857 — Al-Firyābī narrated to us, saying: Safwān ibn Sālih narrated to us, saying: ⦗1286⦘ Al-Walīd ibn Muslim narrated to us, saying: Khulayd ibn Dalaj narrated to us, from Qatādah, from Anas ibn Mālik, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, entered an orchard belonging to Banū al-Najjār and emerged in alarm. He asked, “Whose graves are these?” They replied, “They belong to some polytheists.” The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, then said, “Ask your Lord, Mighty and Majestic, to protect you from the punishment of the grave. By Him in whose hand is my soul, were I not afraid that you would cease burying one another, I would ask Allah, Mighty and Majestic, to make you hear the punishment of the grave.

“When a man enters his grave and his companions depart from him, an angel stern in rebuke comes to him, seats him upright in his grave, and asks, ‘What did you worship?’ The believer will reply, ‘I worshipped Allah alone, without any partner.’ The angel will ask, ‘What do you say about Muhammad?’ He will reply, ‘He is the servant and Messenger of Allah.’ The angel will ask him nothing beyond those two matters. He will then take him to his place in the Fire and say, ‘This would have been yours, but you obeyed your Lord and disobeyed your enemy.’ He will then take him to his home in Paradise and say ⦗1287⦘, ‘This is yours.’ The man will say, ‘Let me go and give my family the glad tidings.’ His grave will then be expanded for him to a width of seventy cubits.

“As for the disbeliever, an angel stern in rebuke will come to him, seat him upright, and ask, ‘Who is your Lord, and whom did you worship?’ He will reply, ‘I do not know.’ The angel will say, ‘You neither knew nor recited.’ He will then ask him, ‘What do you say about Muhammad?’ He will reply, ‘I used to hear people talking.’ The angel will strike him between the ears with an iron hammer, whereupon he will emit a scream whose sound will be heard by all who are on earth except humans and jinn. He will then take him to his home in Paradise, and he will be told, ‘This would have been your home, but you disobeyed your Lord and obeyed your enemy.’ His anguish and regret will thereby increase. He will then take him to his home in the Fire. He will see both homes, and his grave will constrict around him until his ribs interlock behind his spine.”

Muhammad ibn al-Husayn, may Allah have mercy on him, said: How wretched is the state of one who rejects these hadiths! He has indeed gone far astray and suffered a manifest loss.