The Companions of our Prophet Muhammed (SAW) used to gather to remember death so that they would benefit their souls by increasing in fear of Allah and strive to gain His pleasure. If this was the case of the Sahabah and they were the best of generations, the most pious and God-fearing of this Ummah, then what about us? Surely, it means that we need to engage in the remembrance of Allah (SWT) even more. After all, we are in far more need of this act of worship than they were.

Let us begin at the end of a man's life, in his last moments. He is lying on his death bed and his family at his side. His father is calling for the doctor. His wife asks him: "To whom are you leaving us?". The man's little daughter asks him, "Why do you not answer me?", and his small boy cries but nobody responds to him. This is the situation Allah, The Most High has informed us about:

"Yea, when (the soul) reaches to the collarbone (in its exit), and there will be cry, "Who is a magician (to restore him)?” and he will conclude that it was (the Time) of Parting; and one leg will be joined with another." [Al Qiyamah: 75:26-29]

They place him in his shroud, his leg joins his other leg. Then he is carried upon the shoulders and taken to a dark hole. If he was a transgressing criminal he cries out: "Woe to it! Where are you taking it?"

"That Day the Drive will be (all) to thy Lord!" [Al Qiyamah: 75:30]

Then he is lowered into this ditch and dirt is thrown upon him until he is sealed in it. If he was a criminal, Allah - The Most Perfect and The Most High - says:

"So he gave nothing in charity, nor did he pray! But on the contrary, He rejected Truth and turned away" [Al Qiyamah: 75:31-32]

This transgressor will remain in his grave alone, there will be no one to sit with him and no one to keep him company. He will feel the heat of the fire, smell its foul odour, and be tortured therein. This man's grave will squeeze in upon him so much so that the bones of his rib cage will cross each other. Despite all this punishment and all this torture and pain, he will hope that the hour will never be established. For this man knows that the hour is far worse and of he will be in greater loss on that Day.

The man hears 'As-Saakhah' from within his grave, and what is 'As-Saakhah'? It is the second blowing of the trumpet. This is when all that is in the graves shall be raised and resurrected.

They will say:"Ah! Woe unto us! Who hath raised us up from our beds of repose?” It will be said: "This is what (Allah) Most Gracious had promised, and true was the word of the messengers!" [Ya Sin: 36:52]

When the Sky is cleft asunder; When the Stars are scattered; When the Ocean are suffered to burst forth; And when the Graves are turned upside down – (Then) shall each soul know what it hath sent forward and (what it hath) kept back. [Al Infitar: 82:1-5]

Then he will be raised up and driven to the crowding place: 'Al-Mahshar'.The Day ye shall see it, every mother giving suck shall forget her suckling babe, and every pregnant female shall drop her load (unformed): Thou shalt see mankind as in a drunken riot, yet not drunk: but dreadful will be the Wrath of Allah. [Al Hajj 22:2]

The mother will come to her son and say: "Oh my son, my breast was a container for you, my womb was a container for you. Oh my son I seek from you a hasanah (merit) that I may approach Allah with. My son, do not be greedy towards me". In the world this son would have sacrificed his life, rather many lives for merely the happiness of his mother so how does he treat her now? He responds to her plea: "Get away from me! Leave me! Indeed I am in need of this merit more than you."

At length, when there comes the Deafening Noise - That day shall a man will flee from his own brother, and from his mother and his father, and from his wife and his children. Each one of them, that Day, will have enough concern (of his own) to make him indifferent to the others. [Abasa: 80:33-37]

So mankind will wait in this crowding place for 50,000 years, after which Allah, the Most Perfect and the Most High, will come to judge them. So He will call the criminal and say to him, "What have you done with all that which I bestowed upon you?"

So the man replies, "I have done nothing my Lord."

So he lies to his Lord on that Day. So the Angels come and bear witness that this criminal did not pray in those moments of prayer, he drank, fornicated, lied, cursed and insulted. He turned away from belief and was proud and arrogant. So the criminal says to his Lord, "I do not accept a witness except one from myself."

That Day shall We set a seal on their mouths. But their hands will speak to Us, and their feet bear witness, to all that they did. [Ya Sin: 36:65]

So he turns to his skin and says to it, "it was only for you that I was arguing".

Nay! When the earth is pounded to powder, and thy Lord cometh, and His angels, rank upon rank, and Hell that Day is brought (face to face) – On that Day will man  remember, but how will that remembrance profit him? He will say: “Ah! Would that I had sent forth (Good Deeds) for (this) my (Future) Life!" [Al Fajr: 89:21-24]

This criminal (man) remembers that when he heard the call for prayer and he did not respond to it. He remembers when he woke and the sun had already risen yet he had not prayed al-Fajr. This man remembers when he abused this one, when he slandered that one, when he earned that unlawful wealth, when he struck this one and killed that one. This criminal remembers every sin with which he disobeyed Allah with. That day all his remorse and regret amounts to nothing.

This criminal will be chained and the Angels will then drag him upon his face into the blazing fire. As he enters it he will see his friends from the world already present.

He will say: "Enter ye in the company of the Peoples who passed away before you – men and Jinns – Into the Fire. Every time a new People enters, it curses its sister-People (That went before), until they follow each other, all into the Fire”… [Al A'raf: 7:38]

So he is greeted with curses and given a wretched abode in which to abide. The fire encompasses him from all sides roasting, burning his skin completely,

…As often as their skins are roasted through, We shall change them for fresh skins, that they may taste the punishment… [Al Nisa: 4:56]

Their food in the fire is Ad-Daree' (a thorny plant).

No food will there be for them but a bitter Daree'. Which will neither nourishes nor satisfy hunger. [Al Ghashiyah: 88:6-7]

When they eat it they choke due to the thorns. So when they are choking they ask to be rescued with water, so they are rescued with intensely boiling water which grills their faces when they approach it. When they drink from the water, due to its heat, it cuts their intestines and causes them an increased pain.

They eat from Az-Zaquum. They eat a bitter fruit which cannot be tasted.

Verily the tree of Zaqqum will be the food of the sinful - Like molten brass; it will boil in their insides, like the boiling of scalding water. It will be said: “Seize ye him and drag him into the midst of the blazing Fire! Then pour upon his head the Penalty of boiling water. Taste thou (this)! Truly wast thou Mighty, full of honour!” [Al Dukhan: 44:43-49]

Due to this intense pain, suffering and anguish they are experiencing they call upon the guardian of hell-fire, 

They will cry: “Oh Malik! Would that thy Lord put an end to us!" He will say, ”Nay, but ye shall abide!” [Al Zukhruf: 43:77]

After all of this, they have one last chance and they call upon their Lord, "Oh our Lord we were indeed astray! Oh our Lord we were indeed misguided, we did fall short. Return us to the world so that we can do good instead of that which we used to do."

Reply to them, "Rot in it and do not speak to me. After this they do not speak nor do they utter."

They are then called from afar, "Oh dwellers of the fire, do you know what this is?" They reply, "Yes that is death in the form of a ram." Death is then slaughtered in a place between Al-Jannah an An-Naar. It is said to the dwellers of the fire, ever-lasting life without death.

The ones who obeyed their Lord in this world, let us describe briefly their fate:

When he is placed into his grave it is widened and made spacious for him. He smells the sweet fragrance of Al-Jannah and feels some of its comforts. He sleeps in his grave like a bride on her wedding night that no-one shall awaken except her beloved. When the cry comes he is gathered to the crowding place and waits there for 50,000 years. This time passes as if it were the time between Zuhr and Asr. Then the Lord of the worlds comes to make Judgement, so He calls His slave saying, "Oh my slave, do you not remember that sin, do you not remember this sin." So the slave replies, "My Lord I have perished!" So Allah replies to him, "I hid it in the world for you and this day I forgive it."

This good man is handed his book in his right hand. Due to his happiness he runs to the people and says "Take it; read my book. Indeed I used to think I would meet my accounting."

…and he will be in a life of Bliss… [Al Haqqah: 69:19-21]

Then he will be crowded from a group of al-Jannah.

The Jannah has eight gates and between each gate is a distance that would take 40 years to traverse. There comes a day when the gates are crowded. So as this slave of Allah enters Al-Jannah he is greeted with salaam (peace). He sees before him four rivers:

...In it are rivers of water, incorruptible; Rivers of milk of which the taste never changes; rivers of wine, a joy to those who drink; and rivers of honey, pure and clear... [Muhammad: 47:15]

He has therein a house and he knows this house as he knows his dwelling in this life. His house is made from bricks of gold and silver. In it he has wives from the Hoorul-'een.

And Hoorul 'een, like unto Pearls well-guarded. A Reward for the Deeds of their past (life). [Al Waqi’ah: 56:22-24]

We have created (their Companions) of special creation, and made them virgins-pure (and undefiled) – beloved (by nature), equal in age. [Al Waqi’ah: 35-37]

Every time they cohabit with their husbands they return to being virgins. 

Outside this house he has a tent, in it he has wives. When he goes to one of them, the other does not see him.

In Al-Jannaah the righteous slave has everything he desires, wishes and wants. He neither feels extreme heat nor the bitter cold:

…They will see there neither the sun’s (excessive heat) nor (the moon’s) excessive cold. [Al Insan: 76:13]

There is not a tree in Al-Jannah except its trunk is made of gold. When he requires its fruit he does not need to get up from his place, since it comes to him:

And the shades of the (Garden) will come low over them, and the bunches (of fruit), there, will hang low in humility. [Al Insan: 76:14]

And round about them will (serve) youths of perpetual (freshness): If thou seest them, thou wouldst think them scattered Pearls. [Al Insaan: 76:19]

So he resides therein, tranquil and at ease. No pain, no ill feeling and no foul speech. Life without death is lasting with no end.

THE LAST MAN WHO ENTERS HEAVEN

…Till when Allah intends mercy on whomever He likes amongst the people of Hell, He will order the angels to take out of Hell those who worshipped none but Him alone. The angels will take them out by recognizing them from the traces of prostrations, for Allah has forbidden the (Hell) fire to eat away those traces. So they will come out of the Fire, it will eat away from the whole of the human body except the marks of the prostrations. At that time they will come out of the Fire as mere skeletons. The Water of Life will be poured on them and as a result they will grow like the seeds growing on the bank of flowing water. Then when Allah had finished from the Judgments amongst his creations, one man will be left between Hell and Paradise and he will be the last man from the people of Hell to enter Paradise. He will be facing Hell, and will say, 'O Allah! Turn my face from the fire as its wind has dried me and its steam has burnt me.' Allah will ask him, 'Will you ask for anything more in case this favor is granted to you?' He will say, 'No by Your (Honor) Power!' And he will give to his Lord (Allah) what he will of the pledges and the covenants. Allah will then turn his face from the Fire. When he will face Paradise and will see its charm, he will remain quiet as long as Allah will. He then will say, 'O my Lord! Let me go to the gate of Paradise.' Allah will ask him, 'Didn't you give pledges and make covenants (to the effect) that you would not ask for anything more than what you requested at first?' He will say, 'O my Lord! Do not make me the most wretched, amongst Your creatures.' Allah will say, 'If this request is granted, will you then ask for anything else?' He will say, 'No! By Your Power! I shall not ask for anything else.' Then he will give to his Lord what He will of the pledges and the covenants. Allah will then let him go to the gate of Paradise. On reaching then and seeing its life, charm, and pleasure, he will remain quiet as long as Allah wills and then will say, 'O my Lord ! Let me enter Paradise.' Allah will say, May Allah be merciful unto you, O son of Adam! How treacherous you are! Haven't you made covenants and given pledges that you will not ask for anything more that what you have been given?' He will say, 'O my Lord! Do not make me the most wretched amongst Your creatures.' So Allah will laugh and allow him to enter Paradise and will ask him to request as much as he likes. He will do so till all his desires have been fulfilled. Then Allah will say, 'Request more of such and such things.' Allah will remind him and when all his desires and wishes; have been fulfilled, Allah will say 'All this is granted to you and a similar amount besides… [Sahih Al-Bukhari Volume 1, Hadith no. 770, Translated by M.Muhsin Khan]

These are not mere stories that we tell to amuse ourselves or scare one another, rather they are the destinies of the ones who obey Allah (swt) and those who disobey.

Allah (swt) calls His slaves to repentance many times in every day so avail these opportunities. Repentance has only three conditions, that you be sincere to Allah (swt), that you leave the sin and that you make a firm resolve that you never return to the sin.

We must- all of us- worry about our fate after death. Verily this world is coming to an end. Life in this world is temporary! Is it not foolish to forgo Salat (prayers) only so that we may sleep a little more? Or, to love money so much that we do not pay Zakah? And go through a severe torment in the grave (just for a little bit of sleep or money, etc.) Let us do pious deed and keep away from sinful activities so that our period in Barzakh is spent comfortably and on the Day of Resurrection too we emerge honourably.

Rabbana Aatayna Fiddoonya Hasanatawn wa fil Aakheratey Hasanatawn wa Qena Azaban Nar
(O our Lord! Bestow upon us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and protect us from the torment of the fire) Aameen.

May Allah (swt) guide us to prepare for the Hereafter. May He preserve us from the punishment of the grave, on the Last Day, and of the Fire. May Allah (swt) grant us Paradise (Jannah) Aameen.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah's Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Last updated 3rd December 2013

Source :

• The Dreamer’s Hand Book (Sleep Etiquettes & Dream Interpretation in Light of the Sunnah), The Inevitable Journey – Book 5 by Muhammad Mustafa Al-Jibali (Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah).
• Hereafter (Punishment in the Grave) by Sheik Anwar Al-Awlaki
• Fisabilillah Publications
• The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an, 11th edition 1429 AH / 2008 C.E with Revised English Translation, Commentary and Index by ‘Abdullah Yusuf ‘Ali.

A Party in Hell, A Party in Paradise