Download PDF: [S] Remember the Grave

It is reported that once, the great Muslim leader Hadrat Sayyiduna ‘Umar bin Aziz – may Allah be pleased with him – accompanied a Janazah to the cemetery. When people began to make the lines for the Janazah Salaah, he went to the back of the line. He sat next to a grave and remained silent for a long time. His companions then approached him and said, “O Ameerul Mo’mineen! You are the family of the mayyit and you have gone to the back.”

 

Another person asked him why he had gone alone to the back of the line. He mentioned, “As I was walking, one of the graves called out to me and said to me, ‘O ‘Umar bin Abdul Aziz! Why do you not inquire from me about how I treat those who enter me?’

 

I then said to the grave that it should inform me about this. It replied, ‘When anyone enters me, I tear their kafan to pieces and break their bodies into different parts. I also consume their flesh. Will you not ask me how I treat their limbs?’

 

I then asked it to reveal that to me also. It replied, ‘I separate their arms from their shoulder and the hands from their elbows. I separate their legs from their thighs and their knees from their feet and their feet from their instep.’

 

After revealing this, Hadrat Sayyiduna ‘Umar bin Abdul Aziz – may Allah be pleased with him – began to weep. When he regained his composure, he gave the following advice, “O Muslims! We have only a few days to stay in this world. As for that person who enjoys great power and influence but, he is a sinner, in the Hereafter, he will be alone and in a state of disgrace. As for those who are wealthy in this world, in the Hereafter, they will be very poor.

 

“The young would become old and those who consider themselves alive, will die of fright and shame. Do not allow the world to deceive you by your arrival because you should remember that the (joys and wonders) of this world disappears very quickly. Where have those people gone to who used to recite the Qur’an? Where are those who used to make Hajj? Where are those who used to fast? What has the sand of the grave done to their bodies? How have the worms in the grave treated their flesh? What has happened to their limbs and bodies? In the world, these people sleep in soft and comfortable beds, but now they have left the world and their families and have departed from the world forever. Their wives have married others and settled in another house. Their children are walking in the streets and their families have divided their wealth and riches and their homes among themselves. There are a few though, who enjoy peace in the grave and there are many who are overtaken by punishment in the grave.

 

“It is so sad that people forget these important lessons, yet just yesterday, they were closing the eyes of their parents, the eyes of their children and closing the eyes of their brothers. They were washing the bodies of some people and placing kafan on certain people. They were carrying the bodies of some people and placing some in their graves, (bear in mind that all of this will also occur with you). If only I could be aware of whose body will suffer in the grave.’”

 

It is reported that Hadrat Sayyiduna ‘Umar bin Aziz – may Allah be pleased with him – then wept in excess and he wept so much that he fell unconscious. It is mentioned that Hadrat Sayyiduna ‘Umar bin Aziz – may Allah be pleased with him – passed away only one week after this incident.

 

O Muslims! Your time in this world is fast ending. Will you continue to be in a state of forgetfulness? In front of you, the frightening events of the Day of Judgement are about to occur. On that day, a father will not recognize his own son and vice versa. You will certainly be in great regret when your actions are placed on the scale. At that moment, you will become like a thin blade of dry grass which moves in all directions when the wind blows.