Life within the grave!!

Subiect: Life within the grave!! Joi Mai 19, 2011 3:37 am

Life within the grave!!

With imminence of death, the destined hour comes and is succeeded
by the life of the grave, an interval that ends by Resurrection. Through
close inspection, we perceive that this stage or interval is brief and
cannot be compared with the life that will follow after Resurrection.
The Noble Qur’an expresses that meaning through the word ‘visit’ in
the verse saying (what means):

“The mutual rivalry for piling up of worldly things diverts you,
until you visit the graves (i.e. till you die).” (At-Takâthur, 102: 1-2)

It means that man in the grave is but a visitor and will not stay there
forever. As long as he is a visitor not a habitant, then no matter how
long the visit will last, there will come the time when it will end. It is a
visit that will end by the Day of Crowding. Death is transition from
certain laws to other different laws. Man while alive has a material
being, that is the body, but at death the body returns once again to
earth and is restored to its owner on the Day of Resurrection.
Death begins with drawing the last breaths, which means that the life
of human choice has come to an end. Man in this worldly life has
choices as well as a reasoning power to choose between alternatives.
But the hour he dies, the time of free choice, set as a trial and test for
him, ends and a new stage without choices and in which he is subdued
begins. When man is suffering the agonies of death he knows for sure
that he is dying, because he now can see the angels and sees from the
Universe of Allah what has been kept veiled from him. Recite the
noble Qur’anic verse in which Allah, all glory be to Him, says (what
means):

“(It will be said to the sinners): ‘Indeed you were heedless of this,
now We have removed your covering, and sharp is your sight this
Day!’” (Qâf, 50: 22)

At those moments humanity dies down and fates are definitely
decided, either to Paradise or Hellfire, either to see the angels of
mercy or the angels of torture. Allah, all praise and glory be to Him,
has informed us thus in His Noble Book regarding what would happen
to the inhabitants of Paradise when death approaches them. The Most
Exalted says, (what means):

“Those whose lives the angels take while they are in a pious state
(i.e. pure from all evil, and worshipping none but Allah Alone)
saying (to them): Salâmun ‘Alaikum (peace be on you) enter you
Paradise, because of (the good) which you used to do (in the
world).” (An-Nahl, 16: 32)

Hence, we learn that the believers, who have done righteous deeds,
see the angels of mercy at their death hour, which is the first herald of
glad tidings to them of entering Paradise. So, their souls are relieved
and they smile joyfully because they are departing to that which is far
better. If you looked at their faces after death, you would find them
tranquil and peaceful for what they saw of the fulfillment of Allah’s
Promise, Who never breaks His Word.
As for those who disbelieved in Allah, sinned against Him, joined
others in worship with Him and warred against His Religion, their
meeting with death would certainly differ. The Noble Qur’an informs
thus in the glorious verse saying (what means):

“And if you could see when the angels take away the souls of those
who disbelieve (at death), they smite their faces and their backs,
(saying): ‘Taste the punishment of the blazing Fire.’” (Al-Anfâl,
8: 50)

Allah, all praise and glory be to Him, sets forth to us another picture
of the disbelievers through the noble Qur’anic verse saying (what
means):

“And if you could but see when the Zâlimûn (polytheists and
wrongdoers, etc.) are in the agonies of death, while the angels are
stretching forth their hands (saying): ‘Deliver your souls! This
day you shall be recompensed with the torment of degradation
because of what you used to utter against Allah other than the
truth. And you used to reject His Ayât (proofs, evidences, verses,
lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) with disrespect!’” (Al-An‘âm, 6:93)

We learn from these noble Qur’anic verses that as the believer sees his
blessed end and his abode in Paradise while dying, the disbeliever also
sees his doom and his abode in Hellfire while dying. Moreover, the
angels of torture disgrace the disbeliever as a retribution for his
disbelief. They smite his face and back and make him taste the
torment of Hellfire. They defy him saying that if ever he possessed
any power or might in worldly life to free himself from the torture and
disgrace he now faces. But he would never be able to, because he
neither has the power nor the might.
The power of human free choice has ended, and he became
overpowered, as the rest of the species in the universe, after enjoying
free will in worldly life. Amongst the signs of an evil end, we seek
refuge with Allah from it, is to see the face of the disbeliever or the
wrongdoer has gloomed, his body has convulsed and his features have
contorted from the horrors he sees of the torment that awaits him.
The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
warn the people against such a fate by saying O people:

“You have milestones so be you guided by your milestones,
and you have an end so be you guided by your end. A believer
is betwixt two dreads, betwixt a term that has passed knowing
not what Allah will judge in it and a term that still remains
knowing not what Allah will destine in it. So, let a servant
takes provision for himself from his own self, and from his
worldly life for his afterlife, and from hoariness before old age
and from life before death. By the One in Whose Hands the
soul of Muhammad is, none shall be allowed to make amends
after death, nor there shall be an abode after life save Paradise
or Hellfire.”

The hour of death as depicted by the Noble Qur’an, reveals the
Unseen, lifts the screening veils and renders the sight sharp. All that is
hidden from us is disclosed, as verified by the noble Qur’anic verse in
which Allah, all glory be to Him, says (what means):

“Then why do you not (intervene) when (the soul of a dying
person) reaches the throat? And you at the moment are looking
on, but We (i.e. Our angels who take the soul) are nearer to him
than you, but you see not.” (Al-Wâqi‘ah, 56: 83-85)

At that moment the first abodes of the Hereafter begins, because the
dead person is to experience the befalling of his Doomsday and learns
his end. When he dies, he hears but he will not be able to answer. He
sees, but he will not be able to relate what he sees. The dead have a
perception of their own just as the living do.
The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
says to us, “If you visit the graves, greet their inhabitants, and say:
Peace be upon you! Abodes of believing people.”
Since theMessenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) has
ordered us to do so, then definitely the inhabitants of the grave
somehow perceive that salutation, otherwise the Messenger of Allah
(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) would not have instructed
us thus.
Hence, the inhabitants of the grave somehow perceive their visitors
and the greeting they offer them. They have another perceiving
faculty; a mental or a reasoning power that makes them distinguishes
between hope and despair. Allah, all praise and glory be to Him, says
(what means):

“O you who believe! Take not as friends the people who incurred
the Wrath of Allah (i.e. the Jews). Surely, they have been in
despair to receive any good in the Hereafter, just as the
disbelievers (buried) in graves have been in despair.” (Al-
Mumtahinah, 60: 13)

Reaching such a degree of despair needs some kind of perception.
None can verge on despair or experience it except a perceiving person,
who can distinguish between things to realize that this is a degree of
despair and this is a degree of hope. Allah, all glory be to Him, says
(what means):

“Just as the disbelievers (buried) in graves have been in despair.”
(Al-Mumtahinah, 60: 13)

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