into those coarse wrappings. From it there issues a stench more putrid than any foul odor ever found upon the face of the earth. They ascend with it, and whenever they pass by a company of angels, the angels ask, “What is this wicked soul?” The escorting angels answer, “It is so-and-so,” calling him by the ugliest names by which he was known in the world, until they reach the lowest heaven. They request that it be opened for him, but it is not opened. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then recited, “The gates of heaven will never be opened for them, nor will they enter Paradise until the camel passes through the eye of the needle.”1

Allah, Exalted is He, says, “Record his register in Sijjīn, in the lowest earth,” and his soul is hurled down. The Prophet ﷺ then recited, “Whoever associates anything with Allah, it is as though he has fallen from the sky; then the birds snatch him away, or the wind sweeps him off to a distant place.”2

His soul is then returned to his body. Two angels come to him, seat him upright, and ask, “Who is your Lord?” He replies, “Alas, alas; I do not know.” They ask, “What of this man who was sent among you?” He says, “Alas, alas; I do not know.” A herald then calls out from heaven, “My servant has lied; furnish him with bedding from the Fire and open for him a gate to the Fire.” Some of its heat and scorching wind reach him, and his grave is compressed around him until his ribs interlock.

A man with a hideous face, repulsive clothing, and a foul odor approaches and says, “Receive the news that will distress you; this is the day you were promised.” The deceased asks, “Who are you? Your face is one that brings evil.” He replies, “I am your wicked deeds.” The man then pleads, “My Lord, do not let the Hour come.”

Narrated by Imam Ahmad, Abū Dāwūd, al-Ḥākim, Abū ʿAwānah in their Ṣaḥīḥ collections, and Ibn Ḥibbān.

The commentator on al-Ṭaḥāwiyyah said, “All scholars of the Sunnah and hadith have held to the purport of this report, and it has corroborating narrations in the two Ṣaḥīḥs.”

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, d. 728 AH, said, “As for the hadith that speaks of the believer’s soul being taken up to the heaven wherein Allah is, this is a well-known hadith with a sound chain. His phrase ‘wherein Allah is’ is like the Almighty’s words: ‘Do you feel secure that He who is in the heaven will not cause the earth to swallow you up as it quakes, or do you feel secure that He who is in the heaven will not send against you…’”