[أم مُعاذ]

Barzakh(12)



Many sinful Muslim will also be punished in their graves due to


their sins and disobedience. There are several ahaadeeth, espe-


cially those concerning the ‘Night Journey’ (al-Israa'), which give


us a glimpse of the different types of punishments met out before


the Day of Judgment. The hadeeth below concerns a dream of


the Prophet r. Saamura ibn Jundub reported,



The Propher r after the prayers would turn towards us and


ask us, “Did any one of you have a dream?” If someone


had, he would relate it.



Upon hearing it, the Prophet r would say, “Whatever Al-


lah wills [comes to pass].”



One day he questioned us saying, “Did any one of you have


a dream?”



We answered, “No.”



Then the Prophet r said, “But tonight I saw two men.


They came to me.(13) They held my hand and took me to the


Holy Land. 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 the thrower followed


it and brought it back. By the time he reached the man, his


head was restored to its normal state. The thrower then did


the same as he had done before.



I asked my two companions, ‘Who are these two people?’



They said, ‘Proceed!’



So we proceeded and came to a man lying flat on his back


and another man standing over his head with an iron hook.


Behold, he would put the hook in one side of the man’s


mouth and tear off that side of his face to the back of his


neck and similarly tear 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 previ-


ous sid. As soon as he tore one side, the other side re-


turned to its normal state. Then he returned to it to repeat


what he had done before.



I said to my two companions, ‘Who are these two people?’



They said to me, ‘Proceed!’



So we proceeded and saw a hole like an oven, narrow at the


top and wide at the bottom, and there was fire burning in


it. In that oven, there were naked men and women, and be-


hold! Flames of the fire were reaching them from under-


neath. When it reached them, they would be raised high un-


til they were close to the mouth of the oven. Then the fire


subsided and they went back inside it again.



I asked, ‘Who are these people?’



They said to me, ‘Proceed!’



And so we proceeded and came to a river of blood, and


behold! In the middle of the river there was a man stand-


ing, and on its bank there was another who had many


stones. The man who was in the river would try to leave,


but the other man would throw rocks into his mouth so


that he would return to where he was. Every time the for-


mer tried to leave, the latter would throw rocks into his


mouth. Then he would return to where he was.



I asked, ‘Who are these people?’



They replied, ‘Proceed! Proceed!’



We proceeded until we came to a man with a repulsive ap-


pearance- the most repulsive appearance you would ever


see in a man! Beside him there was a fire which he was kin-


dling and running around.



I asked my companions, ‘Who is this (man)?’



They said to me, ‘Proceed! Proceed!’



So we proceeded until we reached a garden of deep green


dense vegetation, bedecked with all sorts of spring ours.


In the middle of the garden there was a very tall man. I


could hardly see his head because of his great height. And


around him there were more children than I had ever seen


before.



I said to my companions, ‘Who is this?’



They replied, ‘Proceed! Proceed!’



So we proceeded until we came to a huge majestic garden,


greater and better than I have ever seen! My two compan-


ions said to me, ‘Ascend,’ and I ascended.”



The Prophet radded,



‘So we ascended until we reached a city buit of gold and


silver bricks. We went to its gate and asked the gatekeeper


to open the gate. It was opened and we entered the city.


There we found men with one side of their bodies as hand-


some as the most handsome person you have ever seen,


and the other as ugly as the ugliest person you have ever


seen.



My two companions ordered those men to throw them-


selves into the river. Behold, there was a river flowing


through the city, and its water was as white as milk. Those


men went and threw themselves in it and then returned to


us after the ugliness of their bodies had disappeared and


they turned into the best shape.”



They said to me, “This is the Jannah of 'Adn,(14) and this is


your home,” so I lifted my eyes until I saw a palace which


looked like a white cloud. They said to me, “This is your


home.”



I said, “May Allah bless you, Allow me enter my house!”



They said, “Not now, You have not completed the life of


the world.”



I said to them, “I have seen many wonders tonight. What is


the meaning of all that I have seen?”



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 example of the one who studies the Qur'aan but


then neither recites it nor acts upon it, and sleeps without


offering the obligatory prayers. As for the man you came


upon whose mouth, nostrils, and eyes were being torn off


from front to back, he is the example of the man who goes


out of his house in the morning and tells so many lies that


it spreads all over the world. As for those naked men and


women whom you saw in the oven, they are the adulterers


and the adulteresses, and the man whom you saw in the


river of blood is the usurer. As for the man by the base of


the tree, he was Abraham, and the children around him are


[Muslim] children [who died at a young age].”



The narrator added, “Some Muslims asked the Prophet r, ‘O


Messenger of Allah! What about the children of pagans?’ The


Prophet rreplied, ‘And also the children of pagans.’ ”



“And the man whom you saw near the fire, kindling it and


circling it, is Maalik, the gatekeeper of Hell.”



The Prophet radded,



My two companions explained, “The men you saw that


were half handsome and half ugly were those persons who


had mixed good deeds with evil ones, but Allah Iforgave


them.”(15) [Saheeh al-Bukhaari]


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(12) The name of the period of wait between a person’s death and the Day of


Judgment. The life of the grave.



(13) On might mistake the con**** that the Prophet’s rIsraa' [Night Journey]


and Mi'raaj [Ascension to the skies and heaven] was a dream, but in fact it was


not, as other authentic ahaadeeth state.



(14) Ibn Mas'ood, a companion of the Prophet rexplained it to be the center of


‘Jannah’, or Paradise. See Tafseer al-Qurtubi, Surah at-Tawbah (9):72.



(15) In a hadeeth related by Ahmed, the two companions revealed themselves to


be Jibreel and Meekaa'eel.