In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Assalamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh
All praise and gratitude are due to Allah SWT. May the blessings and peace of Allah SWT be upon His Messenger PBUH.
We know that Paradise is the purest place and only pure people will enter it. Allah the Almighty said: ‘Those whom take them in death the Angels (when they are) pure saying, “Peace (be) upon you. Enter Paradise for what you used (to) do.” (Quran 16:32). Allah has also said: “And the keepers of Paradise will say, ‘Peace be upon you! You have become pure (be glad and rejoice), and enter it to dwell here forever.’” (Quran 39:73). It is also known and agreed upon that anyone with sins and disobediences is not pure. In order for one to enter the purest Paradise he/she needs to be purified and perfumed from those sins and misdeeds.
This purification is either in this world with four things, or in the grave with three things, or on the resurrection day – in the land of Judgment with four things. If not purified with those things and sins stand on him/her, there is no escape from Hell Fire. May Allah Almighty protect all of us from it. Ameen.
The four things, by which the scrutiny and purity takes place in the worldly life:
- Repentance (al-Tawbah)
- Seeking forgiveness (al-Istighfar)
- Good deeds that erase bad deeds (Amal al-Hasanat al-Mahiyat)
- Calamities that expiate (al-Masa`ib al-mukaffirah)
If the above-mentioned four deeds were performed frequently in one’s life and the person had been purified of their sins, they could be among those whom the angels take to death as pure and clean. If these four deeds did not fulfill the purification and rid of sins, for example, repentance was not sincere, or seeking forgiveness was not perfected by giving up sins completely and having remorse for them, then, with the mercy of Allah SWT, the process of a Muslim’s purification will continue to the next step in the grave with three things:
- The prayers of the Muslims upon deceased and their seeking forgiveness for him/her and their intercession. The Messenger of Allah PBUH said: “There is no Muslim who dies, and forty men, who do not associate anything with Allah, offer their funeral prayer, Allah will accept their intercession for him/her (and forgive him/her).” (Imam Muslim Hadeeth 940)
- A tedious trial of a deceased Muslim in the grave, squeezing, rebuke, and other types of torment in the grave.
- The gifts sent to him bytheir Muslim brothers and sisters in the form of duas, seeking forgiveness, supplications, charities, Hajj, fasting and other good deeds performed ontheir behalf and fortheir rewards.
If the trails in the grave do not meet the scrutiny requirements then the purification from the sins will be continued to the Day of Resurrection with four things:
- The horrors of the Day of Resurrection.
- The severity of the situation on that day.
- The intercession of the intercessors.
- The forgiveness of Allah – the Almighty.
Note: The scale and weighing the deeds is among the horrors of Day of Judgement which will help the believers to cleanse the sins.
If the above-mentioned three stages do not complete the purification, then there is no way left for purification but entering the bellows. With His ultimate mercy the Most Merciful might forgive the sinner or send them to the fire, so the fire will be a purification for their impurities. The stay in it will be according to the size, intensity, and accumulation of impurities. Once their impurities come out, their gold is purified and they become pure, they will be taken out of Hell and admitted to Paradise (Madarij al-Salikin, ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, p. 102).
So, if sin is committed, haste to repent, otherwise the punishment for that sin will pursue you in this world, in the grave, or on the Day of Resurrection, except that Allah the Almighty forgives. The Messenger of Allah PBUH recommended the necessity of hastening to repent, by saying: “Be God-conscious wherever you are, and follow up a bad deed with a good deed that will erase it, and treat people with good manners.” (Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1987).
The believer who is punished by Allah Almighty for their sin in this world is very lucky one because the torment in this world is easier than the torment of the Hereafter. It was narrated by Anas ibn Malik RA that the Messenger of Allah said: “When Allah the Almighty wanted His servant, the good, He will quickly punish him in this world, but when He wants with His servant evil, He withholds their sin from him until he fulfils it on the Day of Resurrection.”(Al-Tirmadhi, Hadith 2396).
A person is not punished twice. Whoever is punished in this world with a legal punishment or a calamity or the like, will not be punished in most cases in the Hereafter. Ubadah ibn Al-Samit, narrated, “We were with the Messenger of Allah in a council, and he said:
“Give me allegiance that you will not worship anything besides Allah, will not steal, will not commit illegal sexual intercourse, will not kill your children, will not utter slander invented by yourself, and will not disobey me if I order you to do something good. Whoever among you will respect and fulfill this pledge, will be rewarded by Allah. And if one of you commits any of these sins and is punished in this world then that will be their expiation for it, and if one of you commits any of these sins and Allah screens their sin, then their matter will rest with Allah: If He wills, He will punish him and if He wills, He will excuse him.” (Bukhari, Hadith 3892).
This hadith does not indicate that the Muslim should wish for punishment for their sins in this world, but rather they must ask Allah the Almighty for forgiveness. It is not permissible, at all, to pray for hastening punishment for the soul in this world. The hadith of Anas ibn Malik (may Allah the Almighty be pleased with him) tells us that the Messenger of Allah PBUH visited a person from amongst the Muslims in order to inquire (about their health) who had grown feeble like the chicken. Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said:
“Did you supplicate for anything or beg of Him about that? He said: Yes. I used to utter (these words): Impose punishment upon me earlier in this world, what You are going to impose upon me in the Hereafter. Thereupon Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said: Glory be to Allah, you have neither the power nor forbearance to take upon yourself (the burden of His Punishment). Why did you not say this: O Allah, grant us good in the world and good in the Hereafter, and save us from the torment of Fire. He (the Holy Prophet) made this supplication (for him) and he was cured.” (Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2688).
When Allah the Almighty hastens the punishment of some of His righteous servants in this world, He wants them to repent and He purifies them with the calamities of this world instead of the torment of the Hereafter.
There is a narration of a servant who looked at a boy and contemplated their virtues. He had a dream in which he was told that you will find its consequence after a while. Forty years after that small mistake he was caused to forget the Holy Quran he memorised.
Some of the predecessors said: “The consequence of my disobedience to Allah is reflected in the attitude of my camel and wife.” (al-Da`u wal-Dawa`u, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, p. 74)
That is because when Allah the Almighty loves someone and he disobeys Him, their affairs are made difficult for him. Allah SWT wants to save him from a punishment in the Hereafter and provides him opportunities of repentance and forgiveness.
We see many people deceiving themselves and saying: Here I committed sins, and I did not see their effect on me or my life. But these people forget that the sin is not forgotten and that they will see its effect even after a while in this world, or in their grave, or on Resurrection Day. Abu Darda`a RA said, “Worship Allah as if you see Him, and count yourselves from amongst the dead, and know that a little that enriches you is better than much that distracts you, and know that righteousness does not wear out, and that wrongdoing is not forgotten.” (Al-Bayhaqi, Shu’ab al-Iman, Hadeeth 10664).
On the other hand, not everyone who sinned will be punished by Allah the Almighty in this world, because if He did that, everything on earth would have been destroyed. Allah SAW says, “And if Allah were to seize people (by torment) for the (evil) deeds which they have earned, He would not spare any moving creature on the surface of the earth.” (al-Quran, 35:45).
Know the Sunnah of Allah and if you fall into a sin hasten to repent from it and do many good deeds, as the Almighty said: “Indeed, good deeds erase evil deeds. This is a reminder for those who remember.” (al-Quran, 11:114). If you do not do that, sin will inevitably haunt you, either in this world, in the grave, or in the land of the Resurrection, unless Allah the Almighty pardons you. Always reflect on the attitude of many of the predecessors who fell into very innocent mistake and they will expiate it with a lot of freeing slaves, fasting, charity, and seeking forgiveness for fear that the sin would haunt them in their graves or the afterlife.
Look at Umar ibn al-Khattab RA in the Treaty of Hudaybiyah, when the Messenger of Allah PBUH disagreed with his opinion and signed a treaty with the non- believers of Makkah. Umar RA became angry thinking that the treaty was unfair and would compromise on the rights of Muslims. He came to Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq RA and said, “Is he PBUH not the Messenger of Allah?” He said, “Yes”. He said, “Are we not Muslims?” He said, “Yes”. He said, “Aren’t they polytheists?” He said, “Yes.” He said, “So why have we humbled our religion?” Abu Bakr RA said, “O Umar, adhere to him, for I bear witness that he is the Messenger of Allah”. (Bukhari, Hadeeth). Umar later said, “I continued fasting, giving charity, praying and emancipating to compensate that what I said and did on that day.”
Contemplate the act of Aisha RA when she swore not to speak to her nephew Abdullah bin Al-Zubayr RA. Some of the companions mediated and requested her to speak to her nephew. She said, “I had a vow, and the vows are there to be kept”. But the companions kept her requesting until she spoke to Ibn Al-Zubayr. Allah SWT says in the Quran if you breach your oath ‘the atonement is feeding ten poor persons or providing them with clothes or freeing a slave.’ (al-Quran, 5:89). But she emancipated forty slaves and whenever she remembered her vow after that she would cry until her tears would wet her veil (Al-Bukhari, Hadeeth 6073).
So hasten to repent of sins before death, lest you taste their consequences.
And Allah Knows Best.
May Allah the Almighty make you and I among those who listen to advice and follow the best of it, and may Allah the Almighty’s blessings and peace be upon our master Muhammad and his family and companions. Ameen.