Wherefore did I shroud her in my own shirt and reclined in her grave...

Wherefore did I shroud her in my own shirt and reclined in her grave, and stooped over her and instructed her regarding the matters about which she would be questioned. She was asked about her Lord, and she said: My Lord is Allah. And she was asked about her Prophet and she replied: Muhammad. And she was asked about her Imam and wali (guardian), and she faltered and paused. And I said to her: Thy son, thy son. So she said: My Imam is my son.

Thereupon they (the two angels) departed from her, and said: We have no power over you. Sleep, even as a bride sleeps in her inner apartment. Then she died a second death and the verification of this is in the Book of Allah: “They say: Our Lord! Twice hast thou made us die, and twice hast thou made us live. Now we confess our sins. Is there any way to go out?” (Qur'an 40:11) .[^5] [^1]: N, D, and T have نزولٌ من حميم meaning "desent". But نُزُلٌ as in Qur. 56, 93 is the correct reading.

[^2]: Refers to the practice of making slight incisions for drawing blood which are not very painful. [^3]: For a similar tradition in Qadi Nu'man's Da'a 'imu'l-Islam,see Fyzee, Ismaili Law of Wills, no. 29. [^4]: N وا ضغطاه; D وا ضعفاه. [^5]: The translator explains that the belief in two deaths, one in this world, and another in the grave, is well established. See also MB, S.V. موت.

The questioning in the grave by the two angels Munkar and Nakir is well established in Sunnite creeds: MC, 129, art. 18 and 19; 163 -167; 195, art. 23; 268; art. 27. For the philosophical Isma'ili explanation, see FC, nos. 93,94. Previous…