Journey of the Soul - Shaykh Aqeel Mahmood

Opening — Khutbah al-Hajah

Praise be to Allah. We praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and from the evils of our deeds.

Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whomsoever He misguides, none can guide him. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims.

O you who have believed, fear your Lord, Who created you from one soul, and created from it its mate. And He spread among them many men and women. And fear Allah, about whom you ask, and His Mercy. Verily, Allah is ever watching over you.

O you who have believed, fear Allah and say the right words. He will amend your deeds for you and forgive you your sins.

The Journey of the Righteous Soul

When a believer is about to leave this world and go on to the next world, angels from paradise descend with garments from Jannah and with the perfume of Jannah. And they sit in front of this believer as far as the eye can see.

And then the angel descends who takes the soul — the angel of death. And the angel of death sits at the top of the head of this righteous person. And then he takes the soul and he says: O good soul, O pure soul, come out to the pleasure and happiness of Allah.

And the soul is taken out of the body like water comes out of a vessel or a jug. The soul pours out of the body because the soul is expecting this to happen. It believed in the akhira, it believed in the afterlife, it believed in the journey of the soul and the barzakh. And it wasn't attached to the desires of this world and to the dunya.

When the angel of death takes the soul out of the body, those angels waiting with the garments of Jannah — no sooner does the soul come out of the body, except that those angels shroud that soul with the garments of Jannah. And they perfume it with the perfumes of Jannah. And this perfume is unlike anything that we could ever smell from the fragrances of this world.

And then the soul is taken up into the heavens. And no group of angels do they pass by except that the angels ask. And they say about this soul: What is this good soul? What is this beautiful soul? Who is this soul? And the angels will say: This is so and so, son of so and so. And they'll mention the best names he was called by while he was alive — as a means of honor and praise and glad tidings for this righteous soul that used to worship Allah.

And then they'll reach the lowest heaven. And they'll ask for permission to enter. And permission will be granted. And then angels from that heaven will take the soul and they'll transport the soul. All the time, every single time, angels come asking about this soul. They will praise this soul and give it great names — the best names it was ever known by in this world. It's being praised in the company of the angels now that it's passed away.

And then this soul reaches the highest heaven. And Allah will announce — Allah will say: Record the deeds of My slave in a record which is with Allah. And send him back to earth. Send him back to the grave.

From it you were created. And to it you will return. And from it once more you will be taken out.

And then this soul will be sent back down to earth — in the grave, in its body. And when it's in the grave in this different dimension known as Barzakh — something which we can't see, we can't experience, it's a different world — two angels will come to this righteous soul. And they will ask this soul questions.

They will say: Who is your Lord? And the righteous soul will say: My Lord is Allah — رَبِّيَ اللَّهُ. And they will say: What is your religion? He will say: My religion is Islam. And they will ask: Who was this man who came to you? And they will say: This is Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah. And then they will say: How did you come to know this? And he will say: I believed in the Book of Allah. And I followed the Book of Allah.

And then a call will be made from the heavens. Allah will say: Make the grave spacious for My slave. And furnish his grave with the furnishings and carpets and rugs of Jannah. And fill his grave with the perfumes of Jannah.

And so the righteous soul's grave will be made so spacious that it will be as far as the eye can see. This pleasure and this tranquility is a sign of what's to come on the Day of Judgment — as a result of his righteousness.

And then Allah will show him his place in Jannah. He will show him his palaces in Jannah. And the righteous soul will say: O Allah, hasten the Hour. Make the Hour happen straight away, so that I can go to my family and go to my property. And Allah will say: Sleep like the sleep of a newly wed person — meaning, sleep happy.

And a man will come to him in his grave. And this man will be beautiful and handsome. And he will say to the righteous soul: Have glad tidings, for this is the day that you were promised. And the righteous soul will say: Who are you? You bring good news. And this beautiful man will say: I am your good deeds. A person's deeds will come in the form of a beautiful person — as a means of peace, as a sign of tranquility and comfort in the grave.

And this is the journey of the righteous soul.

The Journey of the Evil Soul

But when a disbeliever passes away, and his time comes for him to die — angels with garments from hellfire come. And they sit in front of him as far as the eye can see. And the angel of death comes to take his soul. And it announces to the soul: O evil soul, come out to the anger and the wrath of Allah.

And the evil soul is taken out of the body like wet wool is ripped off thorns. It rips out of the body. Because the evil soul wasn't expecting an akhira. It wasn't prepared for the Day of Judgment. Didn't believe in Allah. Wasn't expecting to be judged and to account for his actions. And it was too attached to this world. It was attached to this body of his, which was temporary. And it committed sins. Didn't want to leave this world.

And this soul will be ripped out of the body. And no sooner will it be ripped out of the body, except that angels with garments from hellfire will shroud this evil soul with those garments. And they will have an evil stench — a stink from the smells of hellfire, worse than any corpse on the face of this earth.

And then those angels will take this soul up to the lowest heaven. And no group of angels will they pass by, except that those angels will say: Who is this evil soul? Who is this wretched soul? And the angels will say: This is so and so, son of so and so. And they'll use the worst names he was called by when he was alive — as a means of humiliation and disgrace. And so in the company of the angels he'll be humiliated, every group of angels disgracing him, because of his actions in this world.

And then this angel will go up to the lowest heaven. And permission will be sought for the evil soul to enter. But permission will not be granted. This evil soul will not be allowed to enter the highest heavens, or even the lowest of heavens.

This evil soul will not be given permission. And the gates of paradise won't be opened for him. وَلَا يَدْخُلُونَ الْجَنَّةَ — and nor will he enter paradise until the camel enters into the eye of a needle. Meaning, this evil person will never enter Jannah.

And then Allah will say: Record the deeds of My evil slave in a record of Sijjin — in the lowest of the earths. And then He will command for that evil soul to be thrown back to earth.

As for the one who committed shirk, it will be as if he was thrown from the heavens.

And then this evil soul will be in the grave. And Munkar and Nakir, once again, will ask questions to this evil soul. And they will say: Who is your Lord? And the evil soul won't be able to reply. It will say: I don't know. And then it will be asked: What is your religion? And again he will say: I don't know. Who was this man who was sent to you? And again he won't be able to reply.

And then an ugly looking man will come. And this man will come to him and say: This is evil tidings for you, for a day which has been promised to you. And the evil soul will say: Who are you? You bring bad news. And this ugly looking person will say: I am your evil deeds. As a sign of discomfort and punishment in the grave.

And then an announcement will be made. And this evil soul in the grave will be given heat from the heat of hellfire to accompany him in the grave. And the grave will be made constricted and tight for him — so tight in fact that his ribs will start to break and crush.

And these are things which will happen in the barzakh. It's something that we can't see, we can't experience. But this is the reality that has been told to us.

And then this evil soul will be shown his place in hellfire. And when he sees his place, he will say: O Allah, don't make the Day of Judgment occur. Don't make the Day of Judgment happen.

And this, brothers and sisters, is the journey of the evil soul.

Second Khutbah — Lessons from the Journey of the Soul

Brothers and sisters, we were mentioning the journey of the soul — the journey of the evil soul and the journey of the righteous soul. And we had the contrasting journeys, the differences between how the righteous soul is going to be treated after it leaves the body and how the evil soul is treated.

There are many lessons we can learn from these narrations about the journey of the soul. From them is how much detail the Quran and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah have gone into in describing this journey — down to the smells and the garments and the things that he will say and the angels. All of these things, brothers and sisters, are here for us.

Lesson 1: Preparing for the Akhirah

And from the main lessons of this is that we can prepare for the Akhirah. It's a means by which it should motivate us to prepare for the Day of Judgment. The Messenger of Allah in one of these narrations told the companions the journey of the soul while they were in a graveyard waiting for somebody to be buried. And the Messenger of Allah said:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4753; also recorded in Musnad Ahmad)

Seek refuge from the punishment of the grave.

And this is why, from the Sunnah, a person should seek refuge from the punishment of the grave — before he gives salam towards the end of his salah, when he is sitting. The Prophet would supplicate and say:

Oh Allah, I seek refuge in You from the punishment of the grave. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1377; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 588)

Lesson 2: No One Is Exempt from This Journey

Also, brothers and sisters, from the lessons of knowing the journey of the soul is that we realize every single human being — righteous, evil, rich, poor, young, old, famous or not famous — every single human being on the face of this earth will experience this journey. There is no one who is going to be an exception. And the greater your deeds are, the better your deeds are, that individual will have a blessed journey with regards to his soul in the akhirah. And an evil person will have an evil journey.

And all of this is a sign of what's to come on the Day of Judgment itself. And this is why the scholars would say that this experience and this time in a person's grave is like the minor resurrection — it's the minor resurrection because of the torment or the reward he is going to experience before the major resurrection, before the actual Day of Judgment and him being resurrected.

Lesson 3: Every Soul Will Be Held to Account

Also, brothers and sisters, one of the lessons we should learn from these narrations of the journeys of the soul is that every single person will be held to account for their actions. And those individuals who commit sins, those who commit crimes, those who are involved in gangs locally, those who are involved in the big gangs in this world causing harm to our Muslim brothers and sisters — every single person will be held to account for their injustices. Allah will hold every single person to account.

And once death comes to them — which will come, it's inevitable that one day they will taste death — those who used to cause oppression on the Muslims, they will experience and taste the azab and the punishment of Allah. And this is something that we can find some comfort in. We can find solace in the fact that every single person who caused harm and supported genocide in Gaza and other places and caused harm to the Muslims — wherever they may be, may Allah ease their suffering — they will be taught a lesson by Allah the likes of which no one could have ever taught them in this world when they were alive.

And likewise, brothers and sisters, those who pass away from the believers — as soon as they die, the pain stops. As soon as they die, they don't have to suffer anymore. Allah rewards them with praise from the angels, garments from Jannah, and they can smell the perfume of Jannah. And this is something that we can all take happiness and solace in.

And we ask Allah that He gives us the ability to increase in our good deeds and be from those who are from the righteous souls after we pass away.