Belief in the Last Day and Resurrection (2/4)
Sheikh Muhammad ibn Salih Al-Uthaymeen
All that happens after death is included in the belief of the Last Day, for example:
a) The trial of the grave, wherein all will be asked: Who was your Lord? What was your religion? Who was your Prophet?
So, as is explained in the Qur’an and Sunnah, Allah will make those who believed resolute, with the word that stands firm. Thus the believer will say: “My Lord is Allah, my religion is Islam and my Prophet is Muhammed.” But the transgressors will err and go astray. The disbeliever will say: “Haah, haah, I don’t know.” The hypocrite or the person in doubt [1]will say: “I’m not sure, I heard the people say something, so I just repeated what they said.”[2]
b) The grave will be a place of either extreme pain and torment or extreme pleasure and happiness.
The pain and torment will be upon the transgressors, disbelievers, and hypocrites, as Allah the Most Exalted said:
“And if you but see when the wrongdoers 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 un-truthfully. And you used to reject his signs with disre-spect.” [Surah al-An’aam (6):93]
And Allah the Most Exalted said concerning Pharaoh and his followers:
“The Fire – they will be exposed to it morning and afternoon, and on the Day when the Hour will be established (it will be said to the angels): “Make Pharaoh’s people to enter the severest Torment.” [Surah Ghaafir (40):46]
Imam Muslim reports that Zaid ibn Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated:
The Prophet said to his Companions, “I would have asked Allah to let you hear what I am hearing of the (peoples’) punishment in the grave, but (I refrain) for the fear that you would not bury each other after that.” Then the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be up-on him, turned his face towards them saying: “Seek refuge in Allah from the torment of the Fire!” They said: “We seek refuge in Allah from the torment of the Fire.” He said: “Seek refuge in Allah from the torment of the grave!” They said: “We seek refuge in Allah from the torment of the grave.” He said: “Seek refuge in Allah from all calamities, whether apparent or hidden!” They said, “We seek refuge in Allah from all calamities, whether apparent or hidden.” He said: “Seek refuge in Allah from the calamity of one-eyed Antichrist (False Messiah)!” They said, “We seek refuge in Allah from the calamity of one-eyed Antichrist (False Messiah).”
The extreme pleasure and happiness of the grave will be for the faithful and truthful believers. Allah the Most Exalted said:
“Verily those who say, “Our Lord is Allah,” and then stood fast on these words, on them the angels will descend (at the time of their death, saying), “Fear not, nor grieve! But receive the glad tidings of Paradise which you have been promised.” [Surah Fussilat (41):30]
And Allah the Most Exalted said:
“Then why do you not (intervene) when (the soul of a dying person) reaches the throat (gurgling)? And you are, at the moment, looking on (hopelessly)? But We (our angels who take the soul) are nearer to him than you are, but you do not see. Then why do you not, if you are exempt from the reckoning and recompense, bring back the soul (to its body) if you are truthful? Then, if he (the dying person) be of those near ones (close to Allah), there is for him rest and provisions, and a Garden of Delights (Paradise).” [Surah al-Waqi’ah (56): 83-89]
It is reported on the authority of al-Baraa ibn ‘Aazib that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said about the believer, after he is responds to the questioning by the angels:
“A caller from heaven will say, “My slave has said the truth. Therefore, furnish him (in his grave) from (the pleasures of) Paradise, and dress him from (the clothes of) Paradise, and open a door for him to Paradise.” Then he said, “He will receive from its tranquility and beautiful smell. And his grave will be enlarged for him as far a distance as his sight reaches.”
This is reported by Imam Ahmad and Abu Dawood in a long hadeeth, [of which only a portion has been mentioned].
The great benefits of believing in the Last Day and Resurrection include:
1. Encouraging the desire to do the deeds of obedience hoping for the bliss and reward of Paradise.
2. Being terrified of committing deeds of disobedience fear-ing the punishment of the Hellfire.
3. Comforting the believer about the pleasures and luxuries that he misses in this worldly life and the hardships and pains he endures in the hope for the bliss and reward of the Paradise.
[Some] disbelievers do not believe that life after death is possible. The falseness of their doubt about the possibility of life after death can be established by: ash-Sharee’ah (revelation and scripture), al-Hiss (physical senses), and al-‘Aql (reason and analysis).
Proving the possibility of life after death by ash-Sharee’ah (revelation and scripture), Allah the Most Exalted said:
“The disbelievers pretend that they will never be resur-rected (for the account). Say (O Muhammad): “Yes! By my Lord, you will certainly be resurrected, then you will be informed (and recompensed for) what you did, and that is easy for Allah.” [Surah at-Taghaabun (64):7]
All Scriptures [like the Torah, Psalms and Gospels] are unanimous on this matter (of belief in the Hereafter).
(Continued)
[1] Either both hypocrites and people in doubt will say that or the narrator was uncertain which was mentioned, as is stated in the Saheehs of al‐Bukhari and Muslim.
[2] Al‐Albani graded it as authentic in Saheeh‐ul‐Jaami’.