“We went out with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, for the funeral of a man from the Ansār. We reached the grave before its burial niche had been dug. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, sat down, and we sat around him, so still that it was as though birds were perched on our heads. He held a stick with which he scratched the ground. Then he raised his head and said, ‘I seek refuge in Allah from the punishment of the grave,’ twice or three times.

“Then he said, ‘When the believing servant is approaching the Hereafter and departing this world, angels descend to him with radiant faces, as though their faces were the sun. They bring a shroud from Paradise and burial perfume from Paradise, and sit at a distance from him, as far as the eye can see. Then the Angel of Death comes and sits beside his head, saying, “O good soul, come out to forgiveness from Allah and His good pleasure.”’

“He said, ‘It then flows out as a drop flows from the mouth of a waterskin, and he takes it. Once he has taken it, they do not leave it in his hand for even the blink of an eye, but take it and place it in that