The Nature of Life in the Grave
Q: When it is said
that the dead person is alive in the grave, is that the same as his
former life (is he alive in the same way)? How many of his senses are
restored to him? For how long does he stay alive in the grave? If the
dead person is questioned in a physical sense, how does that apply in
the case of those who are burned (cremated) like the Hindus and Japanese
and others? Where does their questioning take place? When a doctor
performs an operation, he removes the person's senses by means of an
anaesthetic. With regard to death, I wonder what death means?
A: Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly: it should be
noted that what is obligatory upon every believing man and woman is to
believe what Allaah tells them in His Book or on the lips of His
Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) about all matters
that have to do with the Hereafter, the Reckoning, Paradise and Hell, or
that have to do with death, the grave and torment or blessing in the
grave, and all matters of the Unseen that are mentioned in the Noble
Qur’aan or in the saheeh reports of the Sunnah. We have to believe and
accept that, because we know that our Lord tells the truth in all that
He says and tells us about. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“and whose words can be truer than those of Allaah? (Of course, none)” [al-Nisaa’ 4:122].
{وَمَنْ أَصْدَقُ مِنَ اللّهِ قِيلاً}
Transliteration: Wa Man 'Aşdaqu Mina Allāhi Qīlāan
“And who is truer in statement than Allaah?” [al-Nisaa’ 4:87].
{وَمَنْ أَصْدَقُ مِنَ اللّهِ حَدِيثاً}
Transliteration: Wa Man 'Aşdaqu Mina Allāhi Ĥadīthāan
We know that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) is the most truthful of people, and that he never spoke on the
basis of his own whims and desires; it was Revelation which was
revealed to him. Whatever was proven in the saheeh ahaadeeth, it is
obligatory to believe in it even if we do not fully understand it. So
what we have to do is to believe what has been narrated concerning the
matters of the Hereafter and of Paradise and Hell, and the blessings of
the people of Paradise and the torments of the people of Hell, and the
fact that in the grave a person will be tormented or blessed, and that
his soul will return to him. All of this is true and is stated in the
texts, so we have to submit to that and believe everything that we learn
from the Qur’aan or that is narrated in the saheeh Sunnah or on which
the scholars of Islam reached consensus.
If Allaah blesses a believing man or woman with knowledge of the reasons
for that, then it is even better, light upon light and knowledge upon
knowledge. So let him praise Allaah and give thanks to Him for the
knowledge and insight that He has bestowed, thus increasing his
knowledge and peace of mind.
With regard to the questioning in the grave and the state of the
deceased, this questioning is real. The deceased person’s soul will be
restored to him; saheeh reports to that effect have been narrated from
the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). The life of
the deceased in the grave is different from his life in this world; it
is a special kind of life in al-barzakh (the interval between his death
and the Day of Resurrection) which is not like his life in this world,
where he needs food and drink etc. It is a special kind of life wherein
he can understand the questions and answers, so the two angels will ask
him, Who is your Lord? What is your religion? Who is your Prophet?
The believer will say, My Lord is Allaah, Islam is my religion and
Muhammad is my Prophet. This will be the answer of believing men and
women. Then he will be asked, What do you know about this man (Muhammad
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him))? He will say, He is the
Messenger of Allaah. He brought us guidance and we believed in him and
followed him. It will be said: we knew that you were a believer. Then a
gate to Paradise will be opened for him, and he will feel its rest and
provision and blessings. It will be said, This is your place until
Allaah resurrects you to it. And he will be shown his place in Hell, and
it will be said to him, This would have been your place if you had
disbelieved in Allaah, but now Allaah has granted you refuge from it and
you have ended up in Paradise.
As for the kaafir, he will be asked about his Lord and his religion and
his Prophet, and he will say, Oh, oh, I don’t know, I heard the people
saying something so I said the same. Then he will be beaten with an iron
rod and will utter a scream that will be heard by all things apart from
al-thaqalayn, i.e. jinn and men; the animals will hear it. Then a gate
to Hell will be opened for him, and his grave will constrict until his
ribs intermingle, and his grave will be like one of the pits of Hell. A
gate to Hell will be opened for him and he will feel its heat and
torment. It will be said, This is your place until Allaah resurrects you
to it. Then a door to Paradise will be opened for him and he will be
shown his place in Paradise, and it will be said to him, This would have
been your place if Allaah had guided you.
From this we know that the grave will be either one of the gardens of
Paradise or one of the pits of Hell. The torment or blessing will happen
to the body as well as the soul in the grave, and also in the
Hereafter, in either Paradise or Hell.
With regard to those who die by drowning or burning, or are eaten by
wild animals, their souls will have their share of torment or blessing,
and that will come to their bodies on land or in the sea, or in the
bellies of the wild animals, as much as Allaah wills. But most of the
blessing or torment will come to their souls which remain, either in a
state of blessing or a state of torment. The soul of the believer will
go to Paradise; the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
said: «The soul of the believer is a bird which
hangs from the trees of Paradise, eating their fruits; the soul of the
kaafir goes to Hell» [corrected as saheeh by al-albani].
Every Muslim man and woman has to accept what Allaah and His Messenger
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) have told us, and believe it
as it was meant by Allaah, even though some of the meaning may be
hidden from us. And Allaah has perfect wisdom, may He be glorified.
Majmoo’ Fataawa wa Maqaalaat Mutanawwi’ah li
Samaahat al-Shaykh al-‘Allaamah ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Baaz
(may Allaah have mercy on him), p. 338.
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