Punishment of the Grave ( ar, عذاب القبر ''ʿAdhāb al-Qabr'', also translated torment of the grave) is a Judeo-Islamic concept about the time between

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

and resurrection on the

Day of Judgement The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...

. According to some hadiths, the souls of the unrighteous are punished by two angels in the

grave A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as grave ...

, while the righteous find the grave "peaceful and blessed". J. A. C. Brown, ''Misquoting Muhammad'', 2014: p. 46 The punishment of the grave is mentioned in the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...

. Although it is mentioned in the

hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...

s such as those compiled by

Ibn Hanbal Ahmad ibn Hanbal al-Dhuhli ( ar, أَحْمَد بْن حَنْبَل الذهلي, translit=Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal al-Dhuhlī; November 780 – 2 August 855 CE/164–241 AH), was a Muslim jurist, theologian, ascetic, hadith traditionist, and f ...

and appears as early as the 9th century, still present among the majority of

Sunnis Sunni Islam () is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia ...

and

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...

s. A similar concept can be found in Jewish narrative, there the wicked are punished by angels of destruction, in an intermediary state between the

resurrection of the dead General resurrection or universal resurrection is the belief in a resurrection of the dead, or resurrection from the dead ( Koine: , ''anastasis onnekron''; literally: "standing up again of the dead") by which most or all people who have died ...

and the individual death.

Religions

Islam

The

itself gives very brief references about the period between death and the resurrection. It makes no mention of any kind of reward or punishment being given to the deceased/dead in the grave. However it mentions that certain individuals such as

martyrs A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...

are alive and not dead in and also indicates, that some are already in hell in .Jane I. Smith, Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad ''Islamic Understanding of Death and Resurrection'' State University of New York Press 1981 p. 32 The term ''

Barzakh Barzakh (Arabic: برزخ, from Persian ''Barzakh'', "limbo, barrier, partition") is an Arabic word meaning "obstacle", "hindrance", "separation", or "barrier". In Islam, it denotes a place separating the living from the hereafter or a phase/"st ...

'' indicates that the deceased and the living are entirely separated and can not interact with each other. Otherwise ''Barzakh'' refers to the whole period between the Day of Resurrection and death and is used

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

ously for "grave". Others regard barzakh as a world dividing and simultaneously connecting the realm of the dead and the living. Therefore, some Muslim traditions argue about possibilities to contact the dead by sleeping on graveyards. Despite the non-existent or at max, the brief mentionings in the Quran, Islamic tradition discusses elaborately, almost in graphic detail, as to what exactly happens before, during and after death, based on certain hadithic narrations. After the burial each person is interrogated in the grave by two angels, called

Munkar and Nakir Munkar and Nakir ( ar, منكر ونكير) (English translation: "The Denied and The Denier") in Islamic eschatology, are angels who test the faith of the dead in their graves. Description These angels are described as having solid black eyes ...

, appointed by God to question the dead in order to test their

faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people often ...

. The righteous believers answer correctly and live in peace and comfort while the sinners and disbelievers fail and punishments ensue. In the life of

, the souls of the sinners and disbelievers are kept and punished in a place called ''

Sijjin ''Sijjin'' ( ar, سِجِّين lit. Netherworld, Underworld, Chthonian World) is in Islamic belief either a prison, vehement torment or straitened circumstances at the bottom of ''Jahannam'' or hell, below the earth (compare Greek Tartarus), o ...

'' which is said to be located at the lowest level of the earth (traditionally hell, before the Day of resurrection or

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

).''

Maariful Quran ''Ma'ariful Qur'an'' ( ur, ) is an eight-volume ''tafsir'' (exegesis) of the Quran written by Islamic scholar Mufti Muhammad Shafi (1897–1976). Originally written in Urdu, it is the most prominent work of its author. Background About the ...

'' (exegesis of the Quran) by

Muhammad Shafi Usmani Muḥammad Shafī‘ ibn Muḥammad Yāsīn ‘Us̱mānī Deobandī ( ur, ; ar, محمد شفيع بن محمد ياسين العثماني الديوبندي, ''Muḥammad Shafī‘ ibn Muḥammad Yāsīn al-‘Uthmānī ad-Diyūbandī''; ...

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

. Chapter 83. The books containing the full records of their deeds are also kept here. On the other hand, the souls of the righteous believers are kept in a place called ''

Illiyin ''Illiyin'', ''Illiyun'' or ''Elliyoun'' ( ar, عِلِّيِّين, عِلِّيُّون, ʿilliyyīn, -ūn literally: heaven, upperworld) is a Quranic term referring to either the "most high" and "supreme" places above Jannah, i.e. the Garden ...

''. Their books of deeds are also kept here. According to some account, Illiyin is located in the heaven. There is belief that the fire which represents the own bad deeds can already be seen during the Punishment of the Grave, and that the spiritual pain caused by this can lead to purification of the soul.

Judaism

Rabbinic literature Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. However, the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writ ...

offer many traditions about punishing angels chastising the dead. In Jewish religious books, the souls of the wicked are punished in the hereafter by Dumah and three subordinative angels of destruction. Only on

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as G ...

, they are released from their sufferings. Dutch Orientalist Arent Jan Wensinck (1882-1939) argued that the Jewish tradition of punishment in the grave, belong to a period after Islam, thus this rather influenced Judaism than Judaism has influenced Islam.Sara Kuehn Stefan Leder Hans-Peter Pökel ''The Intermediate Worlds of Angels Islamic Representations of Celestial Beings in Transcultural Contexts'' Beiruter Texte und Studien 114 2019 isbn ISBN 978-3-95650-623-9 p. 318

References

Notes

Citations

Books, etc.

External links

The Death, Life After Death, The Signs of the Hour
{{DEFAULTSORT:Punishment Of The Grave Afterlife Arabic words and phrases Islamic terminology