The only certainty in life is that we will die. We are not guaranteed anything else in this dunya. When we go for a job interview, we are not assured of getting the job at the end of the process, yet we spend many hours, days and weeks preparing for this possibility. Yet when it comes to death, something we will certainly go through, how many of us prepare for it in the way that we would do for a job interview? Do we take account of ourselves? Our good deeds and bad deeds? Our strengths and weaknesses? Our good characteristics and our flaws? We must prepare for this certainty, and the wisdom behind knowing we will die but not when we will die is so that we will constantly worship Allah, in the knowledge that we could pass away at any moment. Very few of us pay attention to this, as we focus on this world…

When we die, we take three things with us to the grave, one of which stays with us, and two of which are left behind. Our family and our wealth are left behind. Our deeds, good and bad, stay with us, and will go with us wherever we will go, like our companion in the grave. It is these very deeds that will determine whether we are successful or a failure in the Hereafter.

We have already discussed what happens to the soul at the time of death, and we know that the Day of Judgement is to come. But what happens in between? When we are in our graves? There is a life between death and the Day of Judgement, and it is known as the barzakh.

The barzakh is a life of its own type and reality, nothing like this world, and something we cannot understand as it is from the unseen. Barzakh literally means barrier, as used in Surah ar-Rahman, describing a barrier between the two seas. In the context we are talking about, it is a barrier between this world and the Day of Resurrection. The souls in the barzakh cannot communicate with this world, but the deceased knows that he is dead. It is a difficult reality to explain, but the closest example we have of this, in this dunya, is that of a dream state. A living person can see you sleeping, but your soul, when in a vivid dream, is often in a different reality. And it is in this reality of the barzakh where a person finds out if he is heading for heaven or hell.

The Prophet (SAW) said “The grave is the first part of the Hereafter, if he or she is saved from the punishments and torments of the grave, then whatever is after is going to be better and easier. If he or she is not saved from the punishments and torments of the grave, then whatever is after is going to be worse.”

The Prophet (SAW) also said, and recorded in Muslim, that the dead people visit each other in their graves. “When you bury the dead, make their shroud presentable and their perfume nice, as the people of the grave visit each other.” In another hadith, “Bury the dead next to a righteous dead person, as the neighbour in the grave can harm them [if the neighbour is being punished]”. The grave also talks to the believer, saying “I am the house of the strangers, I am the house of being alone”. The Prophet (SAW) then said that “One of the closest times Allah is to His servant is in the grave, if he is a believer”.

The animals are able to hear the punishment of the grave, whereas humans and jinn cannot. In Bukhari, it is recorded that the Prophet (SAW) said “All of the animals can hear a person being punished in the grave” and that “If you could hear the punishment of the grave, you would not bury your dead”. On one occasion, the Prophet (SAW) pointed towards two graves and said to his companions (RA) that “Both of these people are being punished in their graves. One of them used to backbite people and the other was not careful about spilling drops of urine of his clothes and body whilst urinating.”

As we are living now, things are happening in the barzakh, as described in a hadith recorded in Bukhari, on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbaas about the story of the two palm branches, where the Prophet (SAW) prayed that the punishment (of the people in the two graves mentioned above) would be reduced as long as the palm branches did not dry out, so the lessening of the punishment was connected only to the period of time that the branches remained fresh.

Another hadith confirms the current reality of the barzakh, where, on the authority of Abu Hurairah (RA), that the Prophet (SAW) came to some people whose heads were being smashed with rocks, and every time they were smashed, they were then restored, and they would have no respite from that. And also by the story of the man who put on two garments and strutted about in an arrogant manner, so Allah caused the earth to swallow him up, and he will remain sinking down into it until the Day of Resurrection (Bukhari).

When the soul dies, it goes to this destination that we cannot see, to be with the good souls or to be with the bad souls. The good souls rush to the newly deceased good soul and ask him about their family that they left behind, about their faith and deeds, as they do not know what is happening on earth. If he tells them good, then the souls become happy as they know their family members will be joining them. The same happens with the bad souls, and if they find out their family are righteous people, they become relieved that they will not be joining them with the bad souls.

We must always seek protection from the punishment of the grave, or the barzakh, and the Prophet (SAW) instructed his companions (RA) to say “Allahumma inni aoodhubika min adhaabil qabr”, “O Allah, I seek protection with you from the punishment of the grave”. In order to lessen this punishment or to be forgiven, their are three actions that carry on after our death that can benefit us:

  • leaving behind a righteous child that will supplicate for you
  • ongoing beneficial knowledge
  • ongoing charity

The dead person can also be harmed by the family they leave behind, for example from overcrying or self-harm after the person passes away. It is the responsibility of all of us that we put in our Will that they should not do this, so that we may be relieved of this harm, inshaAllah.

Everyone will be squeezed in the grave, as mentioned in the hadith of the Prophet (SAW) and narrated in an exchange between Sheikh Al-Albaani (rahimullah) and a questioner (taken from here):

“Questioner: He said in the Musnad … the hadith of Hudhaifah, who said, “We were with the Prophet of Allaah, صلى الله عليه وسلم, during a funeral. So when we got to the grave he sat down on his two shins and started to look at it, and then said, ‘The believer is squeezed in it one time such that his ‘hamaa’il’ are crushed, and the disbeliever is covered in Fire.’”

He said the hamaa’il are the veins of the testicles.  What does, “… the veins of his testicles are crushed …” mean?

Al-Albani: It’s an expression to show the severity of the punishment. [The compiler of the book said, ‘I.e, his ribs are crushed to such an extent that it affects his testicles.’]

Questioner: Namely, the believer will be squeezed to such an extent?

Al-Albani: And his ribs will overlap, no one will escape it, not even Sa’d ibn Mu’aadh [did] as he, عليه السلام, said in some authentic hadtihs.

Questioner: Namely, he will feel pain from this squeezing?

Al-Albani: … without doubt. When the ribs overlap then this is severe pain, but it does not persist. One squeezing and then everything returns to its natural state, if he was a righteous person then [he will be in the state of a] righteous person, and if he was an evil person then [he will be the state of an] evil person, as we just explained that a window is opened up in the grave for the dead person.

Questioner: Namely, the squeezing, there is no escape from it?

Al-Albani: There is no escape from it.”

After the barzakh comes the Day of Judgement, when the angel Israfeel blows the trumpet signalling the world to come to an end…