The Book of Funerals

Suwayd ibn Nasr informed us: Abdullah narrated to us, from Humayd, from Anas, that the Prophet ﷺ heard a sound from a grave and asked, When did this man die? They said, He died in the pre-Islamic era. He was pleased by this and said, Were it not that you would stop burying one another, I would ask Allah to let you hear the punishment of the grave.

Ubaidullah ibn Said informed us: Yahya narrated to us, from Shubah, who said: Awn ibn Abi Juhaifah informed me, from his father, from al-Bara ibn Azib, from Abu Ayyub, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ went out after the sun had set and heard a sound. He said, The Jews are being punished in their graves.

Yahya ibn Durust informed us: Abu Ismail narrated to us: Yahya ibn Abi Kathir narrated to us that Abu Salamah related to him, from Abu Hurairah, from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, that he would say: O Allah, I seek refuge in You from the punishment of the grave, from the punishment of the Fire, from the trials of life and death, and from the trial of the False Messiah, al-Dajjal.

Amr ibn Sawwad ibn al-Aswad ibn Amr narrated to us, from Ibn Wahb, who said: Yunus ibn Yazid narrated to us, from Ibn Shihab, from Humayd ibn Abd al-Rahman, from Abu Hurairah, who said: After that, I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ seeking refuge from the punishment of the grave.

Sulayman ibn Dawud reported to us, from Ibn Wahb, who said: Yunus informed me, from Ibn Shihab, who informed me that Urwah ibn al-Zubair heard Asma bint Abi Bakr say: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood and mentioned the trial a person undergoes in the grave. When he mentioned it, the Muslims cried out in commotion, preventing me from understanding the words of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. When their uproar subsided, I said to a man near me, May Allah bless you, what did the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say at the end of his statement? He replied, It has been revealed to me that you will be tested in your graves with a trial close to the trial of al-Dajjal.

Qutaybah narrated to us, from Malik, from Abu al-Zubair, from Tawus, from Abdullah ibn Abbas, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would teach them this supplication just as he taught them a surah of the Quran: Say, O Allah, we seek refuge in You from the punishment of Hell, from the punishment of the grave, from the trial of al-Masih al-Dajjal, and from the trials of life and death.

Sulayman ibn Dawud reported to us, from Ibn Wahb, who said: Yunus informed me, from Ibn Shihab, who said: Urwah narrated to me that Aishah said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came to me while a Jewish woman was with me. She was saying, You will be tested in your graves. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was alarmed and said, Rather, the Jews are tested. Aishah said: We stayed for several nights. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, It has been revealed to me that you will be tested in your graves. Aishah said: After that, I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ seeking refuge from the punishment of the grave.

Qutaybah narrated to us: Sufyan narrated to us, from Yahya, from Amrah, from Aishah, that the Prophet ﷺ would seek refuge from the punishment of the grave and from the trial of al-Dajjal. He said, You will be tested in your graves.

Hannad informed us, from Abu Muawiyah, from al-Amash, from Shaqiq, from Masruq, from Aishah, who said: A Jewish woman came to her and asked her for something, so Aishah gave it to her. The woman said, May Allah protect you from the punishment of the grave. Aishah said: This troubled me until the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came. I mentioned it to him, and he said, They are indeed punished in their graves with a punishment that animals can hear.

Muhammad ibn Qudamah informed us: Jarir narrated to us, from Mansur, from Abu Wail, from Masruq, from Aishah, who said: Two elderly women from among the Jews of Medina came to me and said, The people of the graves are punished in their graves. I did not believe them and could not bring myself to believe them. They left, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came in. I said, Messenger of Allah, two elderly Jewish women from Medina told me that the people of the graves are punished in their graves. He replied, They told the truth. They are indeed punished with a punishment that all animals can hear. After that, I never saw him pray without seeking refuge from the punishment of the grave.

Muhammad ibn Qudamah informed us: Jarir narrated to us, from Mansur, from Mujahid, from Ibn Abbas, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed by an enclosure in Mecca or Medina and heard the sound of two people being punished in their graves. He said, They are being punished, and they are not being punished for something grave. Then he said, Indeed, one of them did not take care to avoid urine, and the other used to go about spreading malicious gossip. He then called for a palm stalk, broke it in two, and placed one piece on each grave. He was asked, Messenger of Allah, why did you do that? He replied, Perhaps their punishment will be lightened as long as the pieces have not dried out, or until they dry out.

Hannad ibn al-Sari informed us, in his narration from Abu Muawiyah, from al-Amash, from Mujahid, from Tawus, from Ibn Abbas, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed by two graves and said, They are indeed being punished, though they are not being punished for something grave. One of them did not take care to avoid urine, while the other went about spreading malicious gossip. He then took a fresh palm stalk, split it in two, and placed one half on each grave. They said, Messenger of Allah, why did you do that? He replied, Perhaps their punishment will be lightened as long as the two pieces have not dried out.

Qutaybah narrated to us: Al-Layth narrated to us, from Nafi, from Ibn Umar, that the Prophet ﷺ said: When one of you dies, his place is shown to him morning and evening. If he is among the people of Paradise, then it is a place among the people of Paradise; and if he is among the people of the Fire, then it is a place among the people of the Fire. This continues until Allah, Mighty and Majestic, raises him on the Day of Resurrection.

Ishaq ibn Ibrahim informed us: al-Mutamir reported to us: I heard Ubaydullah narrating from Nafi, from Ibn Umar, from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who said: When one of you dies, his place is shown to him morning and evening. If he is among the people of the Fire, then he is among the people of the Fire, and it is said, This is your place, until Allah, Mighty and Majestic, raises you on the Day of Resurrection.

Muhammad ibn Salamah and al-Harith ibn Miskin informed us, the latter by recitation to him while I listened—and these are his words—from Ibn al-Qasim, who said: Malik narrated to me, from Nafi, from Ibn Umar, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: When one of you dies, his place is shown to him morning and evening. If he is among the people of Paradise, then it is a place among the people of Paradise; and if he is among the people of the Fire, then it is a place among the people of the Fire. It is said to him, This is your place, until Allah, Mighty and Majestic, raises you on the Day of Resurrection.

Qutaybah narrated to us, from Malik, from Ibn Shihab, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Kab, who informed him that his father, Kab ibn Malik, used to narrate from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who said: The soul of the believer is a bird among the trees of Paradise until Allah, Mighty and Majestic, sends it back to its body on the Day of Resurrection.

Amr ibn Ali narrated to us: Yahya narrated to us: Sulayman—Ibn al-Mughirah—narrated to us: Thabit narrated to us, from Anas, who said: We were with Umar between Mecca and Medina when he began telling us about the people of Badr. He said, The Messenger of Allah ﷺ showed us the day before where they would fall, saying, This is where so-and-so will fall tomorrow, if Allah wills. Umar said, By the One who sent him with the truth, they did not miss those places. They were placed in a well, and the Prophet ﷺ came to them and called out, So-and-so, son of so-and-so! So-and-so, son of so-and-so! Have you found what your Lord promised you to be true? I have found what Allah promised me to be true. Umar said, Are you speaking to bodies without souls? He replied, You hear what I say no better than they do.

Suwayd ibn Nasr informed us: Abdullah reported to us, from Humayd, from Anas, who said: During the night, the Muslims heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ standing at the well of Badr and calling out, Abu Jahl ibn Hisham! Shaybah ibn Rabi ah! Utbah ibn Rabi ah! Umayyah ibn Khalaf! Have you found what your Lord promised you to be true? I have found what my Lord promised me to be true. They said, Messenger of Allah, are you calling people who have become decayed corpses? He replied, You hear what I say no better than they do, but they cannot answer.

Muhammad ibn Adam narrated to us: Abdah narrated to us, from Hisham, from his father, from Ibn Umar, that the Prophet ﷺ stood at the well of Badr and said, Have you found what your Lord promised you to be true? They indeed hear what I am saying to them now. This was mentioned to Aishah, and she said, Ibn Umar was mistaken. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said only, They now know that what I used to say to them was the truth. Then she recited, You cannot make the dead hear, and continued reciting the verse.

Qutaybah narrated to us, from Malik and also from Mughirah, from Abu al-Zinad, from al-Araj, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: The earth will consume every son of Adam—the version narrated by Mughirah says, every human being—except the coccyx. He was created from it, and from it he will be reassembled.