Imam Ghazali on the Death of the Profligate and Things concerning Mankur and Nakir

As for the profligate, his soul is take harshly, his face like the one who eats colocynth. The angels says, “Go away from me, oh you evil soul of noxious body!” Then he shrieks louder than the braying of a donkey. When ‘Izra’il seizes his soul he delivers it to the guardians of hell, who have repulsive faces, black clothes and rotten breath, and hold in their hands a hair shirt in which they wrap his soul. The human person is changed into one the size of a locust. The unbeliever is larger in size than the believer; I refer, of course, to the hereafter. And in truth, the kafir in the Fire is like the Mount of Uhud.

The angel ascends with the soul until they reach the gate of the near heaven, and al-Amin knocks at the door. A voice says, “Who are you?” and he replies, “I am Daqya’il” because the name of the angel responsible to the myrmidons of punishment is Daqya’il. Then he is asked, “Who is with you?” to which he replies, “Fulan ibn Fulan”, using the ugliest and most loathsome of the names he had in the earthly realm. Then he is told, “You are not welcome!”, “and the gates of heaven are not opened to them, and they do not enter the Garden” (Quran 7:40)

Al-Amin hears this speech, he flings the soul from his hands, and the wind drops it in a far distant place. That accords with His word, “For whoever ascribes partners to God, it is as if he fell from the sky and a bird carried hima way or the wind descended on him (and deposited him) in a distance place” (22:31). When he reaches the earth, the guardians of hell rush to him and lead him to sijjin, a huge stone to which are brought immoral spirits.

Said Abu Hurayra, ‘The Prophet :saw~1: said, “When a bondsman dies he is visited by two blue-black Angels, one of whom is named Munkar and the other Nakir. ‘What say you of the Prophet?’ they demand of him. Now if he is a believer he will reply, ‘He is God’s bondsman and Emissary.’ ‘We had known that you would speak thus,’ they say, and his grave is widened for him by seventy cubits by seventy, and he is given light therein and is told to sleep. ‘But let me return,’ he says, ‘to my kinsfolk, that I might inform them!’ But he is to sleep, and he sleeps like a bridegroom, who is awakened only by the most beloved of his family, until he is raised up from his bed. “And if he is a hypocrite he will say, “I know not; I used to hear the people saying something, so I said it also,’ And the Angels say to him, ‘We had known that you would thus!’ Then the earth is commanded to draw tightly around him, and it is so until his very ribs protrude. In torment he thus remains until God resurrects him from his bed.” Said ‘Ata ibn Yasar, ‘The Emissary of God :saw~1: once said to ‘Umar :RadiaAllahAnhu: , “O ‘Umar! How shall you fare when you are dead, and when your family go to measure out [shroud-cloth] three cubits by one and a span, then return to you and wash you, then shroud and perfume you, and then carry you and set you in [your grave], then pour the earth over you and bury you? For when your family have departed, the two tormentors of the grave, Mankur and Nakir, shall come, whos voices are as rolling thunder and whose eyes are like dazzling lightning, who trail their hair and scrutinise the grave with their fangs, terrifying and frightening you? How shall you fare, O ‘Umar?” And ‘Umar asked, “Will I have a mind like that which I have now?” and he said, “Yes,” “Then,” he said, “I shall be a match for them!” Said Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir, ‘I have heard it said that there shall be let loose against the unbeliever in his grave a deaf and blind beast, in the claw of which is an iron goad with something like a camel’s foretooth at one end, with which he beats him until the Day of Arising. It cannot see him, that it might deliver him, neither can it hear his voice, that it might have mercy upon him. ‘ Said Abu Hurayrah, “When the deceased is set in his grave he is approached and surrounded by his righteous works. When they draw near him from the direction of his head his recitation of the Quran comes forward, and when they approach him from the direction of his feet there comes his standing [in night prayers], And when they approach him from the direction of his hands these speak out, saying, “By God! It was his custom to stretch us forth in charity and supplication; no authority do you have over him.” When they come to him from the direction of his mouth, his commemoration [of God] and his fasting appear, Likewise, Prayer and Fortitude stand at one side, and each declares, “As for me, if I behold any shortcoming I will stand by him” Said Sufyan, ‘His righteous works will defend him as a man might defend his own brother, family and children. As this time he shall be told, “May God bless you in your resting place; how fine are your friends, and how goodly your companions!”

Said Aisha:RadiaAllahAnha: , ‘The Emissary of God :saw~1: said, “The grave straitens, and if anyone has been delivered from its straitening it is Sa’d ibn Mu’adh” Said Anas, ‘When Zaynab, the daughter of the Emissary of God :saw~1:, passed away, having been a woman often afflicted with illness, [her funeral] was attended by God’s Emissary :saw~1: , and we were much distressed at his condition. When we arrived at the grave he went inside it, and his became palled, but when he emerged once more his face was shining. “O Emissary of God!” we said, “We have seen something happening to you; what was it?” And he said, “I recalled the straitening to which my daughter will be subjected, and the intensity of the grave’s punishment, but then I was approached to be told that God had relieved her of her punishment. She had been straitened in a way that was audible from East to West”
[Iḥyā ʿUlūm al-Dīn]

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