The Punishment of The Interspace

[ابوالوليد المسلم]

The Punishment of The Interspace (1/2)

Imam Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah


“If you could only see when the wrongdoers are in the agonies of death, and the angels are stretching out their hands, 'Bring out your souls! Today you will be repaid with the punishment of humiliation.” [Surah Al-An'am (6):93]

The Grave is unknown territory. Outwardly it is quiet, but inwardly it contains secrets and terrors which an ordinary man cannot perceive. They can only be perceived by someone who has been given a high degree of belief and inner sight.

It is a strange fact that animals are able to hear the punishment in the Grave while human beings as a general rule cannot. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “They are punished and the animals hear it.”

Thabit al-Bunani said regarding this, 'Once I was walking among the graves and I heard a voice behind me, saying, "Thabit! Do not be deceived by their stillness. How many people in them are suffering?" I turned around, but did not see anyone.'

AI-Hasan passed a graveyard and said, What a host of people are here! How silent they are! How many there are among them who are suffering!'

A dead person is either in a state of bliss or punishment, from the moment they die until the moment the two angels question them. We reached the point where a door onto the Garden is opened for the unbeliever and he is told to look at what his place would have been in the Garden if he had obeyed Allah. Then it is locked and another door is opened and he is told to look at his place in the Fire. It stays open and the blast of hot air from it continues to reach him until the Day of Rising. Then the earth presses in on him and he is crushed to the point that his ribs split apart. Then various forms of punishment rain down on him according to the type of wrong actions he committed.

Many statements have come down to us showing us the reality of the punishment of the Grave, or what we might also call the punishment of the interspace between the two worlds. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,

“I passed Badr and saw a man come out of the ground. Another man hit him with a stick until he vanished back into the earth. Then that happened again.”

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, went on to say,
“That was Abu Jahl b. Hisham who will be punished in that way until the Day of Rising.”

One of the early Muslims said, 'We passed by a certain watering-place on the way to Basra. We heard the braying of a donkey and asked the people there what the braying was. They replied that it was one of the men who used to be with them whose mother had asked him for something and he had told her to bray like a donkey. Since his death, this braying had been heard every night from his grave.'

'Amr b. Dinar said, 'The sister of one of the men of Madinah died and he buried her. When he came back from the burial, he remembered that he had left something in the grave. He asked one of his companions to help him. His companion related that they had dug up the grave and found what they were looking for. Then the man said, "Let us dig further and find out what has happened to my sister." He lifted up one of the stones covering the burial cavity and found the grave filled with fire. He replaced it and filled in the grave again. Then he returned to his mother and asked, "What was my sister really like?" She replied, "Why do you ask about her when she is dead?" He said, "Tell me." She said, "She used to delay the prayer and she also used to go to our neighbours' doors, put her ear to them and then tell other people what they said!" ,

There are also the hadiths of the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, about the Night Journey which contain descriptions of the many types of punishment he saw in the interspace between the two worlds. We will give a summary of them here.

There are those who are driven like cattle and forced to eat herbage more bitter than aloes and the bitter fruit of zaqqum and driven on to the hot stones of Jahannam because they did not purify their property by paying zakat. There are those who have to eat foul putrid meat because they fornicated. There are those whose lips are cut with iron scissors because they rose to speak and address people during times of civil strife. Some of them have bellies as big as houses and whenever one of them gets up, he is knocked down and says, "O Allah, do not let the Hour come!" They are in the path of the people of Pharaoh who come and trample them while they can do nothing but scream. These are people who devoured usury.

Some of them are screaming with their mouths gaping open while they devour hot coals which come out of their anuses. These are people who consumed the property of orphans. Some of them cut pieces from their own sides and eat their own flesh. They are the slanderers and those about whom the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said,
“We saw people cutting flesh from their sides and eating it. It was said, "As you used to consume the flesh of your brother!" I asked, "Who are they?" and I was told, ''Those of your community who slandered."

Some of them have brass nails with which they scratch their faces and chests. They are those who were backbiters and maligned people's honour.

(Continued)