3? no! 4 Questions in Grave

 

3? NO! 4 Questions in Grave

﷽

 إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلاَ مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلِ اللَّهُ فَلاَ هَادِيَ  إِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ وَأَحْسَنَ الْهَدْىِ هَدْىُ مُحَمَّدٍ وَشَرَّ الأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلاَلَةٌ وَكُلَّ ضَلاَلَةٍ فِي النَّارِ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لاَ شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَمَّا بَعْدُ 

Praise be to Allah, we seek His help. Whomsoever Allah guides will never be led astray, and whomsoever Allah leaves astray, no one can guide. The truest of word is the Book of Allah and best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad. The worst of things are those that are newly invented; every newly-invented thing is an innovation and every innovation is going astray, and every going astray is in the Fire. I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah (alone with no partners) and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. To proceed

(this is how Prophet SAW used to start his speech Nisai 3278, Nisai 1578)

رَبِّ اشْرَحْ لِي صَدْرِي ‎﴿٢٥﴾‏ وَيَسِّرْ لِي أَمْرِي ‎﴿٢٦﴾‏ وَاحْلُلْ عُقْدَةً مِّن لِّسَانِي ‎﴿٢٧﴾‏ يَفْقَهُوا قَوْلِي ‎﴿٢٨﴾(Taha)

My Lord, open up my heart [with assurance] And ease for me my task And untie the knot from my tongue That they may understand my speech.[20:25-28] Ameen

 اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ

O Allah, send salah upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad (Nasai 1292)

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If you are born in a Muslim family then from childhood you must have heard, that when a person dies and he is buried in the ground, two angles come and asks him a series of question. If he is able to answer all, he passes and if he can't, he fails. We used to think that we should memorize those questions, so that we would be able to answer them, but in reality, it is all based on your deeds. If you were a believer and had done righteous deeds that Allah had prescribed and abstained from what Allah had forbidden. You will be calm and due to this calmness, you will be able to answer those questions and if you had live your life according to your own free will and did what suited you best or followed someone blindly, you won't feel that calmness. Rather you will be nervous and even if you knew the answer to those questions by heart, at that moment you won't be able to answer them. May Allah make it easy for all of us Ameen.

Let's look at the questions that will be asked in the grave, from childhood we thought that three questions will be asked, although it is true but with it is a 4th indirect question/comment is also found in different Ahadith.

The Questions

All that I am about to state is from the hadith and the things in (round bracket) are my own thoughts, the number of hadith will be given at the end.

When a person is buried and his relatives leave, he can hear the footsteps of them leaving. Two angels come to him and make him sit up in his grave (one important thing, that all this is not happening in our worldly realm, if you were to dig the grave at that moment. You wouldn't see the angels or the person sitting) 

Death of infidel (Kafir)

Q1: Angels: O so and so! Who is your Rabb?

Ans1: Alas, alas! I do not know. (nervousness at its peak) 

Q2: Angels: What is your religion?

Ans2: Alas, alas! I do not know.

Q3: Angels: What is your opinion about the man who was sent on a mission among you? or What did you use to say about the man Muhammad (SAW)? (some people say that the Prophet SAW will appear in a person's grave, it's not like that, hadith says otherwise)

Ans3: He will reply: Alas, alas! I do not know; but I used to say what the people used to say.

Q4 & Ans 4: Angels: Neither did you know nor did you take the guidance [from Quran]

Then a crier will call from Heaven: He has lied, so spread a bed for him from Hell, clothe him from Hell, and open for him a door into Hell. Then some of its heat and hot wind will come to him, and his grave will be compressed, so that his ribs will be crushed together

Then one who is blind and dumb will then be placed in charge of him, having a sledgehammer such that if a mountain were struck with it, it would become dust. He will give him a blow with it, which will be heard by everything between east and west except by men and jinn, and then he will become dust then he will be restored again (it will continue till day of judgement).

(How long will this continue? our earthly life is maximum of 60 to 70 years, or some may possess 100 years, but the life of grave could be thousands of years, remember the Pharaoh how long he has been dead for, Namrood, and the strike happening everyday how many times only Allah knows. May Allah protect us from such torments and guide us Ameen)

Death of righteous

Q1: Angels: O so and so! Who is your Rabb?

Ans1: He will reply: My Lord is Allah (He won't say that Allah was the Rabb and along with him Munificent was so and so saint, Al Mojeeb was so and so saint etc ) 

Q2: Angels: What is your religion?

Ans2: He will reply: My religion is Islam (not Humanity, some may say that the best religion is humanity. He won't say a mixture of Islam Hinduism and Sufism but ISLAM)

Q3: Angels: What is your opinion about the man who was sent on a mission among you? or What did you use to say about the man Muhammad (SAW) (some people say that the Prophet SAW will appear in a person's grave, it's not like that, hadith says otherwise)

Ans3: He will reply: He is the Messenger of Allah SAW or I testify that he is Allah's slave and His Apostle. أَشْهَدُ أَنَّهُ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولُهُ‏ (if the Prophet SAW was in the grave as many people claim then the wording wouldn't be Anhu أَنَّهُ but Anaka أَنَّکا or Anta would have been used, that you are the or he is the (as in present), in other narration it is said "howa" Muhammad ur Rasool Allah (howa is used for third person) if he was right in front of him, he would have said "haaza" Muhammad ur Rasool Allah) 

Q4: Angels: Who made you aware of all this?

Ans4: He will reply: I read Allah's Book, believed in it, and considered it true, which is verified by Allah's word: "Allah will keep firm those who believe, with the word that stands firm in this world and in the Hereafter." [Ibrahim 14:27]

Angels: Look at your place in Hell Fire; Allah has given you a place in Paradise instead of it.

Then a crier will call from Heaven: My servant has spoken the truth, so spread a bed for him from Paradise, clothe him from Paradise, and open a door for him into Paradise. So some of its air and perfume will come to him and a space will be made for him as far as the eyes can see. 

All this is taken from Sunan Abi Dawud 4753 and Sahih al-Bukhari 1374 Musnad Ahmad 3028 Hakim 1403 has some extra details as well. 

There is a story among, Brailvis and Deobandis mentioned by Ashraf Ali Thanvi in his Malfoozat Hakeem ul Umat, it's in Urdu. In the story, it goes like this that the washerman (one who used to wash clothes) of Abdul Qadir Jilani died, Angels came to him in his grave, they asked the three questions and the washerman said I don't know I am the washerman of Abdul Qadir. The angels got confused and they asked Allah, He answered it's a difficult situation Abdul Qadir is in the way, let his washerman go. Naozobillah, meaning that Abdul Qadir is stronger than Allah. Naozobillah. By the way who captured this event? was there a camera fitted inside his grave. 😄. It's a blunderous story, if he did answer that I don't know then read the Hadith above, Prophet said that Angels will beat him up. May Allah guide these people who spread lies.
You can find this story on Youtube, just type, Ghous pak ka dhobi.

Narrated Abu Hurairah:

that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: "Indeed there is a Surah in the Qur'an of thirty Ayat, which intercedes for a man until he is forgiven. It is [Surah] Tabarak Alladhi Biyadihil-Mulk."

(Tirmidhi 2891 Hasan)

So, in short, study Quran that's what the fourth question signifies, learn what Allah wants from you? what he likes? and what He has forbidden? Learn from Alim's, if you can't on your own but don't make the Alims or Molvis your Qiblah, weigh everything they say on Quran and Hadith ask them where is this written. If it is according to Quran and Hadith then follow it otherwise discard it no matter how big the mufti is, he is also a human, he can also make mistakes.

O Allah! Enable us to see the Truth as Truth and give us the ability to follow it. And show us the falsehood as false and give us the ability to refrain from it. Ameen