The trial of the grave and the punishment of the grave

It is narrated from Imam Ata bin Yasar (may Allah have mercy on him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) asked Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him): "O Umar! What will be your state when you die, and people measure out for you (in the form of a grave) three cubits and a span in length and a cubit and a span in width, then they return to you, wash you, shroud you and apply perfume to you, then carry you until they lower you into it (the grave), then pour soil over you; and when they leave you, the two angels who test in the grave, Munkar and Nakir, will come to you, whose voices will be like crashing thunder and whose gazes will be like dazzling lightning. They will shake you, thunder at you and terrify you. So, O Umar, what will be your condition at that hard time?" He said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! Will my mind (and senses) be with me at that time?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Yes." At this Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Then I (by the grace of Allah) will be enough for the two of them on my own."
Its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy), but this report is mursal.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) led the funeral prayer of an innocent boy or girl, and on that occasion he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "If any human being could have been saved from the squeezing and pressure of the grave, this child would certainly have been saved from it."
The chain of this hadith is sahih (authentic).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said (explaining the Speech of Allah Almighty): "Indeed, that extremely narrow and difficult life which Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, mentioned in His Book by saying, 'then indeed, for him is a narrow life' [Surah Ta Ha: 124], means the punishment of the grave."
There is weakness in the chain of this report due to Abd al-Rahman bin Ishaq (al-Madani); however, reports (athar) in support of this meaning are also narrated from other Companions, and many exegetes have regarded the punishment of the grave as the referent of this verse, which strengthens its meaning.

Abdullah al-Danaj narrates: I was present with Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) when a man said to him: "O Abu Hamzah! Some people deny the intercession (on the Day of Resurrection) (and reject it)." He (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Do not sit with them (that is, do not keep their company)." Then the man said (again): "Some people also deny the punishment of the grave." He (may Allah be pleased with him) said (the same again): "Do not sit with them."
This report is sahih (authentic), and it contains a strong emphasis on avoiding the company of those misguided people who deny established articles of faith such as the intercession and the punishment of the grave.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Seek refuge with Allah Almighty from the punishment of the grave, for by the Being in whose Hand of power is my soul, I have indeed witnessed (through revelation) how they (the sinners) are being punished in their graves."
Imam Abu Ya'la narrated this hadith in his Musnad; its chain contains Ziyad bin Abdullah al-Numayri, who is a da'if (weak) narrator. However, this subject regarding the reality of the punishment of the grave and seeking refuge from it has also come in other sahih hadith, which support its meaning.

Imam Ahmad bin Mani' (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated: Abu Nu'aym narrated to us; he said: al-Haytham bin Jammaz informed us through Abu Dawud, and this Abu Dawud (Nufay' bin al-Harith) is the elder who had the honour of seeing more than ten Companions (may Allah be pleased with them all). He narrated from Sayyiduna Zayd bin Arqam (may Allah be pleased with him) and other Companions besides him (may Allah be pleased with them) that they all said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The punishment of the grave is true and an unalterable reality, so whoever does not believe in it will be punished (in the grave)."
Imam Ahmad bin Mani' narrated this hadith in his Musnad; also, in another chain of it, Imam Rawh bin Ubadah narrated the report in the same way (that is, with the same text) through Shu'bah.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu al-Hajjaj al-Thumali (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When the deceased is placed in the grave, the grave calls out to him and says: O son of Adam! Woe to you! What deceived you and made you heedless about me? Did you not know that I am the house of trial and testing, and the abode of intense gloom and darkness? What made you arrogant about me, when you used to pass by me (on the earth) as a 'faddad' (one who walks with extreme arrogance and swagger)? Then, if that deceased was righteous and a doer of good, an unseen respondent answers the grave on his behalf: What is your view if this person was one who enjoined good and forbade evil (in the world)? At this the grave says: If the matter is so, then I will become green, lush, pleasant and spacious for him, and his soul will be raised up to the presence of the Lord of the worlds."
The narrator Abd al-Rahman bin A'idh al-Azdi says: I asked Sayyiduna Abu al-Hajjaj (may Allah be pleased with him): What is meant by 'faddad'? He said: "It means the person who (out of pride and vanity) walks putting one foot forward and the other back (strutting), as your gait sometimes is, O my nephew." The narrator says: At that time he (Ibn A'idh) was wearing fine clothes and was dressing himself up.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The believer in his grave is in a garden (of Paradise); his grave is widened for him to seventy cubits, and it is lit up and illuminated for him like the moon on the fourteenth night. Do you know in what context this verse was revealed: 'then indeed, for him is a narrow life, and We will raise him on the Day of Resurrection blind' [Surah Ta Ha: 124]?" The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) said: "Allah and His Messenger know best." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It is about the punishment given to the disbeliever in his grave. By the One in whose Hand is my soul! Ninety-nine 'tinnin' (dragons) are set upon him (the disbeliever). Do you know what a 'tinnin' is? They are ninety-nine serpents, each serpent having seven heads; they blow venomous breaths into his body, bite him, and will keep tearing at him and wounding him until the Day of Resurrection."
Imam Ibn Hibban narrated this hadith in his Sahih (no: 3122), and Shu'ayb al-Arna'ut declared its chain hasan (good).