How different, dear readers, are those who are tortured from those who are blessed in their graves!
How different, dear readers, is he who previews the Mercy of Allah The Almighty, from him who previews His Wrath in the grave.
I want you, dear reader, to imagine these scenes and envision them with your entire soul.
Here are some images related to us by the Messenger of Allah, , about the torture of the grave:
The first image:
It is narrated on the authority of Samurah ibn Jundub, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said, "The Prophet, , very often used to ask his Companions: "Did anyone of you see a dream (tonight)?" Thereupon, dreams would be narrated to him by those whom Allah The Almighty wished to narrate. One morning, the Prophet, , said:
“Last night, two angels came to me (in a dream) and awakened me and said to me: ‘Proceed!' I set out with them and we came across a man lying down, and behold, another man was standing over his head, holding a big rock. Behold, he was throwing the rock at the man's head, crushing it. The rock rolled away and he followed it and took it back. By the time he reached the man, his head had returned to the normal state. The thrower then did the same as he had done before. I said to my two companions, ‘Subhaanallaah! Who are these two persons?’ They said: ‘Proceed! Proceed!'”
Imagine the scene: a man lying down, and another man standing over his head, holding a big rock, and throwing the rock at the head of the man lying on the ground, crushing it and then the rock rolls away. What is astonishing is that this man with the crushed head stands up from his place and hastens to bring back the stone to the thrower so he can to throw at his head once again, as if he were enjoying his torture. Who do you think this man is? We shall know in a little while.
The second image:
“So we proceeded and came to a man lying flat on his back and another man standing over his head with an iron hook, and behold, he continued to put the hook in one side of the man's mouth and tear off that side of his face to the back (of the neck) and similarly tear off his nose from front to back and his eye from front to back. Then he turned to the other side of the man's face and did just as he had done with the first side. He hardly completed this side when the other side returned to its normal state. Then he returned to repeat what he had done before. I said to my two companions: ‘Subhaanallaah! Who are these two persons?’ They said to me: ‘Proceed! Proceed!'”
This image is even more odious: it is a man lying flat on his back and another standing over his head carrying a bent-headed sharp-edged piece of iron, similar to a fishing hook. The man who was standing comes to one side of the face of the man who was lying down and does an amazing thing: he tears off his face from the edge of the mouth of that side to the back, and does the same with the nose and the eye. Who do you think this man is? We shall know a while later.
The third image:
“So we proceeded and came across something like a furnace, in which there was a great deal of noise and voices. We looked into it and found naked men and women, and behold, a flame of fire was reaching to them from underneath, and when it reached them, they cried out loudly. I asked them: ‘Who are these?’ They said to me: ‘Proceed! Proceed!'”
This is also a very terrible image of naked men and women standing in an oven-like place and making noisy loud voices, and then suddenly, they are exposed to flames coming from underneath them, causing their voices to become louder and their pain to increase. Who do you think these are? We shall know a while later.
The fourth image:
“So we proceeded and came across a river red like blood, and behold, in the river there was a man swimming, and on the bank there was a man who had collected many stones. Behold, while the other man was swimming, he went near him. The former opened his mouth and the latter (on the bank) threw a stone into his mouth whereupon he started swimming again. He returned (once again), and every time he returned to him, he opened his mouth and the other (on the bank) threw a stone into it. I asked my two companions: ‘Who are these (two) persons?’ They replied: ‘Proceed! Proceed!'”
The last image is of a man swimming in a river of blood, and another man standing on the bank of the river, carrying many stones. Every time the swimmer comes to him, he opens his mouth to him, as if he is inviting him to throw a stone into it, and he actually throws it into his mouth. Then, he swims a little with the stone and returns to him to repeat the same action once again. Who do you think this man is? We shall know in the following article who all these people are.