The Dark Cell

How many times have you looked back at a particular event or occurrence in your life and thought to yourself, ‘How did those days fly by?’

When you were an infant you wished you were a little bigger; when you were a child you wished you were a teenager; and when you’re a teenager you can’t wait to become an adult.

While you were young you thought you had your whole life ahead of you, but as an adult you can’t help but feel that you are getting older and older by the day, and that time is running out for whatever you are hoping to achieve.

Life is full of distractions. Before you know it, a week has gone by; then a month; and then a year. Soon afterwards you’ll be wondering how five years have passed.

Every day is a constant battle with time. We’re constantly preparing for engagements and making plans – whether it is getting ready for work or school, or to see friends or go shopping; or making plans for a wedding, celebration, trip, event, or to meet someone, and so on.

But there’s one particular event (or journey) which we all fail to prepare for sufficiently – and that is death and life in the barzakh (the intermediate period of time between death and the Day of Resurrection).

Even though life in the barzakh is likely to be longer than our present life, we are all guilty of making very little, if any, preparation for it – just think about how long the millions of people who have passed away over the last few centuries have been waiting for the Final Hour. Allah (SWT) says in the Qur’an:

“He (Allah) will say: ‘What number of years did you stay on earth?’ They will say, ‘We stayed a day or part of a day. Ask of those who keep account.’ He (Allah) will say: ‘You stayed not but a little, if you had only known! Did you think that we created you in play (without any purpose), and that you would not be brought back to Us?’” (23:112-115)

We are living in a time in which strong adherence to Islam and the Sharia is frowned upon and considered outlandish (ghareeb). Practising Muslims are being targeted, attacked and even imprisoned. Consequently, in effort to evade jail, any form of hardship or avoid being called ‘extremists’, many Muslims, particularly those in the West, are prepared to commit acts of apostasy and sell out fellow Muslims to the Kuffar (disbelievers, i.e. police) – all in order to avoid interrogation and being locked up in a small, dark cell.

Yet there is a form of captivity, interrogation and torture that every single human being will face and not be able to escape, and that will occur in the grave (qabr).

There you will meet two fearsome interrogators, Munkar and Nakeer. You will be kept in solitary confinement in the darkest cell – whose walls contract and compress – and asked a series of questions. Ignorance or inappropriate answers will lead to severe punishment and torture – the sound of which, in this world, would make one fall unconscious. It is reported in Saheeh al-Bukhari that Allah’s Messenger (SAW) said:
“When a funeral is ready and the men carry it (the deceased) on their shoulders, if it was pious then it will say, ‘Present me quickly (or take me ahead),’ and if it was other than that, then it will say, ‘Woe to me, where are they taking me?’ And its voice is audible to everything except man (insaan), and if he heard it he would fall unconscious.” (Saheeh al-Bukhari, Book 23, Hadeeth 1316)

There is not a single person who can escape the pressing, or squeezing, of the grave (daghtatul qabr). And, surely, if there were anyone who could, it would have been the great Companion Sa’d bin Mu’adh (RA), who was squeezed just once and then released, even though the Throne of Allah shook at the time of his death. It is reported in Sunan an-Nasa’i, in the Book of Funerals, that Allah’s Messenger (SAW) said:
“This one (Sa’d bin Mu’adh) – at whose death the Throne (of the Almighty) shook, for whom the gates of Heaven were opened, and whose funeral was attended by seventy-thousand angels – has been squeezed once, then relieved.”

In Musnad at-Tabarani it is reported that Allah’s Messenger (SAW) said:
“There’s squeezing of the grave (for everyone); if anyone were to have been saved from it, it would have been Sa’d bin Mu’adh.”
 

The squeezing of the grave is subjective from person to person, in according to their deeds. Even children will not be spared from it, but their squeezing will be like their mothers’ cuddle. In the Musnad of at-Tabarani it is reported that the Prophet (SAW) said:
“If anyone were to have been saved from the squeezing of the grave, it would have been this child.”
 

On the other hand, the squeezing of the grave for the sinners and wrongdoers will be in a manner which will make their ribs interlock – and we seek refuge in Allah from that.

So death, life in al-barzakh and the pressing of the grave are all inevitable and inescapable. We all know this and even encounter a form of death (i.e. sleep) on a daily basis, yet how often do we contemplate this fact or make preparations for it?

Does it make any sense for a Muslim to compromise their Deen (Islam) and commit one of the negations of Islam in order to please the Kuffar and avoid prison when they will undoubtedly be imprisoned, interrogated and possibly tortured in al-barzakh in a way which no person can bear or comprehend?

Surely it is about time that we return to Allah in earnest, avoid the prohibitions (muharramaat), fulfill our obligations (faraa’id) and accumulate as many good deeds as we can, which will illuminate and expand the dark cells reserved for us.

Beware of apostasy and heed the words of the Prophet (SAW) when he said:
“Hasten to do good deeds before you are overtaken by seven afflictions! (1) Are you waiting for such poverty which will make you unmindful of devotion; (2) or such prosperity which will make you corrupt; (3) or sickness that will disable you; (4) or such senility (old age) that will make you mentally unstable; (5) or sudden death as will take you all of a sudden; (6) or the Dajjal who is the worst apprehended; (7) or the Hour, which is most grievous and most bitter?!” (Jaami’ at-Tirmidhi)