For Those Left Behind
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Ep. 6: Are They With Each Other Now? | For Those Left Behind
When we die, are we reunited with our loved ones right away? Are my dead loved ones all together now? How are they welcomed into the next realm? How often do they get to be with each other?
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:05 When Bilal (RA) passed away
After the death of the Prophet ﷺ, Bilal (RA) would spend the rest of his life longing for the moment that he would be reunited with the Prophet ﷺ.
02:35 When Aisha (RA) passed away
Ibn Abbas (RA) visited Aisha (RA) before she passed away. He mentioned her virtues and then gave her glad tidings as there was only one thing separating her reunion with the Prophet ﷺ.
04:20 Are we reunited with the souls of our loved ones after death?
Ibn Qayyim (Rahimahullah) said that the righteous souls visit one another. They keep the company of those that they love and those that were like them.
05:27 The gathering of souls in Al-Barzakh (Purgatory)
The Barzakh is the period or state between a person's death and the Day of Judgment, when they are resurrected. The souls that had affinity to one another in the realm of souls (before entering this world) and had a natural affinity to one another in this world, will find those like them in the Barzakh. The believing souls will gather with one another.
06:39 Hadiths about the meeting of souls
The journey that the soul takes from being registered as a righteous soul to settling in their new home to welcoming visitors.
09:38 Souls who are not reunited with their righteous loved ones
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. I remember the first time leaving Medina. And I immediately remember the story of Bilal radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu and how Bilal radiyaAllahu Anhu could not stand to be in Medina with the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam no longer there. He had such a difficult time giving the Adhan. He could not look in a place without seeing the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam, remembering the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. And he asked Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu anhu to send him out in battle. And he would not do the Adhan again until Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu would enter into Jerusalem and he would give the Adhan there just as he gave it in Mecca and Medina. Why did I think about this at that point? Because you realize when Bilal radiyaAllahu anhu is dying that it wasn't that Bilal radiyaAllahu anhu could not really stand to be in Medina anymore without the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. He really could not stand being in this world anymore without the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. And the closest we get to the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam is going to Medina and his grave is there and the footprints of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam are there. But the closest that the companions got were literally with him in the flesh alayhi salatu wasalam alive in this earth for all of those years and he was gone. And how do you know that with Bilal radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu? I mean there are years that pass between the death of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam and the death of Bilal radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. He lives until the Amwas plague. And as he is passing away his wife is crying and she's saying, wa huzna, what a horrible day this is, what grief I am in. And Bilal radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu says to her, bal quli wa farha, say what a great day this is and what great joy this is.
He says, ghadan nalqal ahibba muhammadan wa hizba. He said, tomorrow I get to meet my beloved ones, Muhammad salallahu alaihi wasalam and his companions. I can't wait to meet the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam again. So subhanAllah it wasn't just being in Medina anymore and the imagery of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam or the memory of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam or saying ash-hadu anna Muhammad rasulullah in Medina anymore in the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam's grave right there. Bilal would spend the rest of his life longing for the moment to be reunited with the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. And that is something that the companions felt. When Aisha radiyaAllahu anhu, I mean you can imagine our mother Aisha when she was passing away, how much she loved the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam and how close she was to the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. And when she was passing away, Ibn Abbas radiyaAllahu anhumah came to visit her and Aisha did not want Ibn Abbas to come in and praise her. She was worried. She's like, he's going to come in, he's an eloquent man. He's going to say all of these words of praise. And Aisha radiyaAllahu anha wanted to be in a place of taqwa, in a place of remembering Allah and seeking forgiveness in her last moments of life. And Ibn Abbas came in and he says, how are you my mother? And Aisha radiyaAllahu anha says, I'm well so long as I'm upon taqwa, right? To immediately establish that she wants to seek forgiveness with these last moments that she has in life, that she doesn't want to be praised. But what does Ibn Abbas radiyaAllahu anhumah do? He reminds her, you were the favorite wife of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. And he starts to mention her fada' and mention her virtues. You were the one on whose behalf Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you know, revealed ayat to defend your honor. You were the one who used to be with the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam on his journeys. You were with him in his most intimate moments. He loved you. He spoke of you this way. So he mentioned her fada' and then he says to her that, abshiri ya ummi, glide tidings to you, O my mother, nothing is left between you being reunited with the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam, except for your soul to leave your body.
Except that your ruh, that's exactly what he said, your ruh will leave your jasad. Your soul will leave your body as if to say your body is the barrier right now between you and the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. And we all know how much Aisha radiAllahu anha would have longed to be with the one salallahu alaihi wasalam who died in her lap and who was buried in her room alayhi salatu wasalam. What does this mean for us? Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah ta'ala, he says that the righteous souls of bliss, of goodness, that they visit one another and discuss what happened in the world as freely and as fluidly, in fact, more so than they would in this world. And he says that every soul in the barzakh keeps the company of those that they love and those that were like them. Now, how does he reconcile this? Because this is extremely powerful. You know, when the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam talked about the souls before we got to the short world, he said, al-arwah junudun mujannada. That the souls were like conscripted soldiers in the realm of souls, right? So those that had an affinity to one another there, they have a natural affinity to one another here. And those that have a natural aversion to one another there, they have a natural aversion to one another here as well. What that's referring to is that in the realm of souls, where we didn't have these bodily dimensions, right? The righteous souls were together, the wicked souls were together, right? And so the souls interacted with one another in that iteration of alam al-arwah, in that iteration of the realm of souls, without the limitations of this world. So you might find someone that is just like you, or you might not find them, but they're there, right? They have the same attitude as you. They might even look like you. They have your same characteristics. They have your same priorities, very similar level of faith or whatever it may be. But you're limited in distance and things of that sort. But when it comes to alam al-arwah, and the second iteration of alam al-arwah,
which is barzakh, the realm of souls, which is that next realm of barzakh, those restrictions are not like the restrictions in this life. And so, anta ma' man ahbabt, you are with those who you love that you could have been with in this physical realm. And you are with those that you love that you never even got to meet. You are with the people that you love and the arwah al-mu'mineen, the believing souls gather with one another. And that's why our greatest hope when we think of the righteous that passed before us, and we hope that they are amongst the righteous, our immediate loved ones, that they're amongst those souls that receive us. We also hope that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and the companions who we read about and we love so much, his family, alayhi salatu wasallam, who we love so much, that they'll be amongst those to greet us as well. Now, is this established in any clear cut hadith? In fact, multiple ahadith. And that is, you know, a hadith where the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam mentions the soul first and foremost, ascending the gates, the iliyyin. Remember, it has to go get registered with Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la as a righteous soul. And the angels are passing through the heavens, passing the soul from gate to gate. And the angels say, ma a'tyaba hadhihi reeh allati ja'atku minal ard. What a beautiful smell that has come from the earth. Remember the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam smelled the scent of the hairdresser of the daughter of Thir'un, that righteous young girl, on the night of Isra'ul Mi'raj. What is that beautiful smell? And so when the righteous soul, may Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la make us amongst them, is ascending through the heavens, the angels comment on the beautiful smell. ma a'tyaba hadhihi reeh What a beautiful smell that has come from the earth. And then that person settles their new home, the grave that we talked about, right? After you have been dressed, after you have been given your expanse, after you have been given your light, after you have been given your window into Jannah, guess what? Now the visitors are to come, okay? wa ya'toona bihi arwaahil mu'mineen
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says that the souls of the believers start to gather upon that person. They start to come to visit that person, to receive that person. wa lahum ashaddu farahan bihi min ahadikum bi gha'ibihi And they are more delighted to see you than one of you when you receive your long lost loved one. That's how the souls of the believers are. And so the ones that you missed, the ones that you never even met, they're all coming upon you. They're receiving you. You're seeing those people that you used to see in the masjid that you used to see in righteousness, and they're waiting for you bi'idhnillahi ta'ala. And then they start to ask, maa tha fa'ala fulaan You know, what happened to this person? What happened to that person? And they keep on asking questions. So everyone is trying to get news of the world because they're disconnected from this world now. So maa tha fa'ala fulaan What happened to this person? Imagine a family and the second parent has died now, or three siblings and two siblings have now died, or three best friends or four best friends, and two of them are now in this world and two are left behind. So what are they doing? Immediately, hey, what happened to that person? What happened to that person? And Abu Huraira radiAllahu ta'ala anhu says, they even will ask who got married? Who didn't get married? What happened to this person's family? What happened to that person's family? How is their situation? How is their situation? So they have the memories of this world. And that's an important point. They haven't lost the memories of this world. And they're so quick, or they're descending upon you, and everyone is trying to get your time, that some of them will say, da'oohu fa'innahu kana fee ghammid dunya You know, leave him alone, let him get some rest, let her get some rest, because they were in the hardships of this world. They've just been through that transition. Give them some time before everyone asks about the news of this world, and everyone descends upon them. And then as those conversations proceed, and this is the scary part, they start to ask about someone, and you say, if you are the deceased person, you say, wait, didn't they come to you?
Didn't that person already die, I mean, and come to you? They died before I got here. And they realize in the midst of that conversation, that that person, ma ji'a bi roohi dhalika ilayna that that person's soul was not brought to us. And so the conclusion is what? dhahaba ila ummihi alhawiyah That that person instead must be amongst the tormented souls, that they are amongst the people who are being punished, because the people that are being punished are not given the blessing of being united with one another, the way the believing souls are. They're too busy with their punishment. And this is a really important point here. It's a scary conversation. Imagine if you're left out of that conversation, right? Because we don't know our fate. And then the person who died three years ago, and the person who died last year, they're talking about someone that died in between, and that person is missing. And they say, subhanAllah, that person is gone. inna lillahi wa inna alayhi raji'oon What if you're that person, right? And that's a thought that you have to think about. And I don't say that to instill despair. I say that to say that, you know, when we think about those that we assume righteousness of that passed away before us, and those who we know were righteous before us, like the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and his companions, what good is knowing of their state if we're not going to join them? What good is it to comfort them and do good deeds on their behalf and to ask about them and to wonder what's happened to them? If we are not striving to be the most righteous version of ourselves so that we can assure that we're not left out of that conversation or left out of that blessed gathering.
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