Brothers and sisters! A human being is made up of body and soul interpenetrating each other. While the body and the soul are joined in the mother’s womb before birth, they are separated from each other permanently at the time of death.
This phenomenon of separation of body and soul takes place daily during our sleep, when the soul is temporarily removed from the body even though we are not dead. We experience what is called ‘minor death’ every day. Every day we wake up after our sleep, and this phenomenon continues until our appointed time comes when we permanently depart from the present world to the world of the hereafter.
اللَّهُ يَتَوَفَّى الْأَنْفُسَ حِينَ مَوْتِهَا وَالَّتِي لَمْ تَمُتْ فِي مَنَامِهَا فَيُمْسِكُ الَّتِي قَضَى عَلَيْهَا الْمَوْتَ وَيُرْسِلُ الْأُخْرَى إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآَيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ
“It is Allah who takes away the souls of people upon their death and the souls of the living during their sleep. He then keeps those for whom He had decreed death and restores the souls of others for an appointed term. There are certainly signs in this for those who reflect” (al-Zumar, 39:42).
Taking the souls during sleep implies the suspension of the powers of feeling and consciousness, of understanding and will. We must realize that life and death are entirely in Allah’s hand. No one has the guarantee that he will certainly get up alive in the morning when he goes to sleep at night. No one knows what disaster could befall him within a moment, and whether the next moment would be a moment of life for him or of death. At any time, while asleep or awake, in the house or outside it, some unforeseen calamity, from inside his body or from outside, can suddenly cause his death. Thus, being so helpless, it is foolish for man to turn away from Allah (SWT) or became heedless of Him.
My khutba today is on the topic of barzakh. The literal meaning of the Arabic word barzakh is “barrier between two things.” It is the intermediary period between the two worlds—the present world and the world of the hereafter. Barzakh starts with the extraction of the soul from the body and ends with the resurrection on the Day of Judgment. The state of the dead person in the world of barzakh is similar to our experience of having pleasant dreams or nightmares while asleep.
The Qur’an describes the concept of the barzakh in relation to those who had been heedless during their worldly lives.
حَتَّى إِذَا جَاءَ أَحَدَهُمُ الْمَوْتُ قَالَ رَبِّ ارْجِعُونِ () لَعَلِّي أَعْمَلُ صَالِحًا فِيمَا تَرَكْتُ كَلَّا إِنَّهَا كَلِمَةٌ هُوَ قَائِلُهَا وَمِنْ وَرَائِهِمْ بَرْزَخٌ إِلَى يَوْمِ يُبْعَثُونَ
“Until death comes to one of them, he says: “My Lord, send me back,” so that I may do good in that which I have left behind.” No, it is but a word he is speaking. And there is a barrier (barzakh) to prevent them from going back until the Day they are all resurrected” (al-Mu’minun, 23:99-100).
What happens to a person when his soul is extracted? And what happens to him when he is buried in his grave? All this is from the knowledge of the unseen (al-Ghayb), which we learn from the Qur’an and the Prophetic traditions. This knowledge is part of our faith (iman).
During a wicked person’s dying moments, he wishes that death were delayed so that if he were a non-believer, he would become a believer; or if he were a disobedient believer, he would repent from his sins. Our bodies return to the same source they came from—the earth. Our bodies will eventually decay, decompose and return to dust while our spirits await the Day of Judgment.
وَلَيْسَتِ التَّوْبَةُ لِلَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ السَّيِّئَاتِ حَتَّى إِذَا حَضَرَ أَحَدَهُمُ الْمَوْتُ قَالَ إِنِّي تُبْتُ الْآَنَ وَلَا الَّذِينَ يَمُوتُونَ وَهُمْ كُفَّارٌ
“Repentance is not for those who continue to do evil until death confronts them and then say, ‘Now I repent,’ nor of those who die disbelieving.” (al-Nisa’, 4:18)
So, iman or faith is not accepted from anyone at the time of death. Also, repentance is useless if the person has started to experience the throes of death. According to a hadith, “Allah (SWT) accepts repentance from a person as long as death does not reach his throat.” As for the righteous believers; may Allah make us among them, Allah says,
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا رَبُّنَا اللَّهُ ثُمَّ اسْتَقَامُوا تَتَنَزَّلُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ أَلَّا تَخَافُوا وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا وَأَبْشِرُوا بِالْجَنَّةِ الَّتِي كُنْتُمْ تُوعَدُونَ
“Those who say, ´Our Lord is Allah, and then remain steadfast, the angels descend on them, saying: Do not fear and do not grieve but rejoice in the Garden you have been promised.” (al-Fussilat, 41:30)
And thus the angels convey the news to the departing souls; good news of paradise to the believers and disappointing news of punishment to the disbelievers. The believing souls will enjoy the comfort of their grave anxious to be raised and admitted to their final abode that is beyond description. We learn from a hadith qudsi which says, “I have prepared for My righteous servants what no eye has seen and no ear has heard, and no heart has conceived.” The disbelieving souls, on the other hand, will be tormented in their grave.
While burying our dead, a Muslim remembers and recites the verse of the Qur’an which says,
مِنْهَا خَلَقْنَاكُمْ وَفِيهَا نُعِيدُكُمْ وَمِنْهَا نُخْرِجُكُمْ تَارَةً أُخْرَى
“From it (the earth) We created you, into it We shall return you, and from it We shall raise you once again” (Ta Ha, 20:55). One may wonder what happens to the spirit at the time of death. The Qur’an tells us,
إِذَا جَاءَ أَحَدَكُمُ الْمَوْتُ تَوَفَّتْهُ رُسُلُنَا وَهُمْ لَا يُفَرِّطُونَ
“When death overtakes any of you, Our messengers take his soul. They never fail in their duty” (al-An’am, 6:61). The souls of the wicked will be harshly extracted while the souls of the righteous will come out gently. Taking an oath, Allah (SWT) says,
وَالنَّازِعَاتِ غَرْقًا () وَالنَّاشِطَاتِ نَشْطًا
“By the (angels) who forcefully pull out (the souls of the wicked); and by the (angels) who gently take out (the souls of the righteous)” (al-Nazi’at, 79:1,2). We are told that at time of death the unseen world becomes visible.
لَقَدْ كُنْتَ فِي غَفْلَةٍ مِنْ هَذَا فَكَشَفْنَا عَنْكَ غِطَاءَكَ فَبَصَرُكَ الْيَوْمَ حَدِيدٌ
“Certainly you were heedless of this, but now We have removed from you your veil, so your sight today is sharp.” (Qaf, 50:22)
This phenomenon is similar to one who is asleep and dreaming. The dream ends upon waking up. Similarly, when the eyes close for good, one’s dream-world ends and the state of wakefulness begins. At that time one is able to recognize the realities of the hereafter. According to Ali Bin Abi Talib (RA), “People are asleep; when they die they will wake up.”
No one has claimed to have risen from the grave and shared their experience. The knowledge of the supernatural realm is confined only to Allah (SWT). Through revelation and inspiration, the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) brings to us the news of that domain. We have a complete account from the Prophet (SAW) regarding the journey of the spirit and the reality of the grave given through a very long hadith, which it is difficult to narrate in a short khutba.
In brief, the message of the hadith is that a good soul comes out of the body with ease, while an evil soul, which resists leaving the body, is taken out harshly by the angel of death. The two types of souls are accordingly honored or dishonored in their respective journeys to the heavenly dimensions and back, when they are questioned in the graves. There is a Prophetic du’a that says,
اَللّٰهُمَّ حَاسِبْنِىْ حِسَا بًا يَّسِيْرًا
“O Allah! Make my accounting easy.”
The grave or the barzakh is the first station in our journey toward eternal life. The Prophet (SAW) said, “Indeed, the grave is the first station of the stations of the hereafter. Hence, whoever is successful, then what comes after will be easy for him and whoever fails, there is only hardship ahead of him.” The punishment in the grave is so real that the Prophet (SAW) himself sought refuge in Allah from the torment of the grave. He used to make a dua:
اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ الْبُخْلِ وَأَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ الْجُبْنِ وَأَعُوذُ بِكَ أَنْ أُرَدَّ إِلَى أَرْذَلِ الْعُمُرِ وَأَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ فِتْنَةِ الدُّنْيَا وَأَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ عَذَابِ الْقَبْرِ
“O Allah, I seek Your protection from miserliness, I seek Your protection from cowardice, and I seek Your protection from being returned to an age of feeble-mindedness, I seek Your protection from the trials of this world and from the torment of the grave.”
أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ المُسْلِمينَ وَالمُسْلِمَاتْ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهْ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيد المرسلين وعلى آله وأصحابه أجمعين
Brothers and sisters! Do we ever think about the day we’ll die? Are we ready and prepared for our departure from this earth? There is no denying that fear of death is something natural. It hangs around each one of us. Every day that passes by brings us closer to death. Every breath we take takes away a portion of our life. No sooner than the appointed time comes, we belong among the dead. As believers, if we trust in Allah, think positively of Allah, humble our hearts before Allah, and try our best to have the taqwa of Allah, then we should know that death is a return to the most generous and merciful Lord. We are told in a hadith,
لاَ يَمُوتَنَّ أَحَدُكُمْ إِلاَّ وَهُوَ يُحْسِنُ بِاللَّهِ الظَّنَّ
“None of you should die except hoping good from Allah.” We should never ever despair of Allah’s mercy.
قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَى أَنْفُسِهِمْ لا تَقْنَطُوا مِنْ رَحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
“Say: O My servants who transgressed against themselves, do not despair of Allah’s mercy. For Allah forgives all sins. He is the Forgiver, the Merciful.”(Az-Zumar, 39:53)
May Allah give us the realization that death can strike us suddenly; anywhere, anytime. May Allah not let our death be in a state of sin. May Allah take away the love of sins from our hearts, and put the love of good deeds into our hearts. May Allah bless us with strong faith and good deeds that are acceptable to Him. May Allah make it easy for us to make sincere repentance before death overtakes us. May Allah make our last days to be the best days of our life, and our last deeds to be the best of our deeds. O Allah! let the best day be the day we meet you. O Allah! Make us successful in this life, in the barzakh, and in the life of the hereafter. Allahumma Ameen.
