and he answers—the believer declaring: “My Lord is Allah, my religion is Islam, and my Prophet is Muhammad.” I ask Allah to make me and you among those who are able to give this reply.

As for the one who lacks faith, filled with doubt and misgiving, he stammers, “Ha… ha… I do not know. I just heard people saying something and I repeated it.” In other words, true faith never reached his heart, and we seek Allah’s protection from that. Therefore, once the burial is complete, you should stand by the grave and say: “O Allah, forgive him; O Allah, keep him firm; O Allah, forgive him. O Allah, keep him firm; O Allah, forgive him; O Allah, keep him firm.” The Prophet ﷺ, whenever he supplicated, would repeat his prayer three times, so utter these invocations three times and then depart; there is no need to prolong your standing.

When the people have walked away from the deceased—so far that he can hear the clacking of their sandals on the ground as they leave—two angels come to him. They make him sit up and question him about his Lord, his religion, and his Prophet. They seat him in the grave even though it is physically narrow, yet he sits just as a sleeper may see himself standing, walking, or sitting while in reality he is lying motionless under his blanket. The conditions of the barzakh (the intermediate realm) are more vivid and far greater than the conditions of this world; matters there do not conform to worldly norms. Thus the grave of the believing servant is opened up for him as far as the eye can see, even though the entire cemetery itself is nowhere near that expanse. Realities of the Hereafter are not to be measured by the standards of this life. Our duty toward whatever is found in the Book of Allah or is authentically reported from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ concerning the affairs of the Hereafter is to say: “We hear, we accept as true, and we believe. All of it comes from our Lord, and Allah is capable of everything.”