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What is the meaning behind ahzab-e-kabr (punishment in the grave) ?

Dated: 16/08/1985

Location: The London Mosque

Language: English

Audience: General

What is the meaning behind ahzab-e-kabr (punishment in the grave) ?

Huzoor, would you kindly explain what is the meaning of Azab-e-Kabr, that is the punishment in the grave? You want it for yourself or you want..I’m sorry but I don’t mean that. Obviously you want it for others, for everybody. What an event you have taken on everybody else, for what I said to you. Let them be well warned. It reminds me of a short booklet, it was once very much advertised in Lahore. On every wall it was written that if you want to understand Azab-e-Kabr, what it is, you read this booklet.

And such horrible stories were written in that booklet, that it was more like a book of jokes than a book of reality. But I’ll come to that later, such things. Just a minute, yes I understand, wait, wait. Azab-e-Kabr is taken literally by most of the non-Ahmadi scholars. By Kabr they mean this Asli Kabr, that grave we dig. And by Azab-e-Kabr they mean that some punishment is being given to the dead, to the corpse, in that physical, material grave.

And by the traditions of the Prophet, they understand that an actual real door is opened into that grave. And the angels come, appear and ask about the Kalima and the prayer, confession and the prayer and everything. And they list in orders, that first they’ll ask this question and second and third and so on. And immediately they start beating him, after they found him guilty of such crimes.

In Arab countries, in Syria for instance, particularly in some other countries as well, the religious scholars, mashayikh, they read on the dead person, while the corpse is lying there. They read the list of questions and the answers, they remind him, look here, for this question you must answer like this, for that question you must answer like this. And it’s all a pack of lies which are being taught to the dead, because he has been living a different life, like a lawyer, like a lawyer who tells a thief that before the death you must say this, you must not say that.

They read that list and, you know, prepare him for escaping the punishment of Allah. All this is rubbish, hocus pocus, there is no truth whatsoever in this. The reality is that Qabar means the period during which the soul will be developed. And the person will be prepared over a very long period into a new being which would be raised on the day of resurrection. And that transformation would be an immense transformation. I have been explaining this in reference to the Holy Qur’an here in these sessions.

So I won’t repeat that. The point is that all that period before the ultimate birth of the spirit as a full being and after the death, between the two periods, all the period is called Qabar. Those who are bad and evil people, they will not wait for the full punishment, for the punishment until they are resurrected in the final form. But what the Prophet s.a.w. tells us is this, that right in that process of development they would know that they are the hellish people because they would start tasting some of the punishment at that early time.

And similarly the vice versa would happen to the pious people. But as I told you, the stories are in circulation and the mullahs, even in Pakistan nowadays, on the pulpits, when they have time, they speak of Azab-e-Kabar. And they terrify the people, ignorant people, and tell them that, look here, if you want to save the Azab-e-Kabar, then help us, give us something, you know, so that we can be of some avail to you.

So once it is said that one poor person who heard such a long sermon on Azab-e-Kabar, he was absolutely terrified. And then he went next time to the sermon and again this was the subject of the same Azab-e-Kabar. So he was terrified out of his wits. Yet somehow he couldn’t believe that all this could happen. Because the mullah was telling him that the moment you are buried, two angels will appear. And he went even that far as to say that, look here, they’ll ask questions later, start punishing you first. Beating with a stick, thick stick, after, look here, wake up, what are you doing? And answer this question.

And they’ll first ask about the Kalima, Iman, and then they’ll ask about the prayer, and then some other things. So he said, I must verify, this mullah seems to be exaggerating things, because I can’t believe all these things. So once he decided to go to a graveyard, and a grave was dug just recently, for some, I mean, one grave is always dug in preparation for a corpse to appear any time. So he went there, and died quietly in the grave, waiting for the angel to come.

So just it so happened that at that time, a landlord was passing by riding a mare. And his mare gave birth to a filly right in that graveyard. Now this landlord had seen that person enter that grave. So he wanted someone to pick that filly, because immediately the newborn fillies can’t travel long distances. So he was waiting when the birth was given, and the filly stood on his legs. So he went to the graveyard and said, come out now, pick this filly, and carry it to the next village where I am going. Poor thing, you know. He had to carry it to the rest. And afterwards, he said, all right, sit there over in that corner.

So after a while, he pitied him, he said, look here, he asked for, as we call, you know, a small piece of gourd, you know, the raw sugar, that is more than a lump, you know, a small, that size of sugar, which is not loose sugar, but turned into a compact thing that is called gourd in our country. That I have not seen anywhere in the Western countries. Raw sugar is found here in loose form, you know, in crystal, small crystal forms. But the sugar I am referring to is found in lumps, large lumps. And this we call gourd.

So after a while, he pitied him and asked his host to bring a lump or two of gourd, that is raw sugar. And he brought, when he was brought, he gave it to this man and said, now run away, back to your village. He said, all right, he started eating the gourd on the way. And he kept waiting for the mullah to appear during the next sermon and start speaking on the same subject. So when the mullah broached on the subject again, he immediately got up. He said, look here, all you who are here, this is a very great liar, this mullah. He doesn’t know what is going to happen, he has no experience, it’s all hearsay, no truth in it. I have been through that experience myself.

I know what happens. You know, nobody would ask you about your imam, your shaykh, only one angel will appear and tell you to carry a filly to the next village. After you carry, he will tell you to sit in the corner for a while, then he’ll ask for a few lumps of gourd, that is raw sugar, and give you one or two and say, now run away, back to the village. So this is the faith we are living in, you know, poor thing. And Hazrat Masih Maud as has ushered us from this total darkness to the light of Islam. And they say this is not Islam and that is Islam.

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