Question
When a person dies and is buried the next day, does his soul remain in his body before his burial? What is happening to him?
Response text
Praise be to Allah.
Praise be to Allah
First, Imam Ahmad (17803) reported from al-Baraa ibn Azeb that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Certainly when a man is leaving the world from here- low to reach the afterlife, white angels with faces as bright as the sun descend from the sky with shrouds brought from paradise and a heavenly perfume. They settle in sight (of the dying). Then the angel of death approaches so as to place himself near the head of the dying man and says: O good soul! Go out to bathe in the mercy and pleasure of Allah. He (the reporter) says: the soul then flows like a drop of water that escapes from a bottle. The angel of death collects it. As soon as he grabs her, the other angels snatch her from him in less than a blink of an eye.eye and wrap it in one of the shrouds and perfume it. A smell like that of the best musk available on earth emanates from it. He (the reporter) continues: they go up to heaven with it and each time they pass near a group of angels they tell them: what is this good soul? ? To which they respond: that of such a son of such calling him by his best names used during his life on earth (and it will be so) until their arrival in the lowest heaven. They ask and get it opened to them. Also from each heaven, his best angels accompany him to the next heaven and, until their arrival in seventh heaven where Allah the Mighty and Majestic will say:A smell like that of the best musk available on earth emanates from it. He (the reporter) continues: they go up to heaven with it and each time they pass near a group of angels they tell them: what is this good soul? ? To which they respond: that of such a son of such calling him by his best names used during his life on earth (and it will be so) until their arrival in the lowest heaven. They ask and get it opened to them. Also from each heaven, his best angels accompany him to the next heaven and, until their arrival in seventh heaven where Allah the Mighty and Majestic will say:A smell like the one of the best musk available on earth emanates from it. ? To which they respond: that of such a son of such calling him by his best names used during his life on earth (and it will be so) until their arrival in the lowest heaven. They ask and get it opened to them. Also from each heaven, his best angels accompany him to the next heaven and, until their arrival in seventh heaven where Allah the Mighty and Majestic will say:who is this good soul? To which they respond: that of such a son of such calling him by his best names used during his life on earth (and it will be so) until their arrival in the lowest heaven. They ask and get it opened to them. Also from each heaven, his best angels accompany him to the next heaven and, until their arrival in seventh heaven where Allah the Mighty and Majestic will say:who is this good soul? To which they respond: that of such a son of such calling him by his best names used during his life on earth (and it will be so) until their arrival in the lowest heaven. They ask and get it opened to them. Also from each heaven, his best angels accompany him to the next heaven and, until their arrival in seventh heaven where Allah the Mighty and Majestic will say:on their arrival in seventh heaven where Allah the Mighty and Majestic will say:on their arrival in seventh heaven where Allah the Mighty and Majestic will say:Place the register of my faithful servant in the highest place then bring it back to earth because it is from her that I created them and it is in these entrails that I will deposit them and it is from there that I will take them out again. We bring his soul back to his body and two angels come to him and put him seated …The reporter then quoted a hadith evoking the interrogation in the tomb and the seizure of the soul of the unbeliever … before saying: “They go up to heaven with it and each time they pass near a group of angels, they say: what is this bad soul? They say: it is that of such a son of such, calling it the worst names that were applied to it here below. This continues until they reach the lowest heaven. Then they ask that we offer it to them but we do not open it to them. Then the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him) recites: these will never see the gates of Heaven open before them nor will they have access to Paradise until the camel has passed through the eye of a needle. !(Quran, 7:40) Allah the Mighty and Majestic will say: place his registration in the lowest layer of the earth. We’ll throw his soul away then. He (the Prophet) recites: he who gives him associates is like someone who, thrown from the sky, finds himself disputed by birds of prey or carried by the wind towards a bottomless abyss. (Quran, 22:31). We bring his soul back into his body and two angels come forward and put him seated …. ”Then he spoke of the interrogation in the tomb. (Judged authentic in Sahih al-Djaami (1676). See the answer given to question no.4395 .
Shaykh al-Islam, Ibn Taymiyah (May Allah have mercy on him) said: The aforementioned hadith indicates that the soul remains after being separated from the body, contrary to the opinion of scholastic theologians, and that it goes up and down, contrary to the opinion of lost philosophers, and that it is reinserted into the body and that the dead person will be questioned and well treated or punished accordingly. Extract from Majmou al-Fatawa (4/292).
Ibn Madja (4262) reported from Abu Hurairah that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “The angels present themselves to the dying. If he is a pious man, they say (to his soul): O good soul having animated a good body, come out commendable and receive good news, delights, rest and serenity from a Master who is not angry . We will keep repeating these words to her until she comes out. Then we take it to heaven and ask that we open it to him. We will then say: who is this one? To which we will answer: so and so fis of such. They will say so and so? We will say: welcome to a good soul who animated a good body. Come out praiseworthy and receive good news, delights, rest and serenity from a Master who is not angry. We will not stop repeating these words to him untilit arrives in heaven where Allah the Mighty and Majestic is.
If the dead man was a man of evil, the angel will say to him: come out, O evil soul who animated a bad body. Go out decried. Receive the bad news of a hot and polluted drink and a diverse but similar one. We will keep repeating these words to her until she comes out. Then we make it go up to heaven but we don’t open it to him. We will say: who is this one? We will say: it is so and so. We will say: no welcome for a bad soul which animates a bad body. Come back decried because we won’t open the doors of heaven to you. We will send her back from the sky to return to the grave. ” (Deemed authentic by al-Abani in Sahih ibn Madjah).
In these two hadiths, the state of the soul after death and before burial is explained. If it had belonged to a faithful believer, the angels bring him the good news even before seizing it accompanied by the forgiveness and the approval of Allah. They perfume her and make her come up happy to her Transcendent Master. Allah the Mighty and Majestic will say: Place the register of my faithful servant in the highest place before bringing her back to earth … The soul will be brought back to the body it had animated. Then we will question the person in his grave and Allah will strengthen him with the help of reassuring words and we will widen his grave within sight.
As for the soul of the disbeliever, the angels will announce to him his access to hell and the resentment it arouses with Allah. Then we make her come up ashamed, humiliated and fearful. The gates of heaven will not be opened to him. Then we will throw it on the ground before reinserting it into the body it had animated. Its holder will be tested in his tomb which will shrink over him and expose him to the heat of hell and its lime winds.
The period which separates the seizure of the soul, the burial and the interrogation in the tomb is, for the believer, the beginning of a happy eternal journey because he will be announced his access to paradise and his lasting enjoyment of its delights. We will place his register in the highest place. It is then that his soul will be content and happy forever.
For the disbeliever, it is the beginning of a painful eternal journey since he aroused the spite of Allah and the doors of heaven nor those of mercy will not be opened to him. His register will be integrated into the sidjdjin (sealed book) so that his soul remains eternally unhappy.
Shaykh al-Islam, Ibn Taymiyah (May Allah have mercy on him) said: All hadiths received through concordant channels affirm the return of the soul to the body because the issue of the body deprived of the soul is supported by a group of people but denied by the majority of ulemas. It is the same with a soul without a body. Ibn Maysarah and Ibn Hazem support the possibility of this. But if they were right, the tomb wouldn’t be the only place that could welcome him. Extract from Madjmou ‘al-Fatawa (5/446). See the nouroune alaa ad-darb fatwas by Sheikh ibn Baz (May Allah have mercy on him) (4 / 310-311).
Second, these matters are part of the (divine) mystery that the Muslim must accept with submission without questioning their modality. Indeed, nobody except Allah knows the reality and the modality of the transitory life (that which takes place between death and the resurrection).
Sheikh Ibn Uthaymine (May Allah have mercy on him) was questioned in these terms: The death of a man means that his soul has left his body. When we put it in a grave, do we give it back its soul? Otherwise where is it going? If she returns him to the grave, how could it be?
Here is his response: “It is reliably reported from the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him) that when someone dies, their soul is returned to him in the grave and questioned on his Master, on him. his faith and on his Prophet. Allah will strengthen the believers with the help of the word which reassures here below and in the Hereafter. The believer will say: Allah is my Master, Islam my religion and Muhammad my prophet. As for the disbeliever or the hypocrite, he will say when questioned: ha, ha! I do not know. I heard people say things and I repeated them …
The soul restored to the body in the tomb will not animate her as she did during her life here below because the life in the tome is a transitory life whose nature we do not know because it has not been revealed to us. We were not informed of all these mysterious cases. Therefore, we must stop in accordance with the word of the Most High: Say nothing of which you are not sure! For man will be required to account for what he has done with hearing, sight and heart. (Quran, 17:36).