The punishment of the grave and what causes it

Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: A Jewish woman came to me, and I gave her some perfume as a gift. She said: "May Allah Almighty protect you from the punishment of the grave." Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: That stayed in my mind, so when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came, I said to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "O Messenger of Allah! Is there punishment in the grave?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Yes, indeed they are punished in their graves with a punishment that the animals hear."

Something similar is narrated from Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Seek refuge with Allah from Hell; seek refuge with Allah from the punishment of the grave; seek refuge with Allah from the trial of the False Messiah (al-Dajjal); seek refuge with Allah from the trials of life and death."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Zayd bin Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, this Ummah will be tried (with punishment) in its graves. Were it not that you would stop burying your dead, I would have prayed to Allah to make you also hear the punishment of the grave that I hear." Then he turned his face towards us and said: "Seek refuge with Allah from the punishment of the grave." We said: "We seek refuge with Allah from the punishment of the grave."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) that Sayyidah Umm Habibah (may Allah be pleased with her) supplicated thus: "O Allah! Let me benefit from my husband Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), my father Abu Sufyan and my brother Mu'awiyah." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "You have asked Allah about decrees that have already been fixed, days that have already been counted and provision that has already been allotted. Nothing will come before its appointed time nor be delayed beyond it. Had you asked Allah Almighty for deliverance from the punishment of Hell and deliverance from the punishment of the grave, that would have been better and more excellent."

Muslim bin Abi Bakrah narrates from his father (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to supplicate after the prayer in these words: "O Allah, I seek refuge from disbelief, poverty and the punishment of the grave."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to seek refuge with Allah from cowardice, miserliness, the punishment of the grave and the trial of the heart.

Sayyiduna al-Bara (may Allah be pleased with him) said: We went with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to the funeral of a man of the Ansar. When we reached the graveyard, and the lahd (niche in the grave) had not yet been prepared, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sat down, and we sat around him as though there were birds upon our heads. In his hand was a stick with which he was scratching the ground. He raised his head and said: "Seek refuge with Allah Almighty from the punishment of the grave."

Except that Ibn Numayr said (in his chain): al-A'mash narrated to us; he said: al-Minhal narrated to us.

Sayyiduna Zayd bin Arqam (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I do not tell you anything except what I heard from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); he would say: "O Allah, I seek refuge in You from incapacity, laziness, cowardice, miserliness and the punishment of the grave."

Sayyidah Umm Mubashshir (may Allah be pleased with her) said: the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came to me while I was in one of the walled gardens of Banu al-Najjar, in which were graves of people of the Jahiliyyah (who had died in the Jahiliyyah). She said: Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went out, and I heard him saying: "O people, seek refuge with Allah from the punishment of the grave." I said: "O Messenger of Allah, is there punishment in the grave too?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, they are punished in their graves with a punishment that all the animals hear."

Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub (may Allah be pleased with him) said: One day the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) heard a (screaming) sound at sunset and said: "This is the (screaming) sound of the Jews who are being punished in their graves."

Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to seek refuge with Allah from cowardice, miserliness, the trials of life and death, and the punishment of the grave.

Sayyidah Umm Khalid bint Khalid (may Allah be pleased with her) said: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) seeking refuge from the punishment of the grave.

It is narrated from Sayyidah Asma' (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It has been revealed to me that you will be tried in the graves (put to trial), similar to, or close to, the trial of the False Messiah (al-Masih al-Dajjal). Then one of you will be brought and it will be said to him: 'What do you know about this man?'" He said: "As for the believer, he will say: 'This is Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, who came to us with clear proofs and guidance; we accepted it and followed him.' It will be said to him: 'Sleep in peace and safety; we knew that you were a believer in Allah.' As for the hypocrite or the doubter" (the narrator said: I do not know which of the two Asma' said), "he will say: 'I do not know; I heard the people saying something, so I said it too.'"

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) once passed by two graves and said: "These two are being punished, and they are not being punished for something major. One of them was a tale-bearer, and the other did not guard himself against splashes of urine."

Abu Mu'awiyah did not say (in his chain): "I heard Mujahid."

Sayyiduna Abd al-Rahman bin Hasanah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Sayyiduna Amr bin al-As (may Allah be pleased with him) and I were sitting when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came out to us. He (peace and blessings be upon him) had with him a leather shield or something like it; he (peace and blessings be upon him) screened himself with it and urinated while sitting. We said: "O Messenger of Allah, you urinate (sitting) the way a woman does!" He (peace and blessings be upon him) came to us and said: "Do you not know what befell the man of Banu Isra'il? When a drop of urine fell on the clothes of any of them, he would cut it off with shears. He forbade them from that, so he was punished in his grave."

It is narrated from Mus'ab bin Sa'd that Sayyiduna Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him) said to his son: "O my son, seek refuge with Allah through the words with which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to seek refuge." Then he mentioned the punishment of the grave.

Something similar is narrated from Mus'ab bin Sa'd.