Belief in the Torture of the Grave and its Enjoyment and Questioning
Allah the Exalted Said,
﴿النَّارُ يُعْرَضُونَ عَلَيْهَا غُدُوًّا وَعَشِيًّا وَيَوْمَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ أَدْخِلُوا آلَ فِرْعَوْنَ أَشَدَّ الْعَذَابِ﴾
[which means] “Hell will be presented to them morning and evening, and on the day when the Hour takes place, insert the aristocracy of Pharaoh into the most severe torture.” Allah also Said,
﴿وَمَنْ أَعْرَضَ عَن ذِكْرِي فَإِنَّ لَهُ مَعِيشَةً ضَنكًا﴾
[which means] “Whoever turns away from my remembrance [i.e. believing in Me], then he will have a hard life.” These two verses came in reference to the torture of the grave for the blasphemers.
As for the sinful Muslims among the major sinners who died before repentance, they are of two groups. Allah will Pardon one group from the torture of the grave; the other group will be tortured by Allah and then their torture will stop. Then Allah will delay the remainder of their torture until the Hereafter.
Al-Bukhariyy, Muslim, At-Tirmidhiyy, Abu Dawud, and An-Nasa’iyy narrated from the route of Ibn ^Abbas: “The Messenger of Allah passed by two graves. He said, ‘Certainly they are being tortured. And would they be tortured for a major sin? Indeed. As for one of them, he used to walk with instigation [namimah]. As for the other, he used to not protect himself from urine.’ Then he called for a moist palm branch, and broke it in half, and he submersed one half into one grave and the other into the other grave. Then he said, ‘So that it would be lightened for them.’”
Know that the return of the soul to the body in the grave was confirmed in the authentic narrations, like the hadith of Al-Bara’ Ibn ^Azib which was narrated by Al-Bayhaqiyy, Al-Hakim, and Abu ^Uwanah, and more than one person deemed it as authentic, and the hadith of Ibn ^Abbas which is elevated up to the Prophet:
مَا مِن أحَدٍ يَمُرُّ بقَبْرِ أخِيهِ المؤمنِ كَانَ يَعْرفهُ في الدُّنيا فَيُسَلّمُ علَيه إلاعَرَفَهُ وَردَّ عليهِ السَّلامَ
[which means], “There is not one of you that passes by the grave of his fellow believer that he knew in the dunya except that he [i.e., the dead one] would know him and return his salam.” This hadith was narrated by Ibn ^Abdul-Barr and ^Abdul-Haqq Al-Ishbiliyy, and he deemed it as authentic.
This dictates that the soul would return to the body entirely, or to some of the body, and this is the apparent meaning of the hadith, and the return of life to the body in the grave is prominently emphasized in reference to the Prophets. It was narrated in the hadith of Anas from the Prophet,
الأَنْبياءُ أحْياءٌ في قبورهم يُصَلُّونَ
[which means] “The Prophets are alive in their graves praying.” Al-Bayhaqiyy deemed it as authentic and the Hafidh [Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalaniyy] agreed with him.
Al-Bukhariyy and Muslim narrated from the route of Anas from the Prophet that he said:
إنَّ العَبْدَ إذَا وُضِعَ في قَبْرِه وتَوَلَّى عَنْهُ أصْحابهُ وإنَّه لَيَسْمَعُ قَرْعَ نِعَالِهم إذَا انْصَرَفُوا أتَاهُ مَلَكانِ فيُقْعِدَانِه فيفولانِ: ما كنْتَ تَقُولُ في هَذا الرَّجُلِ محمَّدٍ؟ فأمَّا المؤمنُ- أي الكاملُ – فيقولُ: أشْهَدُ أنَّه عَبْدُ الله ورَسُولُهُ، فَيُقالُ لهُ: انْظُرْ إلى مَقْعَدِكَ من النَّارِ أبدَلَكَ الله به مَقْعَدًا من الجنَّةِ فَيراهُمَا جَميعًا. وأمَّا الكَافِرُ أو المنافِقُ فيَقُول: لا أدْرِي كنتُ أقولُ ما يقولُ النَّاسُ فيه، فيُقالُ: لا دَرَيْتَ ولا تَلَيْتَ، ثمّ يُضرَبُ بمِطرقةٍ من حَدِيْدٍ بينَ أذُنَيْه فيَصِيحُ صَيْحةً يَسْمَعُها مَنْ يليهِ إلا الثَّقَلَينِ
[which means] “Certainly the slave, if he is put in his grave, and his companions turn away from him, he will surely hear the steps of their sandals as they leave. Two angels will come to him. They sit him up and say, ‘What did you used to say about this man Muhammad?’ As for the (perfect) believer, he will say, ‘I testify that he is the slave of Allah and His Messenger.’ Then it will be said to him, ‘Look at your seat from Hell, Allah has Replaced it with a seat from Paradise,’ and then he will see both of them. As for the blasphemer or the hypocrite, he will say, ‘I do not know. I used to say what the people say about him.’ Then it will be said to him, ‘You do not know and you do not know’ [i.e., he is chastised]. Then he would be hit with an iron mallet between his ears, and he will scream with a scream heard by everyone close to him except for the humans and jinn.”
From the route of ^Abdullah Ibn ^Amr, the Messenger of Allah mentioned the two who come with the fitnah of the grave [i.e., the questioning of the grave]. Then ^Umar Ibnul-Khattab said, “Will our minds be returned to us, O Messenger of Allah?” He said, “Yes, like you are now.” ^Abdullah Ibn ^Amr said, “Then he had a stone in his mouth,” [i.e., he could not respond].
[It was narrated] from the route of Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah said:
إذا قُبِرَ الميّتُ أو الإنْسانُ أتَاهُ مَلَكانِ أسْوَدانِ أزْرَقانِ يُقالُ لأحدِهِما مُنْكَرٌ وللآخَرِ نكِيرٌ فيَقولانِ لهُ: ما كنتَ تقُولُ في هذَا الرَّجُلِ محمَّدٍ؟ فَهوَ قائلٌ ما كَانَ يقُولُ. فَإنْ كَانَ مؤْمِنًا قَالَ: هُو عَبدُ الله ورسُولُه أشْهدُ أن لا إلهَ إلا الله وأشهدُ أنَّ محمَّدًا عبدُهُ ورسولُه فيَقُولانِ لَهُ: إنْ كنَّا لنَعْلَمُ أنَّكَ لتَقُولُ ذَلكَ، ثمَّ يُفسَحُ لهُ في قَبْرِه سَبْعينَ ذِراعًا في سَبْعينَ ذِراعًا ويُنَوَّرُ لَهُ فيهِ، فَيُقالُ لَهُ: نَمْ، فينَامُ كنَومِ العَرُوسِ الذي لا يُوقِظُه إلا أحَبُّ أهْلِه حتَّى يَبْعثَهُ الله من مَضْجَعِه ذَلكَ. فإن كانَ مُنافقًا قالَ: لا أدْري، كنتُ أسْمَعُ الناسَ يقولونَ شَيئًا فكنتُ أقولُهُ، فيَقُولانِ لهُ: إنْ كنَّا لنعلمُ أنّكَ تَقُولُ ذلكَ، ثُم يُقالُ للأَرْضِ التَئِمي فتَلْتَئمُ عليه حتَّى تَخْتلفَ أضْلاعُهُ فلا يَزَالُ مُعَذَّبًا حَتّى يبْعثَهُ الله تعالى من مَضجَعِهِ ذلكَ.
[which means] “If the dead were put in his grave, two blue-black angels will come to him. One of them is called Munkar and the other is called Nakir. They say to him, ‘What did you used to say about this man Muhammad?’, and then he will say what he used to say. So if he were a believer he would say, ‘He is the slave of Allah and His Messenger. I testify that no one is God but Allah and I testify that Muhammad is His Slave and Messenger.’ Then the angels will say to him, ‘Certainly, we knew that you would say that.’ Then his grave would be expanded for him seventy cubits by seventy cubits, and it will be illuminated for him, and it will be said to him, “Sleep.” Then he will sleep like the sleep of a newlywed who is not awakened except by his most beloved wife, until Allah Resurrects him from that bed of his.
“If he were a hypocrite, he says, ‘I don’t know. I used to hear the people saying something, so I used to say it.’ Then they will say to him, ‘Certainly we knew you would say that.’ Then it would be said to the earth, ‘Close.’ Then it will close on him until his ribs cross, and he will not cease to be tortured until Allah Resurrects him from that bed of his.”
Those two hadiths were narrated by Ibn Hibban, and he deemed them as authentic. In the first of them is the confirmation of the return of the soul to the body in the grave and the return of the feelings. In the second is the confirmation of the soul remaining in the grave and the confirmation of sleep, and that will be the case as long as the body has not decayed. This enjoyment is for the strong believer, and he is the one who fulfills the obligations and refrains from the sins. He is the one that the Messenger of Allah said about him:
الدُّنْيا سِجْنُ المؤْمنِ وسَنَتُهُ فإذَا فَارقَ الدُّنيا فارَقَ السّجْنَ والسَّنَةَ
[which means] “The dunya is the believer’s prison and his drought. If he departed the dunya then he departed the prison and the drought.” This is an authentic hadith narrated by Ibn Hibban, and what he meant is the perfect believer.
If the body had decayed entirely, and nothing was left except the piece of the tailbone, the soul of the pious believer will be in Paradise. The souls of the sinful believers, i.e., the people of the major sins who died without repentance, will be between the sky and the earth after the decay of the body, and some of them will be in the first sky. The souls of the blasphemers will be in Sijjin after the decay of the body, and that is a place in the lowest earth. As for the martyrs, their souls ascend immediately into Paradise.
Notice: Excluded from the questioning of the two angels are the Prophets and the battlefield martyrs, and likewise the children who died before pubescence.
If it were said, “How would a big number of people be questioned?” The answer is what Al-Halimiyy said, “What is most likely is that the angels of questioning are a large group. Some of them are named Munkar and some of them are named Nakir; two of them will be sent to each dead person.”
The Judgment of the One who Denies the Torture of the Grave
The one who denies the torture of the grave blasphemes because of [his opposition to] the Saying of Allah:
﴿النَّارُ يُعْرَضُونَ عَلَيْهَا غُدُوًّا وَعَشِيًّا وَيَوْمَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ أَدْخِلُوا آلَ فِرْعَوْنَ أَشَدَّ الْعَذَابِ﴾
[which means] “Hell will be presented to them morning and evening, and on the day when the Hour takes place, insert the entourage of Pharaoh into the most severe torture.”
This is different from the one who denies the questioning of the grave. He would not be judged as a blasphemer unless he denied that out of stubbornness.[1]
[1] i.e., he knows what Muslims believe and he denied it anyway.