seek refuge in You from the constriction of the Day of Reckoning,’ ten times. Al-Nasa’i likewise relates it in Al-Yawm wa’l-Laylah from Abū Dāwūd al-Ḥarrānī, through Yazīd ibn Hārūn with a similar chain, but with the wording: ‘from the constriction of the standing on the Day of Resurrection’ (1).
Abū Bakr ibn Abī al-Dunyā said: Muḥammad ibn Qudāmah narrated to me; Ya‘qūb ibn Salamah al-Aḥmar narrated to me; I heard Ibn al-Sammāk say: I heard Abū Wā‘iẓ the ascetic say, “They will come forth from their graves, wandering aimlessly (2) in the darkness for a thousand years, while on that day the earth will be nothing but fire (3). The happiest of people that day will be the one who finds a spot for his two feet (4).”
He also said: Hārūn ibn Sufyān narrated to me; Ibn Nufayl narrated to us, from al-Naḍr ibn ‘Arabī, who said, “It has reached me that when people emerge from their graves, their watchword will be lā ilāha illā Allāh, and the first words uttered by both their righteous and their wicked will be: ‘Our Lord, have mercy on us’ (5).”
Ḥamzah ibn al-‘Abbās narrated to me; ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Uthmān informed us; Ibn al-Mubārak informed us; Sufyān, from Sulaymān, from Abū Ṣāliḥ, who said, “It has reached me that people will be gathered like this,” and he lowered his head and placed his right hand on the bend of his left arm (6).
‘Iṣmah ibn al-Faḍl narrated to me; Yaḥyā ibn Yaḥyā narrated to me; from al-Mu‘tamir ibn Sulaymān, from his father, who said: I heard Sayyār (7) the Syrian say, “They will rise from their graves, every one of them terrified, and a caller will proclaim, ‘O My servants, today you shall have no fear, nor shall you grieve’ [al-Zukhruf 68]. All creatures will hope that the announcement concerns them, whereupon he will add, ‘Those who believed in Our signs and were Muslims’ [al-Zukhruf 69]; then all creation will despair of it except the people of Islam (8).”
It is also related through ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Zayd ibn Aslam, from his father, from Ibn ‘Umar, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The people of lā ilāha illā Allāh will feel no estrangement in their graves, nor on the day they are resurrected. It is as though I can see the people of lā ilāha illā Allāh shaking the dust from their heads and saying, ‘Praise be to Allah, who has removed from us all sorrow’ [Fāṭir 34] (9).”
I say: This has support in the magnificent Quran, where Allah Most High declares, ‘Indeed, those for whom the best reward has already gone forth from Us—they will be kept far away from it (101); they will not hear its slightest sound, and they will abide forever in that which their souls desire (102); the greatest terror will not grieve them…’