People
hanging from their chests
According
to another narration, on the night of Miʿrāj, the Prophet ﷺ passed by such men and women that were
hanging from their chests. The Prophet ﷺ
asked,
"O Jibril! Who are these people?" He replied, "These are the
people that would slander people and speak badly about them behind their backs,
and Allah Almighty states concerning them:"¹
وَيْلٌ لِّكُلِّ هُمَزَةٍ لُّمَزَةٍ
Destruction is for every
open slanderer, backbiter.²
Finger
nails of copper
In
Sunan Abī Dawūd,
it is reported that the Prophet ﷺ said, "On the night of Miʿrāj, I passed by people who were
scratching their own faces with copper nails. I asked, 'Who are they, O Jibrīl?' He replied, 'They are the ones who
ate the flesh of and tarnished their reputations."³
Women
Backbite More
The
renowned exegete, Ḥakīm al-Ummah, Muftī Aḥmad
Yār Khān
Naʿīmī رحمة
الله
عليه
states under this hadith, "They were afflicted with the punishment of
itching and had fingernails of copper that were pointed and sharp. They would
scratch their faces and chests with them and wound themselves. May Allah
Almighty save us! This is an intense punishment and this will occur after the
Day of Judgement. The Prophet ﷺ saw it with his own eyes. He further
mentions, "These people would backbite Muslims and tarnish their
reputations. Women do this more and they should take admonition from
this."⁴
Reflect
on how destructive the punishment of backbiting is and how painful the
punishments are that the backbiters will have to face on the Day of Judgement.
Just picturing it is enough to make one shake. Take heed! If having backbitten,
we die without having repented and one of these painful punishments is set upon
us, how will we be able to endure it? For this reason, after having broken ties
through backbiting, tale telling and sinful acts, let us now mend ties through
commendation and praise. Stay engrossed in the dhikr of Allah Almighty in every
moment and send salat and salam in abundance upon the beloved Prophet ﷺ.
¹
Shuʿab al-Īmān: 675
² [Kanz-ul-Iman (Translation of Quran)] (Part 30, Surah Al-Humazah, verse 1)
³ Sunan Abī Dawūd: 4878
⁴ Mirʾaat Al-Manajih, Bāb Chupay 'uyob ki talash, vol. 6, p. 619
Gunahon say mujhko bacha Ya
Ilahi
Buri 'adatayn bhi chūra Ya Ilahi
Mujhay gheebat-o-Chughli-o-badgumani
Ki afaat say tu bacha Ya Ilahi
Tujhay wasita saray Nabiyon
ka Maula
Mayri bakhsh day har khata Ya Ilahi
Save me from sins, O my Lord
Help me leave bad habits, O my Lord 1
Save me from the calamities of tale
telling and bad opinion, O my Lord
I ask you by the intermediation of all the Prophets, O my Lord
Forgive my every sin, O my Lord.
صَلُّوْا عَلَى الْحَبِيْب صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَى مُحَمَّد
Two
Punishments for Consuming Usury
Just
like backbiting, consuming interest is also a fatal and extremely destructive
illness that terminates the desire to do good to other Muslims in a person's
heart. On the night of Miʿrāj, from amongst the people, the Prophet
ﷺ
saw being subjected to punishment were those who were being punished for
consuming usury.
¹
Wasaʾil-e-Bakhshish, p. 79
A
Person Swallowing Stones
Sayyidunā Samurah رضی
اللہ
عنہ
narrates that the noble Messenger ﷺ said, "On the night of Miʿrāj, I saw a person swimming in a river
whilst he was swallowing rocks. I asked, 'Who is this.' I was informed that he
was a consumer of usury."¹
Snakes
in the Stomach
Imām Ibn Mājah
reports that Sayyidunā
Abū Hurairah رضی
اللہ
عنہ
narrates that the beloved Prophet ﷺ said, "On the night of Miʿrāj, I came upon some people who had
bellies as large as houses, filled with snakes, which could be seen through
their skins. I asked, 'O Jibril, who are they?' He replied, 'They are those who
consumed usury.'"²
1
ShuꜤab al-Īmān: 9121 - 2 Sunan Ibn Mājah: 2273
Explanation
of the Hadith
The
renowned exegete, Ḥakīm al-Ummah, Muftī Aḥmad
Yār Khān
Naʿīmī رحمة
الله
عليه,
explaining this hadith, states, "The consumer of usury is greedy, he
consumes a little but has great avarice. For this reason, their stomachs will
truly be like houses. The wealth of people that they appropriated oppressively
will be as snakes and scorpions. In this world, if a small worm develops in
one's stomach, one's well-being deteriorates and a person becomes perturbed.
Think then! What will be the state of a person when his stomach is full of
snakes and scorpions and what will be his state of distress and discomfort? May
Allah protect us!¹
Lesson
of admonishment
Those
people who give and take usury should take a lesson of admonishment from these
narrations. Just imagine! If Allah Almighty becomes displeased by this act of
disobedience and a person became tormented with these painful punishments for
the devourers of usury, with snakes and scorpions filling his stomach, what
will he do? At that time, this usurious profit will not avail him at all.
Therefore,
an intelligent person should ensure that he never ever makes himself deserving
of the terrifying punishment of the grave and the afterlife for the sake of
some lowly transient benefit.
Punishment
of Crushing of the Head
The
Quran and hadith are filled with the importance of prayer, the virtues of
establishing each prayer punctually in its appointed time, and the intense
punishments for falling short in them without a Sharʿī excuse.
On
the night of Miʿrāj, our beloved Prophet ﷺ saw people that were caught in punishments
due to laziness concerning their prayers. Let us reflect and make a mind-set of
becoming punctual in our prayers.
¹
Mirʾaat Al-Manajih, vol. 4, p. 259
It
is mentioned in narrations that the Prophet ﷺ passed such people whose heads were being
crushed by rocks. Each time they would be crushed, they would return to their
original states and be crushed again. They were given no respite in this
affair. The Prophet ﷺ
asked Sayyidunā Jibril عليه
السلام,
"Who are these people?" He said, "These are those people whose
heads found prayer burdensome."¹
Scissors
of Fire
On
the night of Miʿrāj, the final Prophet ﷺ passed by some other people whose lips
were being cut by scissors of fire and would return to normal after each
cutting. The Prophet ﷺ
asked, "O Jibril! Who are these people?" He replied, "They are
the sermon givers of your Ummah. They did not act upon that which they preached
and they would recite the Book of Allah Almighty (the Quran) but they would not
act upon it."²
Those
callers and preachers who invite others to piety, encourage them towards
prayer, fasting, Zakat and Hajj, forbid them from Ḥarām
acts like lies, backbiting, tale telling, envy, arrogance etc., but forget
about themselves should take a lesson from this. They do not even sense that on
the Day of Judgement, they too will be judged, and they too will be asked about
their deeds.
The
proof of Islam, Imām
Muḥammad al-Ghazālī
رحمة
الله
عليه
said, advising one of his students, "O my beloved son! Knowledge without
action is not less than madness and foolishness and action without knowledge is
impossible. Remember! That knowledge which, up until today, could not keep you
away from sins and could not bring about love of obedience to Allah Almighty,
will not be able to save you from the raging fire of hell tomorrow on the Day
of Judgement. If you do not act righteously today and make up for that time
which has already passed, then tomorrow on the Day of the Day of Judgement, you
will have only one cry:
¹
Majmaʿ al-Zawaʾid: 235
² Shuʿab al-Īmān: 1773
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