in his grave and ask him three questions. They will say, “Who is your Lord? What is your religion? And who is your Prophet?” As for the believer—whom Allah steadies with the firm word in this life and in the Hereafter—may Allah, by His grace and favor, make us among them—he replies, “My Lord is Allah, my religion is Islam, and my Prophet is Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.” Allah keeps him steadfast in that constricted moment.

But the hypocrite—Allah’s protection is sought—or the doubter whose heart is filled with uncertainty says, “Ha … ha … I do not know. I heard the people say something, so I repeated it,” for faith had never entered or taken root in his heart. He hears and speaks—yet, may Allah grant us well-being—faith has never penetrated his heart. He is then struck with a marzabah (a massive iron hammer); the marzabah is an enormous hammer made of iron. Struck with this iron marzabah, he lets out a scream that everything hears except the human being. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “If a human being heard it, he would faint.” Were people able to hear those being punished in their graves, they would collapse, for that scream has no equal in this world. However loud a scream may be on earth, no one dies from it, but this is a colossal cry unlike any other. He screams—a cry heard by everything except the human being; and if a human being heard it, he would faint. For this reason ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, may Allah be pleased with him, instructed his family to remain by him for as long as