his punishment, it would bring him great disgrace. Thus, Allah’s concealing it is a mercy to the deceased.

Third: It may become difficult for a person to bury the deceased, as is authentically reported from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: “Were it not that you would cease burying one another, I would ask Allah to let you hear some of the punishment of the grave that I hear.” (1)

Fourth: It would distress his family and relatives, who might be reproached and humiliated because of it.

Fifth: If the punishment were apparent, there would be no special merit in believing in it, since it would be witnessed directly. Yet it is among the matters of the unseen for which those who believe are praised. Moreover, it might lead all people to believe, as Allah Most High says:

“But when they saw Our punishment, they said, ‘We believe in Allah alone.’” [Ghafir: 84]

If people were to see those who had been buried and hear them crying out, they would believe, and no one would disbelieve, because they would have become certain of the punishment through direct sight, as though it had befallen them. Thus, there would be no merit in believing in it.

The wisdoms of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, are immense. The true believer is the one who is more certain of Allah’s report than he is of what he has seen with his own eyes, for Allah’s report admits no possibility of error or falsehood, whereas what one sees with one’s own eyes may be misperceived.

How many a person has testified that he saw the new moon, only for it to be a star. And how many a person has testified that he saw the new moon, only for it to be a white hair on his eyebrow. This is delusion. And how many a person sees a figure and says, “This is