What home are you building for your soul? We know that our homes in Jannah is built by our deeds, but do we stop to think that it’s the same for our graves?
We spend our lives decorating homes we will leave behind, while neglecting the home we will live in forever. The grave is only the beginning, your first taste of what awaits. For some, it will expand with light and fragrance, a refuge of comfort. For others, it will tighten until it crushes the soul, sealing them in torment.
Your grave is as wide as your deeds and as deep as your devotion. Will it be a garden of peace, or a prison of regret?
NOTE: All depictions of Barzakh are purely conceptual and only vocals were used in the making of the soundtrack.
Download discussion guides for “The Other Side”: https://yqn.io/2e7585
Captioning provided by Muhsen.
References:
- Abdullah ibn al-’Ayzar said: “O son of Adam, you have two homes: one on the surface of the earth and one below it. You focus on the home above ground, adorning and beautifying it, making doors to the north and south, and furnishing it to suit both winter and summer. Yet, you neglect and ruin the home beneath the earth. Then someone comes to you and asks, ‘How long will you stay in this house you have perfected?’ You reply, ‘I do not know.’ He then asks, ‘And how long will you stay in the house you have neglected?’ You reply, ‘That is my permanent abode.’ So he says, ‘You admit this, yet you claim to be a man of reason!’” [Ibn Abi ad-Dunya, Kitab al-Quboor]
- Abdullah ibn ‘Amr narrated: A man from Medina, who was born there, passed away. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ performed the funeral prayer for him and then said, “If only he had died somewhere other than his birthplace.” People asked: “Why is that, O Messenger of Allah?” He said: “When a person dies in a place other than where he was born, the distance from his birthplace to the place where his journey ends is measured for him in Paradise.” [Sunan an-Nasa’i #1832; Sunan Ibn Majah #1614]
- Prophet Idris died in the heavens. [Ibn Abi Shaybah, al-Musannaf]
ابن أبي شيبة في “مصنفه” (32544) ،
- Suwayd Ibn Ghaflah related:
“When Allāh wants to neglect the people of Hellfire, He allocates each one of them a coffin made of Fire, then shuts these coffins with locks made of Fire. Every time their nerves feel the pain, it’s struck with another metal pin of fire. Then each coffin is placed inside another coffin made of fire then shut down with locks made of fire and Allāh kindles fire in between them. Then again He places each coffin inside another coffin made of fire, then shuts them down with locks made of fire, then He kindles fire in between them. So each person believes that no one suffers a worse punishment than what he suffers or undergoes.” [Ibn Abi Shaybah, al-Musannaf]
«مصنف ابن أبي شيبة» (20/ 23 ت الشثري):
«38152 – حدثنا إسحاق بن منصور (قال: حدثنا) عبد السلام عن يزيد بن عبد الرحمن عن المنهال عن خيثمة عن سويد بن غفلة قال: إذا أراد اللَّه أن يُنسى أهل النار جُعل لكل إنسان منهم تابوت من نار على قدره، ثم أقفل عليه بأقفال من نار، فلا يُضرب منه عرقٌ إلا وفيه مسمار (من) (نار)، [[ثم جعل ذلك التابوت في تابوت آخر من نار، [ثم أقفل (عليه) بأقفال من نار] ثم (يُضرم) بينهما نار]]،، فلا يرى أحد منهم أن في النار أحدا غيره، فذلك قوله (تعالى): {لَهُمْ مِنْ فَوْقِهِمْ ظُلَلٌ مِنَ النَّارِ وَمِنْ تَحْتِهِمْ ظُلَلٌ} [الزمر: 16]، وذلك قوله تعالى: {لَهُمْ مِنْ جَهَنَّمَ مِهَادٌ وَمِنْ فَوْقِهِمْ غَوَاشٍ وَكَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي الظَّالِمِينَ} [الأعراف: 41]»
- ‘Auf bin Malik narrates that the Prophet ﷺ made this dua for the deceased: ” O Allah! forgive him, have mercy upon him, grant him safety and forgiveness. Receive him with honour and make his grave spacious; and wash him with water, snow and hail. And Cleanse him from his faults as a white garment is cleaned from its stains. And grant him a home better than his home, a family better than his family, and a mate better than his mate. And enter him into paradise and protect him from the torment of the grave and the torment of the Fire.” (‘Auf bin Malik) said when I heard the prophet (saw) make that dua: I sincerely wished that I were this dead body. [Sahih Muslim #963]
- When the questioned answers the questions right, munkar and nakeer say ‘We knew that you would say this.’ (like we knew you were going to get this right), then a voice cries out from heaven, ‘My slave has spoken the truth.”‘ Supply him with furnishings from Paradise and clothe him from Paradise, and open for him a gate to Paradise.’ So there comes to him some of its fragrant scent, and his grave is expanded for him as far as the eye can see.
In one narration it is widened 70 cubits square (each cubit is one foot six inches) and it is illuminated like the full moon. This is the minimum of the believers grave.
Contrast that to the disbeliever whose grave crushes him and becomes a pit of the fire of hell.’ [Jami’ at-Tirmidhi #1071]
- Jabir reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “When the believer sees how spacious his grave has become, he will say: Let me go back to my family to give the good news! It will be said to him: “Reside where you are.” [Musnad Ahmad]
- And there are also a bunch of people that want to come see you in your new home and ask about their relatives. So the prophet (saw) said they crowd your door, “the souls of the believers come to him and they rejoice more over him than any one of you rejoices when his absent loved one comes to him. They ask him: ‘What happened to so-and-so, what happened to so-and-so?’ Some of them (the believers) will say: ‘Let him be, for he was in the distresses of the world.’ [Sunan Nasa’i #1833]
- So the angels say: ‘Sleep.’ take a nap now. It’s been a difficult journey. So he said: ‘Can I return to my family to inform them?’ They say: ‘Sleep as a newlywed, whom none awakens but the dearest of his family.’ [Jami’ at-Tirmidhi #1071]
- Ibn Al Qayyim narrates that: Shu’ba Bin Al Hajjaaj and Mis3r Bin Kadaam مِسْعَرُ بْنُ كِدَامٍ were two great scholars. Abu Ahmad al yazeedi said: I saw them after their death, so I asked, “What has Allah done with you?” He replied: “may Allah help you to memorize what I am about to say: حَبَانِي إلهي فِي الْجِنِانِ بِقُبَّة”
- My Lord has shown his love to me within the gardens of paradise with a dome of a thousand gates made from silver and gems. Then my Lord said to me: 0 Shu’ba who has delved deeply into the sciences of Islam. تَمَتَّعْ بِقُرْبِي Enjoy my nearness for I am certainly pleased with you and my servant mis3ar who used to stand during the night and recite. It is a sufficient honor for him that he will visit me where I will reveal my noble face to him. This is how I reward those who are devout and who refuse to accustom themselves to disobeying me. [Ibn al-Qayyim, Kitab ar-Ruh]
- As ibn al jawzee (Rahimahullah) says: There is no home to live in after death except the one you were building while you were still alive. [Ibn al-Jawzi, Al-Ishraf]
«الإشراف في منازل الأشراف لابن أبي الدنيا» (ص171):
«وَأَنْشَدَنِي مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ أَبِي رَجَاءٍ:
[البحر البسيط]وَمَنْ يَكُنْ هَمُّهُ الدُّنْيَا لِيَجْمَعَهَا … فَسَوْفَ يَوْمًا عَلَى رَغْمٍ يُخَلِّيهَا
لَا دَارَ لِلْمَرْءِ بَعْدَ الْمَوْتِ يَسْكُنُهَا … إِلَّا الَّتِي كَانَ قَبْلَ الْمَوْتِ يَبْنِيهَا
فَإِنْ بَنَاهَا بِخَيْرٍ كَانَ مُغْتَبِطًا … وَإِنْ بَنَاهَا بِشَرٍّ خَابَ بَانِيهَا»
- That’s why Ibn Baṭṭāl (ra) “Some of the righteous people dug their graves with their own hands, to remind them of death. And the best way to prepare for death is when you have plenty of time ahead of you. [Ibn Battal, Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari]
