise of their footsteps, two angels come to him and make him sit and say to him: What you have to say about this person (the Prophet)? If he is a believer, he would say: I bear testimony to the fact that he is a servant of Allah and His Messenger. Then it would be said to him: Look to your seat in the Hellfire, for Allah has substituted (the seat of yours) with a seat in Paradise. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: He would be shown both the seats. Qatada said: It was mentioned to us that his grave (the grave of a believer) expands to seventy cubits and is full with verdure until the Day when they would be resurrected.

When the dead body. is placed in the grave, he listens to the sound of the shoes (as his friends and relatives return after burying him).

When the servant is placed in his grave and his friends retrace their steps. The rest of the hadith is the same as transmitted by Qatada.

This verse: "Allah grants steadfastness to those who believe with firm word," was revealed in connection with the torment of the grave. It would be said to him: Who is your Lord? And he would say: Allah is my Lord and Muhammad is my Apostle (ﷺ), and that is (what is implied) by the words of Allah, the Exalted: "Allah keeps steadfast those who believe with firm word in this world and in the Hereafter."

"Allah keeps those who believe steadfast with firm word in this world and the Hereafter" was revealed in connection with the torment of the grave.

When the soul of a believer would go out (of his body) it would be received bv two angels who would take it to the sky. Hammad (one of the narrators in the chain of transmitters) mentioned the swetness of its odour, (and further said) that the dwellers of the sky say: Here comes the pious soul from the side of the earth Let there be blessings of Allah upon the body in which it resides. And it is carried (by the angels) to its Lord, the Exalted and Glorious. He would say: Take it to its destined end. And if he is a nonbeliever and as it (the soul) leaves the body-Hammad made a mention of its foul smell and of its being cursed-the dwellers of the sky say: There comes a dirty soul from the side of the earth, and it would be said: Take it to its destined end. Abu Huraira reported that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) put a thin cloth which was with him upon his nose while making a mention (of the foul smell) of the soul of a non-believer.

We were along with Umar between Mecca and Medina that we began to look for the new moon. And I was a man with sharp eye- sight, so I could see it, but none except me saw it. I began to say to 'Umar: Don't you see it? But he would not see it. Thereupon Umar said: I would soon be able to see it (when it will shine more brightly). I lay upon bed. He then made a mention of the people of Badr to us and said: Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) showed us one day before (the actual battle) the place of death of the people (participating) in (the Battle) of Badr and he was saying: This would be the place of death of so and so tomorrow, if Allah wills. Umar said: By Him Who sent him with truth, they did not miss the places (of their death) which Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) had pointed for them. Then they were all thrown in a well one after another. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) then went to them and said: O, so and so, the son of so and so; O so and so, the son of so and so, have you found correct what Allah and His Messenger had promised you? I have, however, found absolutely true what Allah had promised with me. Umar said: Allah's Messenger, how are you talking with the bodies without soul in them. Thereupon he said: You cannot hear more distinctly than (their hearing) of what I say, but with this exception that they have not power to make any reply.

O Abu Jahl b. Hisham, O Umayya b. Khalaf, O Utba b. Rab'ila, O Shaiba b. Rabi'a, have you not found what your Lord had promised with you to be correct? As for me, I have found the promises of my Lord to be (perfectly) correct. Umar listened to the words of Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) and said: Allah's Messenger, how do they listen and respond to you? They are dead and their bodies have decayed. Thereupon he (the Holy Prophet) said: By Him in Whose Hand is my life, what I am saying to them, even you cannot hear more distinctly than they, but they lack the power to reply. Then'he commanded that they should be buried in the well of Badr.

When it was the Day of Badr and Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) had gained victory over them (the Meccans), he commanded more than twenty persons, and in another hadith these are counted as twenty-four persons, from the non-believers of the Quraish to be thrown into the well of Badr. The rest of the hadith is the same.