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Imam Makhul narrates:

 

Once, during the era of Hadrat Sayyiduna ‘Umar – may Allah be pleased with him – a person appeared who was looking very strange. Half his head and beard were white while the other half remained black. The great Muslim leader asked him the reason for this. He replied, “I once went to the graveyard alone and I saw a person chasing another person with a whip in his hands. Whenever he caught up with this person, he lashed him severely with this whip. When this whipping fell on his body, his entire body from head to feet began to burn with fire. As I approached this person, he saw me and ran towards me. He also embraced me and said to me, “O the slave of Allah Almighty, please save me.”

 

However, the person who had the whip in his hand said to me, “O slave of Allah Almighty, do not help this person. He is a disbeliever.”

However, the effect of this person embracing me was that the part of his body which touched me suddenly became white and this also included the beard and hair.”

 

When the great Muslim leader heard these words, he mentioned, “This is the reason that the Holy Prophet – may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him – had forbidden us to travel alone.”

(Sharahus Sudur. 74)

 

It is mentioned that once, someone had buried his own brother. However, when they covered his body, he heard sounds of anguish. This person then decided to open the grave to see what was happening. A voice from the Unseen informed him that he should not open the grave. This person then stopped himself from doing anything. However, on a second and third occasion, he heard the same sounds of anguish. With each sound, the grave began to close even further.

(Sharahus Sudur, 72)

 

There is no doubt that these types of incidents and stories should also be a lesson for the Muslims about the dangers of the grave. There is no doubt that punishment in the grave is something which is based on truth and every Muslim should be worried about this. Besides Imaan, nothing else will come to your aid in the grave. This is indeed a most terrifying experience.

 

It is mentioned that when Hadrat Sayyiduna ‘Uthman Ghani – may Allah be pleased with him – used to stand near a grave, he used to weep to such an extent that his beard also became wet. Someone once asked him, “You do not weep so much when you speak about Jannah and Hell as much as when you are standing near a grave”. He replied, “This is the first step or the first destination, if this is easy, everything else is easy and if this is difficult everything else after this becomes even more difficult.”