Ibn Majah

Benefits and Issues:
➊
Weeping out of fear of Allah is a sign of faith.

➋
Deliverance from the grave means passing through the stage of questioning and answering in the grave safely. If one is granted the ability to answer the questions correctly, then the stages of the Day of Resurrection will also become easy. Otherwise, the severe stages of the Resurrection are even more terrifying than those of the grave. May Allah, by His grace and mercy, protect us from them.

➌
The grave has been described as the most frightening scene in relation to this world; otherwise, the scene of the punishment of Hell is far more terrifying than this.

Benefits and Issues:
After death, the hereafter (Akhirah) begins, which is in fact the realm of reward and punishment. The person who enters this realm no longer maintains any worldly connection with the people of this world, because the life of the hereafter is a separate life. The life of the grave is the beginning of the hereafter.

Many people, in relation to this life of the hereafter, have fallen into excess and negligence, wandering in the darkness of misguidance. Some, falling into negligence, have outright denied the existence of this life, while others, falling into excess, have affirmed this life in such a way that they considered it similar to worldly life. However, this general life which is granted to all, they have, by raising a specific slogan, made it exclusive without any evidence.

In this regard, the balanced view is that which the Qur’an and Sunnah have taught us. According to the Shari’ah evidences, the life of the grave is granted to both the righteous and the wicked, but the state of this life differs according to ranks. The life of the Prophets and martyrs is the most excellent, and that of the disbelievers is the worst, but in any case, this life is of the hereafter, not of the world, as:

❀ Hani, the freed slave of Uthman rahimahullah, narrates:
“When Uthman radi Allahu anhu would stand by a grave, he would weep so much that his beard would become wet. He was asked, ‘Paradise and Hell are mentioned, but you do not weep, yet when the grave is mentioned, you weep?’ Upon this, he explained that the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: ‘Indeed, the grave is the first stage among the stages of the Hereafter. If a person passes through this stage successfully, then whatever comes after it will be easier for him. But if he does not succeed at this stage, then the stages that follow will be even more severe.’” [مسند الام احمد: 63/1، سنن ترمذي 2308، سنن ابن ماجه 4267، وسنده حسن]
↰ Imam Tirmidhi rahimahullah has graded this hadith as “Hasan,” while Imam Hakim rahimahullah [331، 330/4] has declared it “Sahih al-Isnad,” and Hafiz Dhahabi rahimahullah has declared it “Sahih.”
↰ From this hadith, it is clearly understood that immediately after the end of worldly life in the form of death, the life of the Hereafter begins. The grave is a stage of the Hereafter, and its life is a life of the Hereafter, not of this world.

❀ Umm al-Mu’minin, Sayyidah Aisha radi Allahu anha, while mentioning the illness of death of the Noble Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, says:
“The miswak fell from the blessed hand of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Thus, Allah the Exalted gathered my saliva and the saliva of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam together on that day, which was the last day of his worldly life and the first day of his life of the Hereafter.” [صحیح بخاری: 4451]
↰ This statement of Umm al-Mu’minin, Sayyidah Aisha radi Allahu anha, is also absolutely explicit in this regard that immediately after death, the life of the Hereafter begins.
Therefore, to deny the conditions of the life of the grave that have been made known to us through the Qur’an and Hadith is a great ignorance. Even greater ignorance is to consider it as worldly life or similar to it.