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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Manazel Al-akherah Chapter -ii-the Grave (qapr) One of the fearsome stages of the Hereafter is the grave, which calls out daily: “I am the abode of loneliness, I am the house of terror, I am the home of worms”. Terror of the Grave It is quoted in Man La Yahzaruhul Faqih, that when a dead body is pought for burial, it should not be buried immediately.

For there is no doubt that the terror of the grave horrifies the dead person, and he seeks refuge from Allah's wrath. The dead body should be laid to rest for sometime far from the grave, so that it prepares itself, and gets accustomed to it. Again one should stop and then take it to the grave. Allamah Majlisi while commenting on the above, says that even though the spirit is seperated from the body, it is still maintains relation with it, and remains somewhat attached to it.

The darkness & loneliness, uestioning by ‘Munkir & Nakeer’, Squeezing in the grave (Fishar), and the chastisement in hell are some of the frightful stages. Hence it is necessary for man to take lessons from a dead man's state, and reflect upon it, because one day he himself will have to pass through these stages. Yunus narrates that one day he asked Imam Moosa-al-Kazim (A.S.) that, “Whenever I think about the door of a house, the house becomes narrow in my sight, why is it so”?

Imam (A.S.) replied, “It is so because whenever you take a dead body for burial, you should lay it to rest for sometime near the grave, so that the dead person may ready itself to enter there in, and collect strength to answer the questions of ‘Munkir’ & Nakeer’”. Bara bin Azib, one of the companions (Ashab) of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.S) says that one day I was in the presence of the Prophet, when we saw a group of people gathered.

The Holy Prophet (S.A.W.S) asked them as to why they had gathered? They replied that they had gathered to dig a grave. As soon as the Prophet heard the name of the grave, he hurried towards it and sat on one side of the grave. I sat on the other side facing him so as to get a clear view of what he did. I saw that the Prophet (S.A.W.S) started weeping bitterly so much so that his face became wet, then he looked at us and said, “O my pothers! Prepare yourselves for this house”.

Shaikh Bahai says that at times he saw many kings and rulers regretting their sins and wailing over their lives while dying. The Shaikh asked one such person who was about to die as to what was the reason for such regret.