The horrors of the graves and the conditions of their inhabitants until the resurrection

Author's name: Abu al-Faraj Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Rajab al-Hanbali

Investigation and commentary: Dr. Amer bin Ali Yassin

Introduction to the investigation

All praise is due to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and ask His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our own souls and the wickedness of our deeds. He whom Allah guides, none can misguide, and he whom He misguides, none can guide. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, without partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

And after:

The love of this world controlling the heart is a raging disease that has been ravaging and destroying the children of Adam since time immemorial. This disease will continue to spread unless a person takes the initiative to treat it.

His heart and trades in his veins until he leaves him prey to the desires of this world, a prisoner of Satan and his soldiers. Allah the Almighty has warned of this disease and its treatment on more than one occasion, such as His statement: “The love of desires has been made attractive to people… But Allah has with Him the best return.” [Al Imran: 14] He mentioned the disease, then reminded us of the return to Allah, and His statement: “O you who have believed, let not… divert you before death comes to one of you and he says, ‘My Lord, why do You not disgrace me for a short term so I could give charity and be among the righteous?’” [Al Munafiqun: 9-10] He mentioned the disease and death.

I do not know of anything that has a greater effect on the servant and is more effective in treating him than the intoxication of this world and its desires than seeing graves and remembering the destination there and thinking about the conditions of its inhabitants. Therefore, the teacher of goodness to people recommended visiting graves, saying: “So visit them, for they remind you of the Hereafter.”

And before you today is a book of great benefit and immense utility. It has brought that distant thing near to you and made it within your reach morning and evening. No sooner have you leafed through it than you see the graves before your eyes, and you see the grave closing in its darkness on that poor person who has settled in it. Perhaps - if God takes care of you with His care and mercy - you will see yourself imprisoned in that desolate place. Then you will shake off the shackles and chains of this world, perform ablution, and pray two rak’ahs in humility with a heart and eyes that are shedding tears, and a tongue that fears this clear affliction, hoping that God will be gracious to him, have mercy on his weakness, and comfort his loneliness. How difficult those two rak’ahs are, and how great… It will benefit them when wealth and children are gone and nothing remains but prostrations and glorifications of God....

The Blood of Sorrow. This is a brief glimpse into the principles that I relied on to serve this edition, verify its text, and produce it in the form that is before you: