Hadhrat Ali (Radhiyallahu anhu) passes by a grave
Hadhrat Kumail (Radhiyallaho anho) says: "I was with Ali
(Radhiyallaho anho) once on a journey, when he reached an uninhabited
place; he approached a grave and said:
0 you dwellers of the graves! 0 you who live amongst ruins! 0
you who live in the wilderness and solitude! How fare you in the
other world? How has it gone with you there?' He continued: 'The
news from our side is that all you did leave of the wealth and
riches here, has long been distributed; your children are orphans;
your widows have" long since remarried.
Now let us hear about you.' He then turned to me: '0 Kumail!
If they could speak, they would have informed us that the best
provision for the Hereafter is Taqwa.
Tears welled out of his eyes, as he added: '0 Kumail! The grave
is a container of the deeds; but one realizes it only after death."
Our good or bad actions are stored up in our graves. It is said
in a Hadith that every person meets his good deeds in the grave
in the person of an agreeable companion who befriends and consoles
him there. But his wicked deeds assume hideous shapes emitting bad
smells, which add to his misery. In another Hadith it is said:
"Three things accompany a person to his grave viz: His wealth
(as was the prevalent custom among the Arabs of the time), his
relatives, and his deeds.
His wealth and his relatives turn back after his burial, but
his actions go in and stay with him in the grave."
Once the Prophet [Sallallaho alaihe wasallam) asked the Sahabah:
"Do you know in what relation your relatives, your wealth,
and your deeds stand to you?"
The Sahabah expressed their desire to know about it. He replied:
"It can be likened to a person having three brothers. When
he is about to die, he calls one of his brothers to him, and asks
him: 'Brother! You know what plight is mine? What help can you
render me at this juncture?' That brother replies: *I shall call
the doctor to you, nurse you and attend upon you.
And when you are dead, I shall bathe you, enshroud you, and carry
you to the grave. Then I shall pray for you after you are buried.
This brother is his kith and kin. He puts the same question to
the second brother, who delivers himself like this: 'I shall remain
with you as long as you are alive. No sooner you are dead than
I shall betake myself to someone else.
This brother is his wordly wealth. He then questions the last
brother in the same strain, who makes response: 'I shall not forsake
you even in your grave; and I shall accompany you into that place
of utter solitude. When your deeds are weighed in the balance.
I shall forthwith lend my weight to the scale of your good deeds
and weigh it down.
This brother is the personification of his good deeds. Now, tell
me, which of the brothers you regard to be the most useful to
the person?' The Sahabah replied: *0, Prophet of Allah! The last
brother is really the most useful to him. There is no doubt about
it. The other two brothers were of no avail."
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