The Punishment of The Interspace (1/2)

“If you  could  only  see  when the wrongdoers   are in the agonies  of death,  and the angels  are stretching  out their hands,  'Bring out your  souls!  Today  you will be repaid with the punishment   of humiliation.” [Surah Al-An'am (6):93]

The Grave is unknown territory. Outwardly it is quiet, but inwardly it contains secrets and terrors which an ordinary man cannot perceive.  They can only be perceived by someone who has been given a high degree of belief and inner sight.

It is a strange  fact  that  animals  are  able to  hear  the punishment  in the Grave while human  beings as a general rule cannot. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “They are punished and the animals hear it.”

Thabit al-Bunani said regarding this, 'Once I was walking among the graves and I heard a voice behind me, saying, "Thabit! Do not be deceived by their stillness. How many people in them are suffering?" I turned around, but did not see anyone.'

AI-Hasan passed a graveyard and said, What a host of people are here! How silent they are! How many there are among them who are suffering!'

A dead person is either in a state of bliss or punishment, from the moment they die until the moment the two angels question them. We reached the point where a door onto the Garden  is opened  for the  unbeliever  and  he is told to look at what   his  place  would  have  been  in the  Garden   if he had obeyed Allah. Then it is locked and another door is opened and he is told to look at his place in the Fire. It stays open and the blast of hot air from it continues to reach him until the Day of Rising. Then the earth presses in on him and he is crushed to the point that his ribs split apart. Then various forms of punishment rain down on him according to the type of wrong actions he committed.

Many statements have come down to us showing us the reality of the punishment  of the Grave, or what we might also call the  punishment of the  interspace   between  the  two worlds. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,

“I passed Badr and saw a man come out of the ground. Another man hit him with a stick until he vanished back into the earth.  Then that happened again.”

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, went on to say,

“That was Abu Jahl b. Hisham who will be punished in that way until the Day of Rising.”

One of the early Muslims said, 'We passed by a certain watering-place on the way to Basra. We heard the braying of a donkey and asked the people there what the braying was. They replied that it was one of the men who used to be with them whose mother had asked him for something and he had told her to bray like a donkey. Since his death, this braying had been heard every night from his grave.'

'Amr b. Dinar said, 'The sister of one of the men of Madinah died and he buried her. When he came back from the burial, he remembered that he had left something in the grave. He asked one of his companions to help him. His companion related that they had dug up the grave and found what they were looking for. Then the man said, "Let us dig further and find out what has happened to my sister." He lifted up one of the stones covering the burial cavity and found the grave filled with fire. He replaced   it and filled in the grave again. Then he returned to his mother and asked, "What was my sister really like?" She replied, "Why do you ask about her when she is dead?" He said, "Tell me." She said, "She used  to delay the  prayer  and  she also used  to go to our  neighbours' doors,  put  her  ear  to them  and  then  tell other  people  what they  said!" ,

There  are  also  the  hadiths  of the  Messenger,  may  Allah bless  him  and  grant   him  peace,   about   the  Night  Journey which  contain  descriptions   of the many types of punishment he saw in the interspace between  the two worlds. We will give a summary of them here.

There  are  those  who  are  driven  like cattle  and  forced  to eat  herbage   more  bitter   than   aloes  and  the  bitter  fruit  of zaqqum   and   driven   on  to  the   hot  stones   of Jahannam because  they  did not  purify  their  property   by paying  zakat. There are those who have to eat foul putrid meat because they fornicated.   There are those whose lips are cut with iron scissors   because they rose to speak   and address people during times of civil strife. Some of them have bellies as big as houses and whenever one of them gets up, he is knocked down and says, "O Allah, do not let the Hour come!" They are in the path of the people of Pharaoh   who come and trample them   while they can do nothing but scream.  These are people who devoured usury.

Some  of them   are  screaming   with  their   mouths   gaping open  while  they  devour  hot  coals  which  come  out  of their anuses. These are people who consumed    the property    of orphans.   Some of them cut pieces from their own sides and eat their own flesh. They are the slanderers   and those about whom the Prophet,   peace and blessings be upon him, said,

“We saw people cutting flesh from their sides and eating it. It was said, "As you used to consume the flesh of your brother!" I asked, "Who are they?" and I was told, ''Those of your community who slandered."

Some  of them  have  brass  nails  with  which  they  scratch their  faces  and  chests.  They are those who were backbiters and maligned people's honour.

(Continued)