Once[1], when Nabi Sallalahu Allayhi Wassallam came to the Musjid for Salaah, he noticed some people laughing and giggling. He remarked: “If you remembered your death, I would not see you like this. Think of your death often. Not a single day passes when the Qabr (grave) does not call out: ‘I am a wilderness, I am a place of dust, I am a place of worms.’ When a Momin (Believer) is laid in the Qabr (grave), it says; ‘Welcome to you. It is good of you to have come into me. Of all the people walking on the earth, I liked you the best. Now that you have come into me, you will see how I entertain you. ‘The Qabr then expands as far as the occupant can see. A door from Jannat is then opened for him in the Qabr (grave), and through this door he gets the fresh and fragrant air of Jannah. But when an evil man is laid in the Qabr (grave) it says; ‘No word of welcome for you. Your coming into me is very bad for you. Of all the people walking on the earth, I disliked you the most. Now that you have been made over to me, you will see how I treat you!’ The Qabr (grave) then closes upon him so much that his ribs of one side penetrate into the ribs of the other side. As many as seventy snakes are then set upon him, to keep biting him till the Day of Qiyaamah. These snakes are so poisonous that if one of them happened to squirt its poison upon the earth, not a single blade of grass would ever grow.” After this, Nabi Sallalahu Allayhi Wassallam said: “The grave is either a garden of Jannat or a pit of Jahannum.” “Fear of Allah” is the basic and essential requirement of a Muslim. Nabi Sallalahu Allayhi Wassallam advised the believers to remember death often and to keep the fear of Allah ever present in their hearts.
