Boreal

Alice Visits a Mosque to Learn About Judgement Day

Life in the Grave

Alice: What is Judgement Day exactly?

Imam: Judgement Day is the Day when Allah will cause all who are alive to die, and then will bring them back to life to be judged, along with everyone who ever lived.

Alice: Just like in the Bible.

Imam: NO. The Bible got it almost right. Judgement Day in the Koran is the second judgement.

Alice: The second judgement!!! When was the first?

Imam: In Islamic Traditions, which are words and actions that can usually be traced to what the Prophet Muhammad, the peace and blessings of God be upon him, said or did, everyone will be judged shortly after being visited by ‘Izra’il, the angel of death. Forty days before a person dies a leaf with the soon-to-be-deceased’s name on it falls from a tree in Paradise just beneath Allah’s throne. ‘Izra’il picks it up and schedules a pick-up forty days hence.

Alice: Why forty days?

Imam: Ten, thirty, forty days, what does it matter? What is important is that the Prophet, the peace and blessings of God be upon him, said that when ‘Izra’il knocks on the door, even after he warned people about his coming, they will not recognize him and will ask him: “Who are you?”

Alice: So, the angel of death is not dressed in a black cloak and hood and carrying a sickle, which is a dead giveaway. Dead giveaway, get it?

Imam: Yes, I get it. The grim reaper, the person to whom you are referring, is just a myth. ‘Izra’il is not a myth!

Alice: Of course. So the angel of death is the last person a living person will see?

Imam: No! That honour is reserved for the two angels who have been patiently and anonymously recording a person's good and bad deeds. These two angels, in the blink of an eye, will present the soon-to-be-deceased with their lifetime of good and bad deeds, after which the person whose name is on the leaf-of-record dies, but not his thinking, seeing, able-to-feel-pain soul which will sink into the ground where they passed away, but not before ‘Izra’il has finished extracting it from the still-warm body, drawing it out like rough cotton through the eye sockets.

Alice: OUCH!

Imam: Death, like birth, is meant to be a painful transition. This painful procedure will give Satan one last chance to tempt a believer in agony to come over to the dark side by offering some relief from the pain caused by what the soft-hearted may consider an appalling soul extraction method.

Alice: And Allah will allow ‘Izra’il to do this to people, to women and children who have been loyal to Him all their lives.

Imam: The children of true believers are raised to endure discomfort. On the threshold of Paradise, they will be able to stand the pain and not accept Satan’s offer to reduce it, thereby avoiding a U-turn to Hell on Judgement Day. It is just one more way the Wise and Compassionate tests our faith to make sure we are worthy of His Paradise.

Alice: What happens to the "extracted soul"?

Imam: If it is meant to go to Hell, it will be given a glimpse of Hell, its final destination on Judgement Day. The horror-struck soul will then briefly escape ‘Izra’il’s grip and will fly to heaven and try all seven doors to the seven levels of heaven, only to be turned back by the angels guarding the entrances to Paradise. It will be forced to return to ‘Izra’il, who will then stuff it back into the already decaying corpse. The re-constituted soul-body amalgamation will then begin its new life in the grave.

Alice: What grave? How could anyone have dug a grave in the short interval that you have described; or is extracting a soul through the eye sockets a time consuming exercise?

Imam: The grave I am talking about was prepared by Allah. Allah said:

40:68 It is He Who brings life and causes to die. Then, if He decrees a certain matter, He only says: “Be”, and it comes to be.

Alice: Is the grave that Allah has prepared like a regular grave?

Imam: Of course not, you dimwitted girl, it is much bigger. The believer who died literally in Allah’s good books will be provided with a spacious grave, complete with curtains and a bed. An unbeliever, or a believer who died while in Allah’s bad books, will be confined to a cramped space with walls constantly closing in on them making their every breath a laboured one.

Alice: That would mean that the inside of the earth is one big honeycomb with Hell at the center.

Imam: Who says it is not?

Alice: Science.

Imam: Who are you going to believe, science or God? Remember, Allah is a master illusionist; He even has Christians believing that Jesus died on the cross. Allah said:

4:157 And their saying: “We have killed the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary and the Messenger of Allah.” They neither killed nor crucified him; but it was made to appear so unto them. Indeed, those who differ about him are in doubt about it. Their knowledge does not go beyond conjecture, and they did not kill him for certain;

4:158 Rather Allah raised him unto Him. Allah is Mighty and Wise.

Alice: He would have to be Mighty indeed to hide all those graves.

Imam: Innocent girl, open your mind to the possibilities, even the possibility that life in the grave is life in another dimension.

Alice: That sounds like science fiction.

Imam: The science you referred to earlier is mostly science fiction. What is real is what Allah and His Messenger, the Prophet Muhammad, the peace and blessings of God be upon him, say is real.

Alice: And the Koran's description of what we see and don't see is what I have to believe with certainty to be a believer?

Imam: For a female you quickly grasp the essential. There may be hope for you if you believe in what I tell you, in Allah’s revelations, with certainty.

Alice: But not for those confined to those horrible graves.

Imam: Not necessarily. Not if they pass the interrogation of Munkar and Nakir.

Alice: Who???

Imam: After the living dead have settled into their new surroundings, two black-skinned, blue-eyed angels by the name of Munkar and Nakir will burst into their grave and start questioning, for forty days non-stop, the decaying remains as to their religious beliefs and what they thought of the Prophet, the peace and blessings of God be upon him.

Alice: What would be the point?

Imam: Considering the horror that is life in the grave for the guilty, Allah wants to be sure that the occupant is really an unbeliever, or truly guilty of what the angel who recorded its bad deeds has accused it of.

Alice: Makes sense, sort of...

Imam: One question the angels will ask will lead to the occupant incriminating itself, to admit that it was an unbeliever. Allah said:

7:37 For who is more unjust than he who fabricates lies about Allah or denies His Revelations? Those will get their share of the punishment ordained for them. When Our Messenger (the messengers of death in this case, the angels) come to take their souls they will say: “Where are those upon whom you called besides Allah?” They will say: “They have left us” and they will bear witness against themselves that they were unbelievers.

Alice: Why not ask the incriminating question first and be done with the interrogation? With millions of people dying every day I am sure that Munkar and what’s his name have a lot of graves to visit?

Imam: Nakir. Munkar and Nakir will have other questions for the grave’s occupant such as whether it ever said anything bad about the Prophet, the peace and blessings of God be upon him.

Alice: And what if it did?

Imam: The Prophet Muhammad, the peace and blessings of God be upon him, said, "When a human being is laid in his grave two angels come to him and make him sit and ask him: 'What did you use to say about this man, Muhammad?' He will say: 'I testify that he is Allah's slave and His Apostle.' Then it will be said to him, 'Look at your place in the Hell-Fire. Allah has given you a place in Paradise instead of it.'“

Alice: That was lucky.

Imam: Luck had nothing to do with it. The Prophet Muhammad, the peace and blessings of God be upon him, also said that "the dead person will see both his places. But a non-believer or a hypocrite will say to the angels, 'I do not know, but I used to say what the people used to say! It will be said to him, 'Neither did you know nor did you take the guidance (by reciting the Quran).' Then he will be hit with an iron hammer between his two ears, and he will cry and that cry will be heard by whatever approaches him except human beings and jinns."

Alice: Hit with a hammer!!! Is life in a dank confining hole in the ground for maybe thousands of years not hurt enough, not to mention the suffering to come?

Imam: Not by the exacting standards of the Compassionate; and it does not end there for those undeserving of His Mercy. The interrogation over, the occupant of the grave will continue to get twice daily visits, until Judgement Day, from another angel.

Alice: Is its visit to relieve the boredom of life in the grave?

Imam: This angel has not come to chat, but to open those curtains with that pleasing or horrifying view. The Prophet, the peace and blessings of God be upon him, said: "When any of you dies, he is shown his position (in the Hereafter) morning and evening. If he is one of the people of Paradise, he is shown the place of the people of Paradise. If he is one of the people of Hell, he is shown the place of the people of Hell. He is told, ‘this is your position, until God resurrects you on the Day of Resurrection."

Alice: The nightmares that those whom Allah has already doomed to roast in Hell for an eternity will experience ̶ that is, if they can even fall asleep with walls that continuously threaten to smother them. How absolutely horrible!

Imam: The Prophet, the peace and blessings of God be upon him, said that “we would faint in terror if we could hear the screams of those being tormented” in their graves.

Alice: If the claustrophobic, agonizing existence of life in the grave for unbelievers – an existence which combines both physical and psychological terrors to achieve an unprecedented level of horror and discomfort – were not god-inspired, then the Prophet Muhammad would probably be remembered today as one of the greatest sadistic minds the world has ever known, if not insane.

Imam: THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD, THE PEACE AND BLESSINGS OF GOD BE UPON HIM, IS NOT A SADIST AND NEITHER IS ALLAH; AND NEITHER OF THEM HAVE THE DEFICIENCY OF THE MIND COMMON IN FEMALES. THE UNBELIEVERS WILL ONLY GET WHAT THEY DESERVE FOR NOT BELIEVING IN ALLAH AND HIS MESSENGER.

Alice: Of course, and I apologise for my ill-considered and wrong-headed supposition that Allah and His Messenger might not be immune to human neurosis; but surely, Allah does not believe that women which He created, as a gender are stupid – I mean mentally deficient?

Imam: Allah said:

2:282 ... And call to witness two witnesses of your men; if not two men, then one man and two women from such witnesses you approve of, so that if one of them (the two women) fails to remember, the other will remind her.

Alice: What about the Prophet?

Imam: No one knows the Mind of Allah like His Messenger. The Prophet, the peace and blessings of God be upon him, explained why Allah would say such a thing, that the testimony “of a woman is equal to half that of a man?" and that it was "because of the deficiency of the woman’s mind."

Alice: Most women I know are not feeble-minded, quite the opposite; for example, in “our” country, yours and mine, women doctors now outnumber men, or will shortly, and is there another profession that is more demanding in mental ability and physical stamina?

Imam: There are always exceptions to the rule, but an undisputed failing of females is their soft-heartedness, which, in another exception to the rule, you find in some Islamic scholars for whom life in the grave as described by the Prophet, the peace and blessings of God be upon him, was too much even by Allah's standards. These scholars looked to the Koran for a reason to modify the Prophet's, the peace and blessings of God be upon him, horrific descriptions. They found it, they believe, in something Allah said. God said:

23:99 Yet, when death visits one of them, he says: “Lord bring me back (to the world);

23:100 “That perchance I might act rightly with respect to what I have omitted.” No, it is just a word he is uttering; and behind them is a barrier till the day they are raised from the dead.

These scholars, exhibiting a typical female response to harsh justice, have interpreted “barrier” as meaning unconsciousness. For these weak interpreters of Allah's Revelations, the interrogation by Munkar and Nakir will not last more than forty days, and then the object of their suspicions will sink into blissful unconsciousness until awakened on Judgement Day.

Alice: Why do you keep saying "the peace and blessings of God be upon him" every time the Prophet Muhammad is mentioned?

Imam: Muslims believe that whenever we wish peace upon the Prophet, the peace and blessings of God be upon him, an angel goes to the Prophet’s, the peace and blessings of God be upon him, grave and brings him the good news. On the Day of Judgement, Allah will listen to some pleas for mercy from the Prophet, the peace and blessings of God be upon him, for those Allah, the Merciful, has sentence to Hell’s Fire. Since the Compassionate will only allow a limited number of pleas, the more blessings you wish on the Prophet, the peace and blessings of God be upon him, the better your chances that the Prophet, the peace and blessings of God be upon him, will intercede on your behalf if you have done something for which Allah believes you should spend an eternity in His Hell.

Alice: The Prophet will also be spending time in the grave?

Imam: Of course; there are no exceptions.

Alice: After life in the grave, how bad could Judgement Day be for unbelievers? At least, for those whom Allah will cause to die on the eve of the big Day, it will be a short time and they will not have to put up with the forty day interrogation by Munkar and the Nakir and risk being pummeled with an iron bar?

Imam: Hammer. [having never considered this possibility, the imam does not know how to respond] I, I ... I am not so sure.