In the Name of Allâh, the Most Beneficent, the Most
Merciful
The Companions of our Prophet Muhammed (SAW) used to gather
to remember death so that they would benefit their souls by increasing in fear
of Allaah and strive to gain His pleasure. If this was the case of the Sahaabah
and they were the best of generations, the most pious and God-fearing of this
ummah, then what about us? Surely, it means that we need to engage in the remembrance
of Allaah(SWT) even more. After all, we are in far more need of this act of
worship than they were.
Let us begin at the end of a man's life, in his last moments. He is lying on
his death bed and his family are at his side. His father is calling for the
doctor. His wife asks him: "To whom are you leaving us?". The man's
little daughter asks him, "Why do you not answer me?", and his small
boy cries but nobody responds to him. This is the situation Allaah, The Most
High and The Most High, has informed us about:
"Nay, when the soul reaches the throat, and it is
said: "Who will cure him now?". The dying person concludes that this
is the time for departing. The leg joins the other leg."[Al-Qiyaamah: 26-29]
They place him in his shroud, his leg joins his other leg. Then he is carried
upon the shoulders and taken to a dark hole. If he was a transgressing criminal
he cries out: "Woe to it! Where are you taking it?"
"The drive that day will be to your Lord" [Al-Qiyaamah: 30
]
Then he is lowered into this ditch and dirt is thrown upon
him until he is sealed in it. If he was a criminal, Allaah - The Most Perfect
and The Most High - says:
"So he neither believed nor did he pray. Rather he
belied and turned away" [Al-Qiyaamah: 31-32 ]
This trangressor will remain in his grave alone, there will
be no one to sit with him and no one to keep him company. He will feel the heat
of the fire, smell its foul odour, and be tortured therein. This man's grave
will squeeze in upon him so much so that the bones of his rib cage will cross
each other. Despite all this punishment and all this torture and pain, he will
hope that the hour will never be established. For this man knows that the hour
is far worse and of he will be in greater loss on that Day.
The man hears 'As-Saakhah' from within his grave, and what
is 'As-Saakhah'? It is the second blowing of the trumpet. This is when all that
is in the graves shall be raised and resurrected.
So the criminal will cry: "Woe to us, who
has woken us from our resting place?" It will be said: "This is what
the Ever-Merciful promised and the messengers where truthful"[Yasin:
52]
The earth will be torn away from above him. This man will see the heavens
being cleft asunder, the stars falling and being scattered, the oceans in their
greatness bursting forth, burning, the graves will at that time bring forth
their contents. Every person shall know what he has sent forth of good and bad
deeds at that moment. [Al-Infitaar: 1-5]
Then he will raised up and driven to the crowding place: 'Al-Mahshar'. That
day, the mother who is nursing her child will become careless of it, the mother
who is carrying her child will drop her load. That day, mankind will appear as
if they are drunk yet they they are not drunk. Indeed the punishment of your
Lord is great. [Al-Hajj 1-2]
The mother will come to her son and say: "Oh my son,
my breast was a container for you, my womb was a container for you. Oh my son I
seek from you a hasanah (merit) that I may approach Allaah with. My son, do not
be greedy towards me". In the world this son would have sacrificed his
life, rather many lives for merely the happinness of his mother so how does he
treat her now? He responds to her plea: "Get away from me! Leave me!
Indeed I am in need of this merit more than you."
"So when 'As-Saakhah' comes. That day a man will flee
from his brother, from his mother and his father, from his wife and his
children. That day every man shall have enough to make him careless of
others." [Al-Abasa: 33-37]
So mankind will wait in this crowding place for 50,000
years, after which Allaah, The Most Perfect and The Most High, will come to
judge them. So He will call the criminal and say to him, "Oh so and so,
did I not give you of the cold water to drink? did I not give you a healthy
body? Did I not give you many bounties? What have you done with all that which
I bestowed upon you?"
So the man replies, "I have done nothing my Lord."
So he lies to his Lord on that day. Allaah says:
"Where are the witnesses!". So the Angels come and bear witness that
this criminal did not pray in those moments of prayer, he drank, fornicated,
lied, cursed and insulted. He turned away from belief and was proud and
arrogant. So the criminal says to his Lord, "I do not acceptaccept a
wintness except one from myself."
His Lord replies to him, "And you have that?"
"The day when we shall seal their mouths, there hands
will speak to us and their legs will bear witness to that which they used to
earn" [Yasin: 65]
So he turns to his skin and says to it: it was only for you that I was arguing.
"Nay, when the earth is shaken a true shaking and your
Lord comes with the Angels in rows. That day the Fire will be brought near.
That day man will remember but how will that remembrance avail him? He will
say, 'Woe to me! Would that I had put forth something for this life.' " [Al-Fajr: 21-24]
This man then remembers. This criminal remembers that when
he heard the call for prayer and he did not respond to it. He remembers when he
woke and the sun had already risen yet he had not prayed al-fajr. This man
remembers when he abused this one, when he slandered that one, when he earned
that unlawful wealth, when he struck this one and killed that one. This
criminal remembers every sin with which he disobeyed Allaah with.That day all
his remorse and regret amounts to nothing.
Then Allaah will say, "Seize him and fetter him. Then
throw him into the blazing fire. Then put a chain which is 70 cubits long
through him. Indeed he did not used to believe in Allaah, The Most Perfect,The
Most High."
The Angels will then drag him upon his face into the fire.
As he enters it he will see his friends from the world
already present.
"Every time a nation enters it curses it sister
nation" [Al-a'araaf: 38].
So he is greeted with curses and given a wretched abode in
which to abide. The fire encompasses him from all sides roasting, burning his
skin completely,
"Whenever their skins have been done (burnt away) we
replace them with new skins so that they may taste of the punishment" [an-Nisaa: 56].
Their food in the fire is Ad-Daree' (a thorny plant).
"No food will they have except Ad-Daree'. It neither
nourishes nor removes hunger"[Al-Ghaashiyah: 6-7]
When they eat it they choke due to the thorns. So when they
are choking they ask to be rescued with water, so they are rescued with an
intensly boiling water which grills their faces when they appoach it. When they
drink from the water, due to its heat, it cuts their intestines and causes them
an increased pain.
They eat from Az-Zaquum. They eat a bitter fruit which
cannot be tasted.
"Indeed the tree of Zaquum will be the food of the
sinners. Like boiling oil, it will boil in the belies, like the boiling of
scalding water. It will be said : Drag, sieze him and drag him into the midst
of the blazing fire. Then pour upon his head the torment of boiling water.
Taste! You were pretending to be the Mighty the Generous" [ad-Dukhaan:
43-49]
Due to this intense pain, suffering and anguish they are
experiencing they call upon the guardian of hell-fire, "They
call, Oh Maalik let your Lord destroy us" After many years he responds to
them with two words "You are staying" [43:77].
After all of this, they have one last chance and they call
upon their Lord, "Oh our Lord we were indeed astray! Oh our Lord we were
indeed misguided, we did fall short. Return us to the world so that we can do
good instead of that which we used to do."
Allaah replies to them, "Rot in it and do not speak to me. After this they
do not speak nor do they utter."
They are then called from afar, "Oh dwellers of the
fire, do you know what this is?" They reply, "Yes that is death in
the form of a ram." Death is then slaughtered in a place between Al-Jannah
an An-Naar. It is said to the dwellers of the fire, ever-lasting life without
death.
As for the other group, the ones who obeyed their Lord in this world, let us
describe briefly their fate:
When he is placed into his grave it is widened and made
spacious for him. He smells the sweet fragrance of Al-jannah and feels some of
its comforts. He sleeps in his grave like a bride on her wedding night who
no-one shall awaken except her beloved. When the cry comes he is gathered to
the crowding place and waits there for 50,000 years. This time passes as if it
were the time between Zohar and Asr. Then the Lord of the worlds comes to make
judgement, so He calls His slave saying, "Oh my slave, do you not remember
that sin, do you not remember this sin." So the slave replies, "My
Lord I have perished!" So Allaah replies to him, "I hid it in the
world fo you and this day I forgive it."
This good man is handed his book in his right hand. Due to
his happiness he runs to the people and says "Take it; read my book.
Indeed I used to think I would meet my accounting."
"So he will be in a content life" [Al-Haaqah:
19-21]
Then he will be crowded from a group of al-jannah.
The Jannah has eight gates and between each gate is a distance that would take
40 years to traverse. There comes a day when the gates are crowded. So as this
slave of Allaah enters Al-Jannah he is greeted with salaam (peace). He sees
before him 4 rivers:
"... In it are rivers of water, the taste and smell of which are not
changed. Rivers of milk of which the taste never changes, rivers of wine
delicious to those wo drink and rivers of clear and pure honey ..." [Muhammad:
15]
He has therein a house and he knows this house as he knows his dwelling in this
life. His house is made from bricks of gold and silver. In it he has wives from
the Hoorul-'een.
"And Hooron 'een, like untouched, unseen, precious pearls. A reward
for what they used to do." [Al-Waaqiah: 22-24]
"Indeed we have created them a special creation, made
them virgins, loving only their husbands of equal age." [al-waaqiah:
35-37]
Every time they cohabit with their husbands they return to
being virgins.
Outside this house he has a tent, in it he has wives. When he goes to one of
them, the other does not see him.
In Al-Jannaah the righteous slave has everything he
desires, wishes and wants. He neither feels extreme heat nor the bitter cold:
"They will see there neither the excessive heat of the
sun nor the bitter cold." [Al-Insaan: 13].
There is not a tree in Al-Jannaah except its trunk is made of gold. When he
requires its fruit he does not need to get up from his place, since it comes to
him:
"The bunches of fruit thereof hang low, within
reach" [al-insaan: 14].
"They are served by youthful boys who never age. If
you were to see them you would think them scattered pearls" [al-Insaan:
19]
So he resides therein, tranquil and at ease. No pain, no ill feeling and no
foul speech. Life without death, lasting with no end.
These are not mere stories that we tell to amuse ourselves
or scare one another, rather they are the destinies of the ones who obey Allaah
and those who disobey. Allaah calls His slaves to repentance many times in
every day so avail these opportunities. Repentance has only three conditions,
that you be sincere to Allaah, that you leave the sin and that you make a firm
resolve that you never return to the sin.
So be the children of the Hereafter and not the children of
this life; a party in Paradise and a party in the Hell-fire, Either you perform good deeds that leads to Jannah (paradise) or to perform bad deeds that leads to the Hell fire, Choice is completely yours!
Courtesy Of: kalamullah.com
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