The Grave and the Barzakh

All praise is due to Allāh. May Allāh raise the rank of Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ and protect his nation from that which he feared for them.

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The Reality of Death

Every soul shall taste death. Allāh the Exalted said:

كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَائِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ وَإِنَّمَا تُوَفَّوْنَ أُجُورَكُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ

Every soul shall taste death, and you will only be given your full reward on the Day of Judgment. [Sūrat Āl ʿImrān, 185]

Death is not the end. It is the beginning of the barzakh, the intermediate realm between this life and the Hereafter. What a person believed and how he lived will determine his experience in the grave and what follows it.

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The Soul After Death

The soul is a subtle body that Allāh created. It is not eternal. Allāh made the norm that life is sustained in the bodies of angels, humans, jinn, and animals as long as that subtle body is with them, and life departs them if it departs those bodies.

The souls of the blasphemers are in Sijjīn, a place in the lowest earth, after the decay of the body. The souls of the sinful believers are between the sky and the earth after the decay of the body, and some will be in the first sky. The souls of the pious believers ascend to Paradise immediately after the decay of the body. As for the martyrs, their souls ascend immediately into Paradise after death. The Prophets are alive in their graves and they’re praying. The bodies of Prophets and martyrs of battle don’t decay.

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The Return of the Soul to the Body in the Grave

The return of the soul to the body in the grave is confirmed in the authentic narrations. The Prophet ﷺ said:

الأَنْبياءُ أحْياءٌ في قبورهم يُصَلُّونَ

The Prophets are alive in their graves praying.

Al-Bayhaqiyy deemed it authentic and Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar agreed with him.

It was narrated from the route of Ibn ʿAbbās, elevated to the Prophet ﷺ:

مَا مِن أحَدٍ يَمُرُّ بقَبْرِ أخِيهِ المؤمنِ كَانَ يَعْرفهُ في الدُّنيا فَيُسَلّمُ علَيه إلاعَرَفَهُ وَردَّ عليهِ السَّلامَ

There is not one of you that passes by the grave of his fellow believer that he knew in the dunyā except that he would know him and return his salām. [Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr]

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The Torture and Enjoyment of the Grave

The torture and enjoyment of the grave are real. Allāh the Exalted said:

النَّارُ يُعْرَضُونَ عَلَيْهَا غُدُوًّا وَعَشِيًّا وَيَوْمَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ أَدْخِلُوا آلَ فِرْعَوْنَ أَشَدَّ الْعَذَابِ

Hell will be presented to them morning and evening, and on the day when the Hour takes place, insert the entourage of Pharaoh into the most severe torture. [Sūrat Ghāfir, 46]

And He said:

وَمَنْ أَعْرَضَ عَن ذِكْرِي فَإِنَّ لَهُ مَعِيشَةً ضَنكًا

Whoever turns away from my remembrance, then he will have a hard life. [Sūrat Ṭā-Hā, 124]

Al-Bukhārī, Muslim, Al-Tirmidhiyy, Abū Dāwūd, and Al-Nasāʾiyy narrated from the route of Ibn ʿAbbās:

The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ passed by two graves. He said: “Certainly they are being tortured. And would they be tortured for a major sin? Indeed. As for one of them, he used to walk with instigation. As for the other, he used to not protect himself from urine.” Then he called for a moist palm branch, and broke it in half, and submerged one half into one grave and the other into the other grave. Then he said: “So that it would be lightened for them.”

As for the strong believer who fulfilled the obligations and refrained from sins, the Prophet ﷺ said:

الدُّنْيا سِجْنُ المؤْمنِ وسَنَتُهُ فإذَا فَارقَ الدُّنيا فارَقَ السّجْنَ والسَّنَةَ

The dunyā is the believer’s prison and his drought. If he departed the dunyā then he departed the prison and the drought. [Ibn Ḥibbān]

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The Questioning of the Grave

Al-Bukhārī and Muslim narrated from the route of Anas from the Prophet ﷺ that he said:

إنَّ العَبْدَ إذَا وُضِعَ في قَبْرِه وتَوَلَّى عَنْهُ أصْحابهُ وإنَّه لَيَسْمَعُ قَرْعَ نِعَالِهم إذَا انْصَرَفُوا أتَاهُ مَلَكانِ فيُقْعِدَانِه فيقولانِ: ما كنْتَ تَقُولُ في هَذا الرَّجُلِ محمَّدٍ؟ فأمَّا المؤمنُ فيقولُ: أشْهَدُ أنَّه عَبْدُ الله ورَسُولُهُ، فَيُقالُ لهُ: انْظُرْ إلى مَقْعَدِكَ من النَّارِ أبدَلَكَ الله به مَقْعَدًا من الجنَّةِ فَيراهُمَا جَميعًا. وأمَّا الكَافِرُ أو المنافِقُ فيَقُول: لا أدْرِي كنتُ أقولُ ما يقولُ النَّاسُ فيه، فيُقالُ: لا دَرَيْتَ ولا تَلَيْتَ، ثمَّ يُضرَبُ بمِطرقةٍ من حَدِيْدٍ بينَ أذُنَيْه فيَصِيحُ صَيْحةً يَسْمَعُها مَنْ يليهِ إلا الثَّقَلَينِ

Certainly the slave, if he is put in his grave and his companions turn away from him, he will surely hear the steps of their sandals as they leave. Two angels will come to him. They sit him up and say: “What did you used to say about this man Muḥammad ﷺ?” As for the believer, he will say: “I testify that he is the slave of Allāh and His Messenger.” Then it will be said to him: “Look at your seat from Hell, Allāh has replaced it with a seat from Paradise,” and he will see both of them. As for the blasphemer or the hypocrite, he will say: “I do not know. I used to say what the people say about him.” Then it will be said to him: “You do not know and you do not know.” Then he would be hit with an iron mallet between his ears, and he will scream with a scream heard by everyone close to him except for the humans and jinn. [Al-Bukhārī and Muslim]

Ibn Ḥibbān narrated from the route of Abū Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:

إذا قُبِرَ الميّتُ أو الإنْسانُ أتَاهُ مَلَكانِ أسْوَدانِ أزْرَقانِ يُقالُ لأحدِهِما مُنْكَرٌ وللآخَرِ نكِيرٌ فيَقُولانِ لهُ: ما كنتَ تقُولُ في هذَا الرَّجُلِ محمَّدٍ؟ فَهوَ قائلٌ ما كَانَ يقُولُ. فَإنْ كَانَ مؤْمِنًا قَالَ: هُو عَبدُ الله ورسُولُه أشْهدُ أن لا إلهَ إلا الله وأشهدُ أنَّ محمَّدًا عبدُهُ ورسولُه فيَقُولانِ لَهُ: إنْ كنَّا لنَعْلَمُ أنَّكَ لتَقُولُ ذَلكَ، ثمَّ يُفسَحُ لهُ في قَبْرِه سَبْعينَ ذِراعًا في سَبْعينَ ذِراعًا ويُنَوَّرُ لَهُ فيهِ، فَيُقالُ لَهُ: نَمْ، فينَامُ كنَومِ العَرُوسِ الذي لا يُوقِظُه إلا أحَبُّ أهْلِه حتَّى يَبْعثَهُ الله من مَضْجَعِه ذَلكَ. فإن كانَ مُنافقًا قالَ: لا أدْري، كنتُ أسْمَعُ الناسَ يقولونَ شَيئًا فكنتُ أقولُهُ، فيَقُولانِ لهُ: إنْ كنَّا لنعلمُ أنّكَ تَقُولُ ذلكَ، ثُم يُقالُ للأَرْضِ التَئِمي فتَلْتَئمُ عليه حتَّى تَخْتلفَ أضْلاعُهُ فلا يَزَالُ مُعَذَّبًا حَتّى يبْعثَهُ الله تعالى من مَضجَعِهِ ذلكَ

If the dead were put in his grave, two blue-black angels will come to him. One of them is called Munkar and the other is called Nakīr. They say to him: “What did you used to say about this man Muḥammad ﷺ?” He will say what he used to say. So if he were a believer he would say: “He is the slave of Allāh and His Messenger. I testify that no one is God but Allāh and I testify that Muḥammad is His slave and Messenger.” Then the angels will say to him: “Certainly, we knew that you would say that.” Then his grave would be expanded for him seventy cubits by seventy cubits, and it will be illuminated for him, and it will be said to him: “Sleep.” Then he will sleep like the sleep of a newlywed who is not awakened except by his most beloved, until Allāh resurrects him from that bed of his. If he were a hypocrite, he says: “I do not know. I used to hear the people saying something, so I used to say it.” Then they will say to him: “Certainly we knew you would say that.” Then it would be said to the earth: “Close.” Then it will close on him until his ribs cross, and he will not cease to be tortured until Allāh resurrects him from that bed of his. [Ibn Ḥibbān]

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Who is Excluded from the Questioning

Excluded from the questioning of the two angels are the Prophets and the battlefield martyrs, and likewise the children who died before pubescence.

If it were said: “How would a large number of people be questioned simultaneously?” The answer is what Al-Ḥalīmiyy said: “What is most likely is that the angels of questioning are a large group. Some of them are named Munkar and some of them are named Nakīr. Two of them will be sent to each dead person.”

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The Judgment of the One Who Denies the Torture of the Grave

The one who denies the torture of the grave blasphemes because of his opposition to the saying of Allāh:

النَّارُ يُعْرَضُونَ عَلَيْهَا غُدُوًّا وَعَشِيًّا وَيَوْمَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ أَدْخِلُوا آلَ فِرْعَوْنَ أَشَدَّ الْعَذَابِ

Hell will be presented to them morning and evening, and on the day when the Hour takes place, insert the entourage of Pharaoh into the most severe torture. [Sūrat Ghāfir, 46]

This is different from the one who denies the questioning of the grave. He would not be judged as a blasphemer unless he denied it out of stubbornness.

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This article is part of IKF’s Ilm al-Aqīdah series, drawn from the works of the scholars of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamāʿah.