Part 14

It is just words he utters. Before them there is an interspace until the Day they are raised up. ) (23: 100) Anyone who dies and deserves punishment, will receive part of it in the grave. The Punishment in the Grave Samurah Ibn Jundub said, "Whenever the Prophet finished the (dawn) prayer, he would look at us and ask, 'Who of you had a dream last night?' So if anyone had had a dream, he would describe it and the Prophet would say, 'Ma sha'Allah.' One morning, he asked whether anyone of us had had a dream and we replied that we had not. The Prophet said, 'I dreamt last night that two men came to me and held me by the hands and took me to al-Quds (Jerusalem). While we were there, I saw a person sitting down with another standing next to him with an iron hook in his hand. He was pushing it inside the mouth of the first one until it reached his jawbone and then tearing out one side of his cheek. Then while he was doing the same with the other side, the first side of his cheek would become normal again — and then he would do the same all over again. I said, "What is this?" 'They told me to move on and so we went on until we came to a man lying flat on his back with another man standing over his head. He was holding a stone or a piece of rock and dropping it on to the head of the man lying down. When it hit him, the stone would roll away. The man would go to pick it up and before he had returned, the crushed head had become normal again — and then the man would come back and smash it again. I said, "What is this?" 'They told me to move on and so we carried on and passed by a hole like an oven, with a narrow top and a wide bottom and a fire blazing at the bottom of it. Whenever the flames of the fire leapt up, the people in it were lifted up so high that they almost escaped out of the top, and then whenever the flames died down, the people would fall back down into it. The men and women in it were naked. I said, "What is this?" 'They told me to move on and so we went on until we reached a river of blood in which there was a man, with another man standing on the bank. He had some stones in front of him and was watching the man standing in the river. Whenever the man in the river tried to climb out, the other would throw a stone at his mouth and make him retreat to where he had been before. As often as he tried to come out, the other would throw a stone at his mouth and make him return to where he had been before. I asked, "What is this?" 'They told me to move on and so we did until we reached a well watered garden of green with a huge tree, at whose foot was an old man sitting with some children. There was another person near the tree with a fire in front of him which he was tending. 'The two men made me climb up the tree and told me to enter a dwelling which was better than any I had have ever seen before. Inside there were some old men and some young men, women and children. 'Then they took me out of this dwelling and made me climb further up the tree and told me to enter another dwelling which was even better and more excellent (than the first). Inside there were some old and young people. 'I said to them, "You have kept me on the move all night — now explain everything that I have seen to me." They replied, "Certainly." '"As for the one whose cheeks you saw being torn away, he was a liar who used to tell lies which people would believe and pass on until they spread right across the world — so he will continue to be punished like this until the Day of Rising. '"As for the one whose head you saw being crushed, he was a man whom Allah had given knowledge of the Quran, but he used to sleep all night and did not act on it during the day — so he will continue to be punished like this until the Day of Rising. '"As for those whom you saw in the hole, they were adulterers. '"As for those whom you saw in the river of blood, they used to deal in riba (usury). "'The old man who was sitting at the base of the tree was Ibrahim and the little children with him were the offspring of his people — and the person tending the fire was Malik, the keeper of the Fire of Hell. The first dwelling in which you entered was the dwelling of the common believers, and the second dwelling was that of the martyrs. I am jibril and this is Mikail. Now raise your head." 'I raised my head and saw what looked like a cloud above me.