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The Lives of Man the World and the Life-To-Come

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The Lives of Man the World and the Life-To-Come T H E LIVES O F M A N A S U F I M A S T E R E X P L A I N S T H E H U M A N S T A T E S : B E F O R E L I F E , I N T H E W O R L D , A N D A F T E R D E A T H Imam Abdallah Ibn A la w l Al-H addad T R A N SL A T E D F R O M T H E A R A B I C B Y M O ST A F A A L-BA D A W I F O N S V IT A E Q U ILLIA M PRESS T H E T H IR D LIF E T he Intermediate Realm The third life extends from the time a man leaves the dunya at death until the moment he rises from his grave at the blowing o f the H orn. T his is the Intermediate Realm [Barzakh]. God the Exalted has said: And behind them is a barzakh until the day when they are raised. [23:100] W hen a M uslim dies, and his death is confirmed, he has to be prepared for the grave. T hus he must be washed, shrouded, and prayed over [jandza], all o f which must be done according to the Prophetic Sunna. H is relatives, neigh bours, and friends must be informed, and also the people o f goodness and virtue, so that they m ay pray and ask mercy for him, and attend his funeral. It is recommended that whoever is informed o f the death o f his brother M uslim should say: ‘ We are G o d’s and to H im we shall return’20 and then: ‘ O God! Place his record in 'Illiyyln ,21 record him as a man o f excellence [muhsin], provide a successor for him in caring for his fam ily in the ephemeral world, and forgive us and him, O Lord o f the W orlds!’22 N ext, one can pray some more for him, and praise him as a good man, for the Prophet has said, may blessings and peace be upon him: ‘ M ention the goodness o f your dead, and refrain [from mentioning] their wickedness.’ A nd there is another hadith with the sense that: ‘Yo u are G od’s witnesses on earth, those whom you praise will be thus [i.e. praise worthy].’23 H owever, exaggerated praises bordering on or actually becoming lies are to be avoided. The Intermediate Realm is the abode which lies between 41 The Lives of Man the world and the life-to-come. It has more affinity With the latter, and is in fact a part o f it. It is a place where spirits and spiritual things are predominant, while physical bodies are secondary but share with the spirits in their experiences, whether felicity and jo y, or torment and grief.24 Spirits endure, while bodies decay and gradually dissolve so that nothing remains except the lowerm ost tip o f the spine, from which they w ill be formed anew at the Resurrection, as is recorded in hadith. T he exception is the bodies o f the Prophets, upon them be blessings and peace, for they are alive in their graves, and so are the martyrs who died in G od’s path. Do not think that those who are slain in the way of God are dead. N ay, they are living, with their Lord, provided for. [3:169] ‘T heir spirits will be inside green birds w ho freely move in the Garden, and retire into lanterns attached to the T hrone.’ [Hadith.] It has also been related that the souls o f believers will be inside white birds which feed on the Garden’s fruits. M uch reward lies in escorting funerals, praying for the dead and attending their burial. In a sound hadith it is said: ‘ A nyone w ho escorts the funeral procession o f a M uslim until he prays for him shall receive one measure o f the reward. I f he remains until he is buried, he receives two measures— and each measure is the size o f M ount U h u d .’ A nd it has been said that whenever someone escorts the funeral o f his brother M uslim, God orders the angels to escort his ow n funeral and pray over him when he dies. It is recommended that people w ho have died be moved quickly to their graves. ‘W hen a funeral procession is ready and the men lift him up, i f the person had been righteous it says: “ Advance! A dvance!” If, however, the dead person had been otherwise it would say: “ W oe is me! W here are you taking me?” ’ [Hadith.] ‘M ake haste with the funeral proces sion. I f he had been righteous, you are taking him on to goodness, whereas i f he had been otherwise, it is an evil which you will unload from your necks.’ [Hadith.] T he dead person perceives and is aware o f those who 42 IMAM AL-HADDAD wash, shroud, and bury him. It has been said that his spirit is held by an angel w ho stands near him and walks with it in his funeral, so that he hears all that is said about him, whether good or evil. The Torment o f the Grave W hen he is laid out in his grave it is recommended that those w ho put him there say: ‘In the name o f God, and according to the religion o f the M essenger o f G o d .’25 It is also recommended that those w ho are near the grave put three handfuls o f dust on it, saying with the first: ‘From it did We create you’ with the second: 'T o it shall We return you’ and with the third: ‘And from it shall We bring you forth another time’ . [20:55] T hen dust should be very gradually and gently poured over him until the grave is filled and evened, after which the people present should remain for a while reading Q ur’an, and asking forgiveness and firmness for him, for according to a hadith this is the time when he w ill be questioned by the two angels, M unkar and N aklr, w ho are the grave’s tormentors. T hey ask: ‘ W ho is your Lord? W hat is your religion? W ho is your Prophet?’ T hose w hom God gives strength then say: ‘M y Lord is God, Islam is m y religion, and M uham mad is m y Prophet.’ But those w hom God allows to swerve will be confused and hesitating, just as in the world they had been doubtful, tortuous, neglectful o f G od’s orders, and prone to violate H is prohibitions. T hey say ‘Er! Er! I do not k now!’— as has been mentioned in sound hadiths. T hey will then strike him, and his grave w ill tighten around him and fill with torture. As for the firm believer, however, w ho was established in faith and observance during his life, he w ill be given good tidings by the angels, his grave w ill be spacious and filled with both light and delight, his good works w ill surround him: his prayers, fasts, charity, recitations o f Q ur’an, and 43 The Lives of Man remembrance o f G od the Exalted; all these things will drive away any terrors or fears that m ay come near him. ‘T he grave is either one o f the Garden’s meadows or one o f the Fire’s pits.’ [Hadith.] ‘I have never seen anything more terrifying than the grave’. [Hadith.] W henever ‘ U thman ibn ‘A ffan, m ay G od be pleased with him, came near a grave he wept so much that his beard became wet. Someone once remarked to him that when he mentioned the Garden and the Fire he never wept as much, and he said: ‘I heard the M essenger o f God, may blessings and peace be upon him, say: “ T he grave is the first o f the H ereafter’s stages. I f one is saved from it then what comes next is easier, but i f one is not saved from it, then what comes next is even harder.’” T he M essenger o f God, may blessings and peace be upon him, said: ‘ T he grave has an oppressive tightness, and were [it possible for] anyone to escape this, Sa'd ibn M u adh would have done so ,’— for he is the one for w hom the T hrone o f the A ll-M erciful shook.26 It is said that the torment o f the grave is m ostly the consequence o f three things: slander, calumny, and not guarding oneself against being soiled with urine. T here are two hadiths relating to this: ‘ M uch o f the grave’s torment is from urine.’ A nd there is the incident in which when the M essenger o f God, may blessings and peace be upon him, heard two men being tormented in their graves, he asked for palm tw igs and put them on their graves, saying that their suffering might be relieved to a certain extent for as long as they remained moist.
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