The Hereafter — What We Know Through Revelation

We affirm everything Allah and His Messenger ﷺ reported about the unseen affairs of the Hereafter — these are matters known only through *samʿ* (transmitted revelation): the intellect alone cannot reach them, but the intellect does not contradict them when they are understood properly.

1. Punishment and Bliss of the Grave

We affirm with certainty that punishment and bliss in the grave happen to the soul and the body together. The soul is taken by Allah's command through Sayyiduna Azra'il, the Angel of Death, then returned to the body in the grave after burial — and the person is questioned.

The disbeliever at death. When death comes to the disbeliever, angels descend to him from the sky with black faces, carrying sackcloth from the Fire, and they sit around him as far as the eye can see. Then the Angel of Death comes and sits at his head and says: *"O foul soul, come out to the wrath of Allah and His displeasure."* The soul is then dispersed throughout his body, and the Angel of Death pulls it out as a roasting-spit is pulled through wet wool. The moment he seizes it, the angels place it in that sackcloth, and there issues from it a stench like the foulest carrion ever found on the face of the earth.

The angels ascend with it. They do not pass any company of angels but those angels say: *"What is this foul soul?"* And they answer: *"So-and-so son of so-and-so"* — using the ugliest of his names — until they reach the lowest heaven. They seek for it to be opened, and it is not opened. Then the Prophet ﷺ recited: *"The gates of heaven will not be opened for them, nor will they enter Paradise until a camel passes through the eye of a needle"* (al-A'raf 7:40).

Then Allah says: *"Record his book in Sijjin in the lowest earth."* And his soul is hurled down. His soul is then returned to his body in the grave after burial, and he hears the last footsteps of his family as they walk away.

Then two severely-rebuking angels come to him — Munkar and Nakir — two angels, black and blue, eyes like copper pots, fangs like the horns of cattle, voices like crashing thunder. They make him sit up forcefully. They ask him three questions:

- *"Who is your Lord?"* - *"What is your religion?"* - *"What did you say about this man who was sent among you — Muhammad ﷺ?"*

He says: *"Hah, hah, I do not know — I used to hear people saying something, and I said it."* Then a caller calls from heaven: "He has lied! Spread out for him a bedding from the Fire, clothe him from the Fire, and open for him a gate to the Fire." He is then struck with an iron hammer between his ears — a blow that, had it struck a mountain, would turn it to dust. He gives a great scream that everything between east and west hears, except the two heavy ones (humans and jinn).

A door of Paradise is opened: *"This would have been your seat had you been a believer."* Then a door of the Fire is opened — he is shown his seat in the Fire twice every day, morning and evening, until the Day of Judgment. The earth constricts him until his ribs interlock. Snakes and scorpions — not like those of this world — are set upon him. We seek refuge in Allah from this.

This squeezing of the grave may also touch some sinful Muslims who died with a major sin Allah did not forgive.

The Quran points clearly to grave punishment. Allah said about the people of Pharaoh: *"The Fire — they are exposed to it morning and evening, and on the Day the Hour is established: 'Admit the people of Pharaoh into the severest punishment'"* (Ghafir 40:46).

A subtle point: Ahl al-Fatra. Those who lived in the period between Sayyiduna 'Isa and the mission of Sayyiduna Muhammad ﷺ and to whom no da'wa reached, are not held responsible.

The pious believer at death. When death comes to the believer, angels descend with white faces like the sun, carrying a shroud from Paradise and perfume from Paradise. The Angel of Death says: *"O good soul, come out to forgiveness from Allah and pleasure."* His soul is drawn out as a drop of water flows from the mouth of a waterskin — feeling no pain. There issues from it a fragrance like the finest musk ever found on the face of the earth.

The angels ascend with it. They do not pass any company of angels but those angels say: *"What is this good soul?"* — using the most beautiful of his names — until they reach the seventh heaven. Then Allah says: *"Record the book of My slave in 'Illiyyin, and return him to the earth."* His soul is returned to his body in the grave, and out of intense joy he says: "Hurry me forward! Hurry me forward!"

Then Munkar and Nakir come and ask the three questions. He answers: *"Allah is my Lord, Islam is my religion, Muhammad ﷺ is my Prophet and my Messenger."* Then a caller calls from heaven: "My slave has spoken truly! Spread out for him a bedding from Paradise, clothe him from Paradise, and open for him a gate to Paradise." His grave is expanded seventy cubits by seventy, illuminated with a light like the full moon, and it is said to him: *"Sleep like the bridegroom whom none awakens but the dearest of his family"* — his grave becomes a garden from the gardens of Paradise.

---

2. The Resurrection (Ba'th)

Allah said: *"And indeed the Hour is coming, no doubt about it, and indeed Allah will resurrect those in the graves"* (al-Hajj 22:7).

The *ba'th* is the coming forth of the dead from their graves after the bodies are restored. The bodies of the prophets, of those martyred in battle, and of some of the awliya' are not consumed by the earth.

---

3. The Gathering (Hashr)

Creation is gathered — humans, jinn, even the wild beasts — and driven to the place of gathering in the land of Sham. People at the *hashr* are in three states: 1. Clothed, mounted, fed — the pious. 2. Barefoot and naked — the corrupt. 3. Barefoot, naked, dragged on their faces — the disbelievers.

The Day of Judgment is fifty thousand years long. It has fifty stages, each a thousand years.

---

4. The Reckoning (Hisab)

The reckoning is the showing of the slaves' deeds to them. The believer takes his book in his right hand. The disbeliever takes his book in his left hand from behind his back. This book was written by the two angels Raqib and 'Atid. A slave is reckoned even for a needle.

---

5. The Scale (Mizan)

The Scale is a mighty body with a beam and two pans, far greater than any worldly scale. The ones who weigh the deeds are Jibril and Mika'il. If the believer's good deeds outweigh, he enters Paradise. If his bad deeds outweigh, he is under Allah's will.

---

6. The Bridge (Sirat)

The *sirat* is a bridge stretched over Hellfire, one end at the transformed land of gathering and the other at the Garden. It is finer than a hair, sharper than a sword, and smooth — feet slip on it. Every person must cross it. The disbeliever, the moment he sets foot on it, falls immediately into the Fire. As for the Muslims, they cross at different speeds according to their deeds in this life: some pass like a flash of lightning, some like the blink of an eye, some like a bird in flight, some walk, and some crawl. Sinful Muslims may walk a distance and then fall — they are punished for a time, then brought out. Whoever crosses the *sirat* has been saved and enters the Garden.

---

7. The Pool (Al-Hawd)

The Pool of our Prophet ﷺ is the greatest of all pools. Its water is whiter than milk, its fragrance better than musk. Whoever drinks from it never thirsts again. He ﷺ gives some people drinks with his own noble hands.

---

8. Intercession (Shafa'a)

Intercession is only for sinful Muslims, not for disbelievers. Al-Shafa'a al-'Uzma (the Greatest Intercession) is specific to our Prophet ﷺ alone.

---

9. The Garden (Al-Janna)

The Garden exists right now — it is the abode Allah prepared for the bliss of the believers, and it will remain forever without end. Its location is above the seventh heaven, independent of it, and its roof is the Throne of the Most Merciful. Al-Firdaws is the middle of the Garden and its highest part, above which is the Throne of the Most Merciful. The Garden is the second largest creation.

Most of the people of the Garden are the poor, and the most numerous nation in the Garden is the nation of the Prophet ﷺ. The bliss of the Garden is of two kinds: general bliss shared by all its people, and special bliss reserved for the awliya' and the prophets.

Its people are alive and never die — they are eternally youthful and never grow old. There is no elderly person in the Garden. They do not sleep, because there is no fatigue in the Garden — neither mental nor physical — only perpetual bliss and comfort.

---

10. The Fire (Jahannam)

The Fire exists right now — it is the abode Allah prepared for the punishment of the disbelievers and sinful Muslims. Its location is beneath the seventh earth, independent of it.

It was kindled for a thousand years until it turned red, then another thousand years until it turned white — it is the most intense and powerful fire. The fire of this world, however fierce, is one part of seventy parts of the Fire of Jahannam (reported by Muslim). It is black and dark.

The food of its people is al-dari' (a thorny plant), and their drink is al-hamim — water of extreme heat — and al-ghassaq — the pus and fluid that oozes from the skins of the people of the Fire. Their intestines are torn apart, and they never have their thirst quenched. In it are snakes and scorpions that are not affected by the fire, tormenting them alongside the punishment of the flames.

Disbelievers are eternal in the Fire: they neither die nor live a pleasant life — they are in perpetual misery and torment. Sinful Muslims are not eternal in the Fire; they are punished for a period and then brought out by intercession or by Allah's mercy.

---

11. Seeing Allah (Ru'yat Allah)

The absolute greatest bliss of the Garden is seeing Allah. The believers see their Lord with the eyes of their heads — truly, not metaphorically — without modality, without place, without direction, without resemblance. This is what Imam Abu Hanifa explicitly stated. This seeing is not like how a created being sees another created being, for there is nothing like Allah. When the people of the Garden see their Lord, they do not know what to ask for after that — it is the greatest bliss they are given.

*"Faces, that Day, will be radiant — looking at their Lord"* (al-Qiyama 75:22-23).

*Nadira* means beautiful and radiant; *nazira* means looking at Allah.