The Messenger of Allah said:

　　“I said to them [the two angels who came to him (in a dream) and awakened him and said to him: ‘Proceed!']: ‘I have seen many wonders tonight. What does all that I have seen mean?’ They replied: ‘We will inform you: as for the first man you came upon whose head was being crushed with the rock, he is the one who studies the Quran and neither recites it nor acts on its orders, and sleeps, neglecting the obligatory prescribed prayers. This will be done to him until the Day of Resurrection. As for the man you came upon, whose sides of the mouth, nose and eyes were torn off from front to back, he is the man who goes out of his house in the morning and tells many lies which spread all over the world. This will be done to him until the Day of Resurrection. As for those naked men and women whom you saw in an oven-like structure, they are the adulterers and the adulteresses. And the man whom you saw swimming in the river and who was being given a stone to swallow, he is the one who consumes Riba (usury).” [Al-Bukhari]

　　Do you know now who these people are?

　　The first is he who sleeps and neglects the prescribed prayers.

　　The second is the liar who promulgates false rumors among people.

　　The (naked) men and women are the adulterers and adulteresses.

　　The last one is the person who devours Riba.

　　I ask Allah The Almighty not to make us among such people.

　　Dear reader, these are but some forms of punishment of the grave received by the person who lives in disobedience of Allah The Almighty, and does not follow the way of guidance.

　　On the other hand, those who obey Allah The Almighty will receive from Him a great reward and abiding bliss.

　　It is narrated on the authority of Abu Sa‘eed Al-Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said, “I was one of those who took part in digging the grave of Sa‘d ibn Mu‘aath, may Allah be pleased with him, at Al-Baqee' cemetery. The more we dug the earth, the more it exuded the scent of musk until we reached the Lahd (the burying place).” It is narrated through Muhammad ibn Shurahbeel ibn Hasanah that he said, “A man took a handful of the earth of the grave of Sa'd, may Allah be pleased with him, and looked at it later and behold! It was musk.” [Ibn Sa‘d in his Tabaqaat]

　　It is narrated on the authority of Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said, the Messenger of Allah said:

　　“If a servant dies and is buried in the grave, two black and blue-complexioned angels come to him, one called Munkar and the other Nakeer, and ask him: “What did you say about the Prophet?” If he is a faithful believer, he would say: “He is the Servant and Messenger of Allah. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except for Allah, and that Muhammad is His Slave and Messenger.” They then say to him: “We have indeed learnt that you said (and believed in) that.” Then, his grave would be extended for him as much as seventy by seventy cubits, and illuminated and he would be asked to sleep. He would say: “Let me return to my family to tell them (about my bliss).” But he would be asked to sleep like a bridegroom whom none awakens but the dearest of his family to him, until Allah The Almighty raises him from his place of repose. However, if he is a hypocrite, he would say in reply to them: “I do not know. I heard the people saying something and I repeated it after them.” They would say to him: “We have indeed learnt that you said (and believed in) that.” Then, the earth would be asked to be welded on him, and it would do accordingly so violently that his ribs would dislocate; and he remains in punishment until Allah The Almighty raises him from his lying place.” [At-Tirmithi. Al-Albaani: Saheeh in As-Silsilah As-Saheehah]

　　Here, the point of resemblance between the believer’s sleep (in the grave) and the sleep of a bridegroom is his living in a good manner. [Tuhfat Al-Ahwathi]

　　This is indeed a part of the bliss which a believer enjoys in his grave: I ask Allah The Almighty to make our graves a garden from the gardens of Paradise, and not a hole from the holes of Hell-fire.

　　Terrors of the Grave - I