Читать книгу A Dictionary of Islam. Being a cyclopedia of the doctrines, rites, ceremonies, and customs, together with the technical and theological terms, of the Muhammadan religion онлайн

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Sūrah l. 17: “The agony of death shall come in truth, that is what thou didst shun.”

In the Traditions, Muḥammad has taught that it is sinful to wish for death: “Wish not for death, not even if thou art a doer of good works, for peradventure thou mayest increase them with an increase of life. Nor even if thou art a sinner, for with increase of life thou mayest obtain God’s pardon.”

One day the Prophet said: “Whosoever loves to meet God, God will love to meet him, and whoever dislikes to meet God, God will dislike to meet him.” Then ʿĀyishah said, “Truly we all dislike death and consider it a great affliction.” The Prophet replied, “Thou dost not understand me. When death comes near a believer, then God gives him a spirit of resignation, and so it is that there is nothing which a believer likes so much as death.”

Al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀẕib, one of the Companions, says:—

“I came out with the Prophet at the funeral of one of the assistants, and we arrived just at the grave, before they had interred the body, and the Prophet sat down, and we sat around him with our heads down, and were so silent, that you might say that birds were sitting upon our heads. And there was a stick in the Prophet’s hand with which he kept striking the ground. Then he raised his head and said twice or thrice to his companions, ‘Seek the protection of God from the punishments of the grave.’ After that he said: ‘Verily, when a Muslim separateth from the world and bringeth his soul to futurity, angels descend to him from the celestial regions, whose faces are white. You might say their faces are the sun, and they have a shroud of the shrouds of paradise, and perfumes therefrom. So they sit apart from the deceased, as far as the eyes can see. After which the Angel of Death (Malaku ʾl-Maut) comes to the deceased and sits at his head, and says, “O pure soul, come forth to God’s pardon and pleasure.” Then the soul comes out, issuing like water from a bag, and the Angel of Death takes it; and when he takes it, the angels do not allow it to remain in his hands for the twinkling of an eye. But when the Angel of Death has taken the soul of a servant of God, he resigns it to his assistants, in whose hands is a shroud, and they put it into the shroud and with the perfumes, when a fragrance issues from the soul like the smell of the best musk that is to be found on the face of the earth. Then the angels carry it upwards, and they do not pass by any concourse of angels who do not say, “What is this pure soul, and who is owner of it?” And they say, “Such a one, the son of such a one,” calling him by the best names by which he was known in the world, till they reach the lowest region of heaven with him. And the angels ask the door to be opened for him, which is done. Then angels follow it through each heaven, the angel of one region to those of the next, and so on till it reaches the seventh heaven, when God says, “Write the name of My servant in ʿIllīyūn, and return him towards the earth, that is, to his body which is buried in the earth, because I have created man from earth and return him to it, and will bring him out from it again as I brought him out at first.” Then the souls are returned into their bodies, when two angels [MUNKAR and NAKIR] come to the dead man and cause him to sit up, and say to him, “Who is thy Lord?” He replies, “My Lord is God.” Then they say, “What is thy religion?” He says, “Islām.” Then they say, “What is this man who is sent to you?” (i.e. the Prophet). He says, “He is the Prophet of God.” Then they say, “What is your proof of his mission?” He says, “I read the book of God, and believed in it, and I proved it to be true.” Then a voice calls out from the celestial regions, “My servant hath spoken true, therefore throw for him a bed from Paradise, and dress him in clothes from Paradise, and open a door for him towards Paradise.” Then peace and perfumes come for him from Paradise, and his grave is enlarged for him as far as the eye can see. Then a man with a beautiful face comes to him, elegantly dressed, and perfumed, and he says, “Be joyful in that which hath made thee so, this is the day which was promised thee.” Then the dead person says to him, “Who art thou, for thy face is perfectly beautiful?” And the man replies, “I am thy good deeds.” Then the dead person cries out, “O Lord, hasten the resurrection for my sake!”’