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(somber music)
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(somber music continues)
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(bus engine revving)
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(gentle music)
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- See you on the other side.
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Are you sure?
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Where are you going?
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And how do I know I'll make it there?
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What's it like over there?
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Is there a way you can tell me about it?
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Do people know me there?
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Have you seen my home?
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Am I viewed amongst the
righteous or the wicked?
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What's real about what's
around me right now?
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There's this world you're in
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and another world that
simultaneously exists
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that you can't see, but it sees you.
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Allah, the angels, and
other elements of the unseen
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are watching you.
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And the things you see around
you are deeper than they look
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and can perhaps even perceive
that realm better than you.
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And you're only one step away from it.
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It starts with a basic truth.
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Those we have buried
are not actually dead.
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They've entered the Barzakh,
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a parallel existence where
there are people right now
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that are just as alive as you.
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Some of them are watching green birds
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that were once in bodies
of martyrs soar above them,
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others are drowning in rivers of blood.
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Some are dwelling in beautiful
homes among family members
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that have been dead for decades,
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others are busy being devoured
by beasts with many heads.
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So what is this realm?
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And what do we know about
the people who reside in it?
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And what would knowing about
that world do for us today
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to make sense of the world
we live in right now?
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And what does it mean for us
in our own individual journeys,
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trying to find our way back to Allah?
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(dramatic music)
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Centuries ago, there was a soldier
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that wandered in the
desert near Kufa in Iraq,
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and he was trying to find the city center.
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And as he is wandering
around looking for the city,
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he comes across one of the most
famous scholars of his time,
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Ibrahim ibn Adham Rahimahullah
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but he had no idea who he was.
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So he goes up to him and he
asks him, "Are you a slave?"
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Ibrahim says, "Yes."
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He says,
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"Ayna al Umraan?"
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Which linguistically means
where are the city dwellings?
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Where is everyone at?
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So Ibrahim ibn Adham
Rahimahullah said, "Follow me."
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And then he takes him to a graveyard.
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And the man said,
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"I asked you to take me
to the city dwellings."
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Ibrahim ibn Adham Rahimahullah
said, "It's right here."
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And he pointed to the graveyard again.
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So the man ends up
striking him in the head,
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and then dragging him to the actual city,
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while the people come
to him rushing saying,
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"What are you doing, that's
Ibrahim ibn Adham Rahimahullah"
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He said, "But I asked
him if he was a slave,
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as if that would've made his action okay.
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So they said to Ibrahim
ibn Adham Rahimahullah
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"Oh our teacher, why didn't
you just tell him who you are?"
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He said, "Well, he asked
me if I was a slave,
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but he didn't say to whom,
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meaning I'm a slave to
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'Aala"
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They said, "Well, what did
you say when he struck you?"
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He said, "I made dua for
Allah to give him Jannah."
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They said, "Why would you do that?"
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He said, "Because I knew I would
be rewarded because of him,
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and I didn't want him to
be punished because of me."
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They said, "Okay, but why did you take him
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to the graveyard in the first place?
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He asked you for al Umraan,
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he asked you where the city center was."
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And Ibrahim ibn Adham Rahimahullah said,
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"I've noticed that when
people move to their graves,
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they settle there,
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but no one ever comes
back here from there."
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Meaning the graveyard is
where the living actually are.
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They say that the secret to
success is being one step ahead.
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For the pious predecessors,
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the secret was being one stop ahead.
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They were all ready for all
spiritual practical purposes,
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living in the next light.
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But what if we could walk up
to the graves of our ancestors
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and just ask them to tell us
what it's like for them now?
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In one narration from Jabir
radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu
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the Prophets SallAllahu
'Alaihi Wasallam said
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that there was a group from Bani Israel
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in the past that were traveling,
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and as they were traveling,
they pass a cemetery.
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And when they get there,
they say to each other,
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let's pray two Rak'ahs and ask Allah
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to bring back some of these people
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so that they can tell us about death
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and they can tell us
about life in the grave.
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So they all pray two Rak'ahs
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and then they made dua to Allah.
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And right after that,
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this man rises from the
grave, shaking the dust off
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and he says, "Oh people,
you sought nothing but this.
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I died a hundred years ago
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and the heat of the moment of my death
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has not yet cooled down.
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So can you ask Allah to return me
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to the state that I was in before?"
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The thing is, we don't
need the dead to tell us
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how real death is
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and how we're all going to
end up in the Barzakh someday.
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And every single soul
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who has ever walked the face
of the Earth and passed away
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is there right now.
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Think about it,
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right now, the global population of earth
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is nearly 8 billion people.
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But in the Barzakh,
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we're talking about estimates
of 117 billion human souls.
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And since it's impossible
to know for sure,
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just think of when Allah says,
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Waqurunan bayna dhalika kathira,
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"And so many people and
nations in between."
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How many years will you live there?
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Until the Day of Judgment.
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That means the vast majority of humanity
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would've had a longer life in
Barzakh than on this Earth.
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And you might move in there tomorrow
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and end up living for a
thousand years or more there.
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And it's called Hayatul-Barzakh,
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"the life of the Barzakh" for a reason.
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You have a full life, you have a family,
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you have friends, you
have adults and children,
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you have a home and
you have neighborhoods.
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You have food and drink,
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and it even has its own
animals in that realm.
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All of the features of life are there,
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but with its own unique set of dimensions
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and time and space.
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So it's not like dunya, in that you age
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or like jannah, where
we're all the same age.
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You can also seemingly
be in two places at once
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or at least transfer between
them with remarkable speed.
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So think of the Prophet
SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam,
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leading the prophets in prayer
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at Masjid-al-Aqsa in one moment
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and then almost in an instant,
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talking to each of them
throughout the seven heavens.
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What if you could be in
your grave one moment
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and then right under the
throne of Allah the next?
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See, the more righteous you are,
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the more range you have
to travel first class
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all over that world as you like.
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And most importantly, the
Barzakh is happening right now.
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Think about Musa and
Firaun alive in that world.
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The Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam
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saw Musa 'Alayhi Salaam
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praying alone in his grave
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as people read about the moment
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he was alone in the
cradle in the Nile River.
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Then while we're still
reading about Firaun
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throwing people into ditches of fire here,
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Allah is throwing him into
a ditch of fire there.
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This is all as real as what's
in front of us right now.
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And while we can't
physically perceive it yet,
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we have these portals into the Barzakh
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to remind us of its rich dimensions.
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We may enter into it
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at times in our sleep through our dreams.
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And when we're awake,
the grave stares at us
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like this door to a world of new realities
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made possible by the changes
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you're willing to make
in your current reality.
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And we're all just one heartbeat away
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from entering into this
dimension or one bomb.
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Imam Hasan al-Basri
Rahimahullah said about us all,
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Ya ibn Adam, innama anta ayyam,
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"Oh, son of Adam, you are
nothing but a number of days."
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Whenever a day passes, then
a part of you has gone.
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For our oppressors, we also remember
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that they too are but a set of days.
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"Fala ta'ajal 'alayhim
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Innama na'uddu lahum 'adda."
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Allah says, "Do not be hasty with them-
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indeed, we are counting down their days."
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Ibn al-Abbas Radi Allahu anhuma said,
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that means, na'uddu anfaasahum fi al-dunya
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"We're counting down
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every single one of their
breaths in this life."
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And when you awake to that world,
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do you really know which
category you'll belong to?
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Will you fly with the Shuhada
who never feel pain again
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because they sacrificed
a whole life for Allah?
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Or will you rot in pain with the tyrants
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for all the lives you
made miserable on Earth?
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Will you gather with the sincere believers
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truly resting in peace
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and joy and anticipation
of a greater joy to come?
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Or will you be with the
disbelievers and hypocrites,
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previewing eternal punishment instead?
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Or are you somewhere in between,
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a flawed believer with
a mix of good and bad
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who will pay for your sins there
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or hope that Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'Aala overlooks them?
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It's at this station that
everything will be made clear.
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And that's why when Uthman
radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu
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would stand by a grave,
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he would weep until his
beard would become wet.
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And it was said to him,
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when Paradise and Hellfire are mentioned,
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you don't weep like this.
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But when you stand next to a
grave, why do you cry so much?
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And he said, "The Prophet
SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said,
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Inn'al qabra 'awwalu manzili
min manazil alakhira,
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that, "Verily the grave
is the first station
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of the Hereafter.
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If it is good, then everything
after it will be better.
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And if it is bad, then everything
after it will be worse.
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And I have never seen anything
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more harrowing than the grave."
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But the grave doesn't have to just be
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a place of the frightening unknown.
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It can also be a place of rest and reward.
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For some people, the grave is rest.
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Nasroukh Rahimahullah said,
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"There is no home better for
a believer than his grave.
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Qad istaraaha min amr al-dunya
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aw min adhab-illah
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"He has been relieved from
the affairs of this world
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or from the punishment of Allah."
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And for those of us who lost someone,
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who is the greatest source
of joy in our lives,
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the grave can be a place where
we finally get to reunite
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with the ones that we love so much.
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Uthman ibn Sauda Rahimahullah said that
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his mother, Raahiba Rahimahullah
who was a righteous woman,
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looked at him and said to
him at the time of her death,
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"My son, do not forsake
me in life or in death."
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And so he would go and visit her grave
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as he used to visit her
home and make dua for her.
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And then he sees her in a dream
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where his mother is looking beautiful
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and receiving these endless gifts
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of silk garments and perfume.
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And then she turns to him
in that dream and says,
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"I'm pleased to receive you
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when you come to visit my grave."
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So do not stop visiting me.
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But for now, think about your grave,
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which you will one day visit
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and live in for an
unspecified period of time.
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What does that grave look like?
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What does it feel like?
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What does it smell like?
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When Abdullah bin Ghalib
Rahimahullah died,
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an amazing smell came out
of his grave like mist
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right after he was buried.
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Then he was seen in a dream
and asked about that smell
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and he said, "That was the breath
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of my recitation and my thirst."
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So as you start Ramadan, I
want you to think about that
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with your fasting breaths.
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Your grave is breathing, it's
a home under construction
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and the door to a reality that
most people pay no heed to
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though it is absolutely inevitable.
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So what does your other side look like?
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What have you built that awaits you
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and what answers will we
find beneath the surface
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that will give us enough clarity
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to make the cruel world above
it make a bit more sense?
00:12:30
LaAAallee aAAmalu salihan
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feema tarak
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kalla innaha
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kalimatun huwa qailuha
00:12:49
wamin waraihim
00:12:55
barzakhun ila yawmi yubAAathoon
00:13:03
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