The Importance of Knowledge - Ustadh Aqeel Mahmood

The Journey of the Soul: Knowledge, Action, and the Grave

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the most honored of the prophets and messengers, our Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions.

The Story of Jannatul Baqi

Imam Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him, narrates in his book that one of the companions said that one day the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, went to Jannatul Baqi — the graveyard in the city of Medina — with some of his companions. They went to pray the janazah prayer over one of the men of the Ansar.

When they went to the graveyard, the grave hadn't been dug yet. So the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, sat down. And the companions sat around him. And he had a stick in his hand, and he was hitting the stick on the ground. And then he looked towards the heavens and he looked towards the earth. And he did this three times. And then he said to the companions — three times — he said: "Seek refuge in Allah from the punishments of the grave."

And the companions, they were sitting there. And the companion who was narrating this hadith said: "We were sitting down as if there were birds on our heads." Meaning we were waiting for the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, to say something. We were attentive. We were alert. That if a bird was to sit on our heads, we wouldn't even move. We would be so still that a bird would think we were statues. That's how still they were. That's how attentive they were — to listen to the commands and the words of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.

So he said to them: "Seek refuge in Allah from the punishments of the grave." And he said this three times. And then he himself said: "I seek refuge in Allah from the punishments of the grave." And he said this three times.

And this shows, brothers and sisters, that when we give advice to others, we should make sure that we give advice and we take on this advice first and foremost upon ourselves before we give it to anybody else. And we act upon this piece of advice. So we ask Allah that He protects us from the punishments of the grave.

The Believing Soul at the Time of Death

The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, then continued. And he said that when a believing slave is about to meet his Lord — when death is about to come to him — two beautiful angels with light on their faces descend from the heavens. And they sit an eye's distance away from that believer whose soul is about to be taken away. And they come with furnishings, they come with clothing from paradise, and they come with perfume from paradise.

And then the angel of death comes and sits right on top of that believing slave whose soul is going to be taken away. And when he sits down to take this soul, he says: "O good soul, O beautiful soul, come out to the forgiveness and the pleasure of Allah."

And then the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said that the soul comes out of the body just like water comes out from a vessel — it pours out. You know when you turn a glass over and there's water in it, the water comes out easily. It pours out. There's no difficulty in that water coming out of that glass. Likewise, the soul of the believer, when the angel of death takes it, it pours out. It comes out easily.

And then the angel of death, within the blinking of an eye, passes this soul to the two angels who are waiting. And they take this soul and they cover it with the coverings and the clothing of paradise. And they perfume it with the perfumes of paradise. And then they start to take this soul up into the heavens.

And all the angels — they see this soul and they can smell this beautiful soul. And they want this soul to go up into the heavens next to them. They want to be associated with this soul, because it was a believing slave of Allah. Sometimes we look up to certain people — maybe even celebrities, people we want to be close to. We may meet them and want to walk with them, talk with them, tell others that we met such and such a person, shook his hand. And so we're happy when we meet someone that we respect. The angels themselves want to be associated with the believing slave — subhanAllah. This is the honor of the believing slave.

And the angels, when they carry this soul up towards the heavens, the angels around this soul will say: "Who is this beautiful soul? What is this beautiful soul?" And the two angels will say: "This is so-and-so, son of so-and-so." And they'll use the best of names that this soul was known by in this world — the best of names — as a source of honor for this beautiful, believing slave of Allah.

And this slave will be taken up to the first heaven. And then permission will be asked from the angel guarding the first heaven — that the heaven be opened up for them. And then that soul will be taken to the next heaven. And the same thing will happen until they reach the seventh heaven.

And then the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said that once it reaches the highest heaven, Allah will say: "Record his deeds — write everything down in Al-'Illiyyeen."

"And what will make you know what Al-'Illiyyeen is? An inscribed register." Everything is written down with Allah. And then Allah will say: "Send this soul back down to earth, just like I have promised."

What has Allah promised the slave? Allah says in the Quran:

"From it We have created you, and to it you will return, and from it We will bring you out once again." This is the promise of Allah.

In the Grave: The Questions

So then the believing slave will go back down into his grave and will return to its body. And the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, talked about how the slave, when he's buried, Allah gives him the ability to hear the footsteps of those people walking away from the grave once he's been buried. Why is he given the ability to hear those footsteps? Why isn't he given the ability to hear their voices, or to hear anything else? Because when a slave is in the grave and he hears the footsteps of the people walking away, he knows there and then that he's on his own. Nobody else is going to help him. Nobody else is going to be there for him.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6514; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2960)

Three things accompany the dead person to the grave. Two of those things return and one stays. The two things that return are his family — they go back to their dunya, they go back to their worldly affairs, they carry on with their lives. And his wealth will return — it's going to be divided and given to his offspring and his family members; they're going to inherit from his wealth. And the only thing that's going to stay from these three things are his good deeds.

And when he's in his grave, when the soul returns back to the grave, two angels come and ask this believing slave four questions. They say:

"Who is your Lord?" And Allah will give the believing slave the ability to answer these questions with complete confidence — with no worry, with no anxiety. Here he is six feet under, in his grave, in this small place. And the angels are coming to him. This is an extraordinary event, brothers and sisters. Yet this slave, Allah will give him the ability to be firm at this moment in time.

"Allah makes firm those who believe, with firm words, in this life and in the next life."

And so he will be asked: "Who is your Lord?" And he will say: "My Lord is Allah." And he will be asked: "What is your religion?" And he will say: "My religion is Islam." And then he will be asked: "Who was this man that was sent to you?" And he will say: "This was Muhammad ﷺ."

And then he will be asked a fourth question — an extra question, as opposed to those questions asked to the disbelievers. He will be asked:

"What did you do?" You knew your Lord. You knew your Messenger. You knew your religion. But what did you do with the knowledge that you had?

Knowledge Is Not Enough — Action Is Required

Knowledge isn't enough, brothers and sisters. Many of us come to khutbahs every single week. We sit here for half an hour, 45 minutes, and we listen to what the khatib is saying. But then when we leave the masjid, it's as if it doesn't matter anymore. It's as if it doesn't have any importance outside of these walls of the masjid. We don't seem to realize that it's not about how much we know — but it's about what we do with the knowledge that we have.

A person won't enter into Jannah except by the actions that he did. Allah says:

Mankind is at a loss — except those who believe and they do righteous deeds. A person won't enter into Jannah simply by knowing certain things.

So he'll be asked: "What did you do?" And then he'll reply and he'll say: "I read the Book of Allah and I used to act upon it."

And then this believing slave who'll be asked these questions — a portal will be opened up to him, a door will be opened up to him, and he'll be able to see his place in paradise. His house in paradise. The gardens of paradise. His final resting place. And then another door will be opened up and he'll see a place in hellfire. And the angels will say to this slave: "This is what Allah has promised you. This house and this place in paradise is what Allah has given you because of your good deeds, because of your righteousness in this world. And this is what you've been protected from — this is what you were saved from."

And then this believing slave will see something in the distance. He'll see a man coming towards him — a handsome and beautiful man with beautiful clothes and a beautiful smell, a beautiful perfume. And this man will come close to him and say: "Glad tidings be to you." And the man in the grave will say: "Glad tidings be to you also. Who are you?" And this man will say: "I am your good deeds."

So a person's good deeds will come in the grave in the form of a beautiful and handsome man, giving pleasure to the person who sees it. You know when you see something beautiful, when you see a good looking brother who is well dressed and smells nice — it gives you pleasure. Likewise in the grave, when this handsome man comes to you, you'll feel pleasure, you'll feel happy. And he'll say to you: "I am your good deeds."

And then this soul in the grave will say: "Hasten the hour — O Allah, hasten the hour. I want to go to this house that You built. I want to go to my place in paradise." And then he'll be told: "Sleep like the sleep of a newly-wed. The time hasn't come yet."

And this is something which happens to every single soul who passes away — it doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, Muslim or non-Muslim.

The Disbelieving Soul at the Time of Death

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then went on and talked about what happens to the disbelieving slave. He said that two angels come with dark faces. They come from the heavens and sit an eye's distance away from the disbelieving slave. And the angel of death comes and stands by the head of the disbelieving slave. And then he says to him at the time when the soul will be taken: "O cursed soul, O disgusting soul, come out to the anger and the wrath of Allah."

And then the soul will be taken out of the body. And it won't come out like water coming out of a vessel. The soul of the disbeliever — as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ described — will come out like wet wool coming off something which has spikes. When you take wet wool off something which is spiky, does it all come off easily? No, it doesn't. It tears away. And there's wool still attached to the thorns and to the spikes.

Why is it so difficult for the disbelieving slave to come out of the body? Because the soul knows what's awaiting for it — because of his disobedience to Allah and because of its attachment to the dunya. Because it was attached to the world, attached to the desires of this world. It never paid any attention to worshipping Allah, to remembering Allah. It was too busy, distracted by the desires of this world. It would put things off. It would delay things. It wouldn't pray. It wouldn't take these things as something which was important.

And so this soul will tear away from the body. And then the angels who are waiting — they'll take that soul within the blinking of an eye. And they'll cover it with clothing from hellfire — coarse, dirty clothes. And they'll cover this soul with a stench from hellfire. And then this soul will be taken up.

And all the angels won't want anything to do with this soul. When you see someone who's of a bad character, you don't want anything to do with him. You don't want to be anywhere near him. When you see someone with a bad attitude, when you see someone who's known to be an oppressor — you don't want to hang around with him. You don't want to be associated with him. This disbelieving slave will have a stench and the angels won't want anything to do with it. Look at the dishonor of the disbelieving slave, brothers and sisters.

So they'll go to the first heaven and they'll ask for permission for this heaven to be opened up to them. But there won't be any permission allowed for this soul. Allah says:

"The gates of the heavens will not be opened for them, nor will they ever enter into paradise — until a camel enters into the eye of a needle." Is it possible for a camel to enter into the eye of a needle? It's impossible. Likewise, it's impossible for the disbeliever to enter into Jannah.

And then Allah will throw the soul back into its body — it will be flung down, thrown down as if it was something insignificant, like rubbish, garbage, thrown down into the ground. Allah says:

"And whoever associates partners with Allah, then it is as if he has fallen from the sky and the birds snatch him, or the wind takes him to a far-off place." Meaning it will be something insignificant.

The Disbeliever in the Grave

The soul will go back into the body, and two angels will come and ask three questions — they won't ask four questions like the questions asked to a believer.

They'll ask: "Who is your Lord?" And when he's asked this question, he won't be given the firmness that a believer has been given. He'll be anxious. He'll be afraid. He'll be confused. He thought that he'd die and that's it — the end. Now he's in his grave and he sees these angels coming up to him asking him these questions. And he'll say: "Ah! Ah! I don't know." He's panicking. He doesn't know what to say. "What is your religion?" — "Ah! Ah! I don't know." "Who was this man that was sent to you?" — "Ah! Ah! I don't know." He won't be able to answer. He won't be given the firmness that a believer is given.

And then a portal, a door, will be opened up to his place in hellfire. And it will be said to him: "This is your abode. This is where you're going to end up. This is what you have been working towards."

"As a reward for what you used to do in this life."

And then he'll be looking at his place in hellfire and he'll say: "Please don't let the hour come. I don't want the hour to come. I don't want to go to this final abode." But he won't have a choice. There'll be no option for him.

And then an ugly man will come towards him with really bad clothes and a stench coming from him. And he'll come up to this disbelieving slave and say: "Curse be to you." And this man will say: "Curse be to you too. Who are you?" And he'll say: "I am your bad and evil deeds." So a person's evil deeds will come in the form of a man when he's in his grave — a displeasant looking person.

And then a deaf, dumb and blind person will come to this individual carrying a sledgehammer. And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said that the sledgehammer — if it was to strike a mountain, that mountain would crumble. He'll be deaf, dumb and blind. He won't be able to speak. He won't be able to see. He won't be able to hear. But Allah will order him and he'll know what his job is. He'll know what he needs to do.

And the man who is being punished — the soul who is being punished — won't be able to talk to this man with the sledgehammer. He can't hear anything. He can't see anything. He can't communicate with him. And this man will strike him with the sledgehammer and he'll be destroyed — he'll crumble, he'll turn into dust. And then Allah will create him a second time. And then this man will strike him with the sledgehammer a second time. And then he will scream — and everything in the heavens and the earth can hear the scream, except for humans and jinn.

And this is the state of the disbeliever after death has come to him, after the angels have taken his soul, when he's in the grave. We ask Allah that He protects us from the punishments of the grave.

Two Questions We Must Ask Ourselves

We were talking about the journey that the soul takes once death comes to it, and the contrasting experiences that the believing soul has as opposed to the disbelieving soul. Now I want to ask you two questions, brothers and sisters. And I want you to think about this. We have to ask ourselves — and I advise myself before I ask anybody else.

First: How is our soul going to be taken away? In what state are we going to be in when our souls are taken away? Are we going to be from those whose soul will be taken away just like water coming out of a glass — easily and freely, with no difficulty, pouring out of our bodies? Or is it going to be snatched out, ripped out from the body — like wet wool from something which has thorns — tearing away from the body?

Second: Think about the questions we're going to be asked. Imagine you had an interview tomorrow or next week for a job. Or you had an exam. And someone from that company calls you, or your teacher tells you that you have an exam, and they give you all the questions that are going to come. You see those questions — you're going to be smiling, you're going to be laughing, you're going to think: Alhamdulillah, I'm sorted. I just need to know the answers and that's it. Go to the exam. Ace the exam. No problem. You'll be happy.

We know the questions we're going to be asked in the grave. Yet how many of us can really and truly guarantee that we're able to answer those questions comfortably and with firmness?

"Allah makes firm the words of those who believe."

And the fourth question — what are we going to say when it is asked to us: "What did you do?" You can talk the talk, but did you walk the walk? Did you do enough good deeds?

When you leave this masjid today, what state are you going to be in? Are you going to be thinking: "Yeah, that was some good pieces of advice from the khatib. It was nice. It was a nice little reminder. I met some good brothers at the masjid." And then you go back to work, you go back to school, you go back to university, and you forget about what was mentioned. And then you don't remember anything, you don't act upon anything, until the following week comes and the same thing happens again.

When are you going to remember? When are you going to realize? How do you know you're going to be here next week? What guarantee do you have? When are you going to start acting upon what you know? When are you going to start acting upon the knowledge that you have?

How many of us have heard this very same hadith about the journey of the soul? Maybe a lot of you have heard this hadith before. But how many of us really understand and act upon it, and realize we need to make sure that we're doing whatever we can so that when we are asked these questions, we're able to answer them.

Knowledge Without Action

One of the scholars of the past said: "I am afraid that I'll be asked at the end of days, once I'm dead —"

"What did you know?" And then I'll tell them what I knew. And then he said: "I'll be afraid that I'll then be asked:"

"What did you do with what you knew? What did you do with the knowledge that you had?"

It's not just enough to know. The scholars of the past would say:

"Knowledge is the tree and actions are the fruit of that tree." It's not just enough to have knowledge, brothers and sisters. We have to act upon it so that that knowledge bears fruit in this life and in the hereafter.

We ask Allah that He protects us from the punishments of the grave.

Du'a

"O Allah, forgive the believing men and believing women, and the Muslim men and Muslim women — the living among them and the dead. O Allah, grant victory to our Muslim brothers and sisters in every place, O Lord of the worlds."

"Indeed, Allah orders justice and good conduct and giving to relatives and forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded."

Remember Allah the Great, the Majestic — He will remember you. Call upon Him for His blessings — He will increase you. And the remembrance of Allah is the highest and the greatest. And Allah knows what you do.

There is going to be a janazah prayer taking place after the Jumu'ah prayer, so I advise the brothers and sisters to stay so that they can take that reward. Straighten your rows — make space for the brothers and sisters who are still coming in. Straighten the rows, for from the perfection of the prayer is that your rows are straight.