Punishment of the Grave

He causes the night to enter the day, and He causes the day to enter the night and has subjected the sun and the
moon – each running for a specified term. That is Allah, your Lord; to Him belongs sovereignty. And those you
invoke other than Him do not possess the membrane of a date seed.
If you invoke them, they do not hear your supplication; and if they heard, they would not respond to you. And on
the Day of Resurrection they will deny your association. And none can inform you like [one] Aware [of all matters].

● Supplication meaning Du’a is made to someone who’s not physically around you: you cannot see or hear them.
● Those they invoke (or supplicate) DO NOT hear their supplication.
● EVEN IF they did hear your supplication, they would be too powerless to respond to you.
● So whom did they invoke?
 Background to the Previous Ayat

Noah said, “My Lord, indeed they have disobeyed me and followed him whose wealth and children will not
increase him except in loss.”

And they conspired an immense conspiracy

And said, ‘Never leave your gods and never leave Wadd or Suwa or Yaghuth and Ya’uq and Nasr.’

(71:21-23)

Commentary: Narrated ibn ‘Abbas: All the idols which were worshiped by the people of Noah were worshiped
by the Arabs later on. As for the idol Wadd, it was worshiped by the tribe of Kalb at Daumat-al-Jandal; Suwa’
was the idol of (the tribe of) Hudhail; Yaghuth was worshiped by (the tribe of) Murad and then by Bani Ghutaif
at Al-Jurf near Saba; Ya’uq was the idol of Hamdan, and Nasr was the idol of Himyar, the branch of Dhi-al-
Kala’. The names (of the idols) formerly belonged to some pious men of the people of Noah, and when they
died Satan inspired their people to prepare and place idols at the places where they used to sit, and to call
those idols by their names. The people did so, but the idols were not worshiped till those people (who
initiated them) had died and the origin of the idols had become obscure, whereupon people began worshiping
them. (Sahih al-Bukhari)

Conclusion: These idols represented pious humans.

 What are Idols?

Idols (sculptures or images) are not worshiped in and for themselves. What is worshiped is what these idols
represent. What do we mean by “represent”? For example, a picture of a key may represent a solution to a
difficult problem: this picture of the key is not important in itself, but the solution is important.

So idols represent the people that are worshiped.

Why did people make idols?

“Finding it difficult to fasten their thoughts on invisible, intangible beings, men at the beginning, probably
sought to aid their worship by selecting some object to represent the being worshiped.”

“Then, gradually, the worship was transferred to the object and withdrawn from the being represented.”

“Or, it may be that the being worshiped was supposed in some manner to dwell in the idol, and was
worshiped thus.”

The last one seems more plausible because humans could never worship a mere stone.
 “And those they invoke other than Allah create nothing, and they [themselves] are created. They are [in fact]
dead, not alive, and they do not perceive when they will be resurrected.” (16:20,21)
● This ayat provides further evidence that those they invoked were humans as they are dead.
● This ayat discusses the people not their idols (since idols cannot be dead), which is further evidence that
people really worshiped the spirits not the idols.
Not are equal the blind and the seeing.

Nor are the darkness and the light,

Nor are the shade and the heat,

And not are equal the living and the dead. Indeed, Allah causes to hear whom He wills, but you cannot make
hear those in the graves. You are only a warner.

Kisi cheez ko kisi dusri cheez ke zariye bayaan karna kyun ke un dono mein kuch na kuch mushtarik
(common) hai metaphor kehlata hai. Jese: City is a jungle. Isliye ke city aur jungle dono congested hote hain.
Yaha jungle city ke liye metaphor hai.

In this ayat, those in the graves is a metaphor for the Kuffar and the Mushrikoons and hearing is a metaphor
for getting hidaayah.

So if those in the graves could hear, Allah would not have used it as a metaphor for the Kuffar and the
Mushrikoons not being able to get hidaayah, though Allah can make the dead hear just as He can give
hidaayah to whom He wills.
Anas b. Malik reported that Allah’s messenger let the dead bodies of the unbelievers who fought in Badr lie unburied
for three days. He then came and sat by their side and called them and said: O Abu Jahl b. Hisham, O Umayya b.
Khalaf, O Utba b. Rabi’a, have you not found what your Lord had promised with you to be correct? As for me, I have
found the promises of my Lord to be correct. Umar listened to the words of Allah’s messenger and said: Allah’s
Messenger, how do they listen and respond to you? They are dead and their bodies have decayed. Thereupon he
said: By Him in whose Hand is my life, what I am saying to them, even you cannot hear more distinctly than they, but
they lack the power to reply. Then he commanded that they should be buried in the well of Badr. (Sahih Muslim Book
53 Chapter 17 Hadith 2874)

It was narrated from ibn Umar that the Prophet stood at the well of Badr and said: “Have you found what your Lord
promised to be true?” He said: “They can hear what I am saying to them now”. Mention of that was made to ‘Aishah
and she said: “Ibn ‘Umar is mistaken. Rather the Messenger of Allah said: Now they know that what I used to say to
them is the truth.’ Then she recited: So verily, you (O Muhammad) cannot make the dead to hear, until she recited
the verse.” (Sunnan an-Nasai Book 21 Chapter 117 Hadith 2076)

Qatada told that Anas b. Malik mentioned to him on the authority of Abu Talha that at the battle of Badr God’s
prophet ordered twenty-four of the strong men of Quraish to be cast into one of the wells of Badr cased with stones
which was corrupt and corrupting. When he prevailed over an enemy he stayed three nights on the field of battle;
and when the third day came at Badr he ordered his riding-beast to be saddled. He then walked followed by his
companions till he came to the mouth of the well, when he began to call them by their names and their fathers’
names, saying, “So and so son of so and so, so and so son of so and so, does it please you that you disobeyed God
and His Messenger? We have found what our Lord promised us to be true. Have you found what your Lord promised
you to be true?” ‘Umar said, “Messenger of God, what you are addressing are only bodies without spirits.” The
Prophet replied, “By Him in whose hand Muhammad’s soul is, you cannot hear what I say better than they.” A version
has, “You cannot hear better than they, but they cannot answer.” Bukhari added that Qatada said God brought them
to life and made them hear what he said by way of rebuke, humiliation, revenge, and to produce grief and
repentance.” (Mishkat al-Masabih Book 19 Chapter 6a Hadith 3967)
● It’s very unlikely that Umar (RA) did not know of ayat 22 of Sura Fatir since it is a Meccan Sura and the battle of
Badr took place after Hijra.
● Also Aisha (RA) took this verse to literally mean the dead.
● Then Umar (RA) expressed wonder at the dead bodies being able to listen and respond to Rasoolullah (SAW).
This clearly means that the normal belief was that the dead bodies cannot hear. If they could, Rasoolullah would
have told Sahabas since it was his responsibility to convey everything that had religious implications.
● So this was possibly a miracle and this is possibly what Allah meant by “Indeed, Allah causes to hear whom He
wills” in Sura Fatir.
● Or according to Aisha (RA), Rasoolullah actually said: “Now they know that what I used to say to them is the
truth.” since according to the Qur’an the dead cannot hear those who are alive.
 Where is Barzakh?
● Allah takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that do not die [He takes] during their sleep. Then
He keeps those for which He has decreed death and releases the others for a specified term. Indeed in that
are signs for a people who give thought. (39:42)

So sleeping and being dead have one thing in common: the body has no soul in it. Since a person who is
dead and someone who is asleep, both, are unaware of their earthly surroundings, being unconscious of
your earthly surroundings must be what is meant by a body not having a soul.

Conclusion:

(1) Allah keeps the soul separated from the body for the time being when He has the person die. However,
there is no refutation of Allah putting the soul in a barzakhi body during this time.
● The messenger of Allah said: The ruh of the mumin is a bird that sits in the trees of the Garden until Allah
returns it to his body on the day He raises him. (al-Muwatta, Book 16, Hadith 50)

This hadith suggests that the ruh is not in some invisible barzakhi body on earth after death but settles in
Jannah. If the ruh was in an invisible barzakhi body on earth, how could it be in Jannah? There is nothing in
the hadith about the soul/ruh being in Jannah only temporarily.
 Samura b. Jundub said: When the Prophet prayed he turned his face to us and asked, “Who among you had a vision last night?” If one of us had had one he told it and he
would interpret it as God willed. One day he asked us, “Has any of you had a vision?” and when we replied that we had not he said: “But last night I saw two men who came
to me, took me by the hand and brought me out to a holy land. I saw a man sitting and a man standing with a hooked piece of iron in his hand which he was inserting into
the other man's jaw and cleaving it till it reached the back of his neck, and doing the same with the other jaw. This jaw was recovering, and then he would do the same
again. I asked what this was and they told me to come away. So we went on till we came to a man who was lying on his back over whom a man was standing with a stone
the size of his hand, or a rock, with which he was pounding his head. When he struck him the stone rolled away and he went after it to get it, and did not return to this man
till his head was healed and restored to its former condition. He then went back to him and struck him. I asked what this was and they told me to come away. So we went on
till we came to a hole like an oven, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, under which there was a fire. It contained naked men and women who when the fire rose
mounted till they almost came out, but who returned into it when it subsided. I asked what this was and they told me to come away. So we went on till we came to a river of
blood in the middle of which a man was standing and on the bank of which there was a man with some stones in front of him. The man who was in the river came forward
and when he wanted to come out the other threw a stone into his mouth and sent him back where he came from; and as often as he tried to come out he threw a stone into
his mouth and he returned to where he came from. I asked what this was and they" told me to come away. So we went on till we reached a green garden containing a huge
tree at the foot of which were an old man and some boys and near which there was a man in front of whom there was a fire which he was kindling. My two companions took
me up the tree and brought me into a house in the middle of the tree more beautiful than any I had seen in which were old men, youths, women and boys. They then took
me out of it and brought me up the tree and took me into a more beautiful and more excellent house in which were old men and youths. Telling them that they had taken me
round this night, I asked them to inform me about what I had seen, to which they agreed. 1They said that the man I had seen having his jaw cloven was a liar who told
lies which were reported from him and carried to the ends of the earth, so what I had seen would be done to him till the day of resurrection. 2The man whose
head I had seen being pounded was a man whom God had taught the Qur’an but who had slept at night and neglected it and had not acted according to its
teachings in the daytime, so what I had seen would be done to him till the day of resurrection. Those I had seen in the hole were fornicators and the one I had seen
in the river was the one who devoured usury. The old man I had seen at the foot of the tree was Abraham, the boys around him were the children of men, and the one who
was kindling the fire was Malik the guardian of hell. The first house I entered was the abode of the generality of believers, but this house was the abode of the martyrs. One
of them informing me that he was Gabriel and that the other was Michael told me to raise my head, and when I did so I saw something like a white cloud (a version giving
cumulus cloud) and they told me that would be my abode. I asked them to let me enter my dwelling, but they told me I had still some time to live which I had not completed
and that if I had completed it I would have entered my dwelling.”
(Mishkat al-Masabih 4621)
●
This is most likely a vision of the heaven and the hell since from the last hadith we know that the ruh of the mumin is in Jannah.
● If the man having his jaw cloven was in hell and if this was going to happen to him until the day of resurrection, then his ruh is in the hell all the time, and not temporarily.
● In the dream, the Prophet (SAW) saw the mu’minoon as humans; however, they really are souls in the heaven as per the hadith in the last slide. Dreams have to be
interpreted. They should not be taken literally.
 All the hadiths in which animals can hear the roaring of the dead when they are being punished, or the dead
can hear the boot-steps of the attendants walking away from him when he’s been buried should not be taken
literally since the Qur’an clearly says:

And not are equal the living and the dead. Indeed, Allah causes to hear whom He wills, but you cannot make
hear those in the graves. You are only a warner.

Conclusion:
● If the living and the dead are not equal, how can animals hear the dead? My cat hears me when I call it. We
can imagine animals hearing the barzakhi person, but the person in barzakh is still what we would call dead.
Dead is being in barzakh. Hearing is the most important aspect of being alive. Whoever is dead with respect
to the earth cannot be like the one who is alive.
● Then humans that are alive cannot make the dead hear.
And it is Allah who send the winds, and they stir the clouds, and We drive them to a dead land and give life
thereby to the earth after its lifelessness. Thus is the resurrection. (35:9)

Allah has compared the process of resurrection with the earth bringing forth vegetation by the action of rain:
something from the sky falls down/comes down to the earth that gives rise to something else. So in case of
human beings resurrecting from the dead, the souls may be compared with raindrops and vegetation with the
hirtherto dead people coming out from the graves. This ayat in conjunction with ayat 39:42 (in which Allah
states that He will separate the soul from the body at the time of death) suggests that what Allah separated at
death will return from the sky on the Day of Judgement.
It has been narrated on the authority of Masruq Who said: We asked 'Abdullah about the Qur'anic verse:" Think not
of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead. Nay, they are alive, finding their sustenance in the presence of their
Lord.." (iii. 169). He said: We asked the meaning of the verse (from the Holy Prophet) who said: The souls, of the
martyrs live in the bodies of green birds who have their nests in chandeliers hung from the throne of the Almighty.
They eat the fruits of Paradise from wherever they like and then nestle in these chandeliers. Once their Lord cast a
glance at them and said: Do ye want anything? They said: What more shall we desire? We eat the fruit of Paradise
from wherever we like. Their Lord asked them the same question thrice. When they saw that they will continue to
be asked and not left (without answering the question). they said: O Lord, we wish that Thou mayest return our
souls to our bodies so that we may be slain in Thy way once again. When He (Allah) saw that they had no need,
they were left (to their joy in heaven). (Sahih Muslim, 1887)

Note that since the martyrs are alive, their souls must be in a body. This hadith explains this: the souls of the
martyrs are in the bodies of birds in paradise. Contrast this hadith with the one about ordinary mu’minoon:

The messenger of Allah said: The ruh of the mumin is a bird that sits in the trees of the Garden until Allah returns it
to his body on the day He raises him. (al-Muwatta, Book 16, Hadith 50)

Here the ruh itself experiences being a bird (it is a dream-like state of being a bird), whereas in the hadith about
martyrs the ruh lives in the bodies of the birds.

Note that if being in a body is being alive and if martyrs are alive because they have a body in Jannah, then Allah
would have called dead people alive (in some sense) as well because they too have a body, according to some
hadiths, in Barzakh.