You are connected to souls you've never heard of, and lands you've never been to.
How many times have you prayed for others? How many Ramadan du'as call out to Allah for those who are sick, for those who are dying, or for those who are being murdered? How many people do you think are out there making du'a for you without you knowing?
Du'a may be your connection with Allah that links you directly to Him, but it's also the connection that links human souls to each other, even if they've never crossed paths before. In the Barzakh, you may meet people you've never
seen before in this life, but the connection you have with them there is something one of you forged here.
Imam Ibn Al-Jawzi passed away on Friday, the 12th of Ramadan in the year 597 AH,
and he was fortunate enough to be buried right next to Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal. Even better, Abu Bakr and Umar (رضي الله عنهما),
buried right next to the Prophet (ﷺ), where millions pass by and give salam to all of them together. Now, while we can't have the fortune of being buried next to the Prophet (ﷺ) or next
to Imam Ahmad, we do want to be buried amongst righteous Muslims. Abdullah ibn Nafi' says that there was a man who died in Medina, and then a companion of his saw him in a dream where he
appeared to be from the people of Hellfire, and then he sees him in another dream where he appears to be from the people of Jannah. So he says to him, weren't you among the inhabitants of the fire?
So he replies, yes, but there was a righteous man who was buried with us, and he made shafa'ah, he interceded on behalf of 40 of his neighbors, and I happened to be amongst them. And so yes,
being buried amongst the Muslims is important, but it's not always about physical proximity. What Barzakh says Muslim transcends time and space. There was a man who said that I was traveling one
day to another town, and I stopped at a masjid to take a nap, and then while I was in this masjid, suddenly I heard that a janazah had entered. So I decided to wake up and pray janazah on this
person. He said I had no idea who this person was, but as I was praying janazah on this person, I said, you know what, let me get the ajr, let me get the reward, and follow the janazah to
the graveyard as well. So he said I went with them to the cemetery. And then as we were standing over the man's body, I was surprised to find that I was standing over his body alone, meaning usually
families stay back, but this person had no one to stay with him. So he said I sat by the grave, and I said, this is a guest who has come to you. I do not know him, but if a guest came to me,
even if I did not know him, I would still be generous to him. So listen to his du'a. He says,
So how about you, O Allah, and you are the most generous of the generous. So he says, after I made this du'a, I left and I went back to the masjid to get some sleep for the rest of my
journey. And then in my dream, I see a man dressed in a white robe. And he says to me, are you the one who made du'a for me? And I said, who are you? And he said, I'm the one you just
buried. And by Allah, Allah has forgiven me because of your supplication. Part of the mercy of Allah is that he increases the pathways for mercy to reach the believers in all realms.
And one of the most striking things about Muslim funerals is that sometimes the majority of people attending have no idea who the deceased person is, especially when you're in a place like Mecca
or Medina, where you have thousands of people praying on an unknown person. And Allah invites you to pray on people and receive a reward of Uhud in good deeds. And even more if you follow the
janazah. That's a mercy to you because it's such an easy reward. And at the same time, it's a mercy to the deceased because it brings more people to their janazah, even if no one knew who they were.
But have you noticed that the du'a of the janazah includes not just the deceased person in front of you, but all of the believers? Because you say what? Allahumma-ghfir li-hayyina wa mayyitina.
O Allah, forgive our living and forgive our dead. So anytime a janazah occurs, there are du'as that are illuminating, enriching, and blessing the graves of all the believers that have passed.
And every Jumu'ah, the Imam stands up and makes du'a. Allahumma-ghfir lil-mu'minina wal-mu'minat wal-muslimina wal-muslimat al-ahya'i minhum wal-amwat. O Allah, forgive the believing men
and the believing women, those that have died and those that are alive. We might be including in our du'a people from ummahs we don't even know about that lived thousands and thousands of years
ago. And when you're gone and a hundred years have passed, if Allah wills for this world to still be around, then people may have forgotten your name, but your faith makes you relevant to
them as they continue to make that same du'a you used to make for those that came before you. And of the beauty of Allah's generosity is that just as you're here making du'a for them, you're still benefiting yourself from each and every single one of those du'as.
The Prophet (ﷺ) says that whoever seeks forgiveness for the believing men and women, Allah will record a good deed for him by every man and woman. So of the over 100 billion souls
that have passed, how many of those were believers? And how many good deeds are there for you for Allah to reward you just for seeking forgiveness for them? But it was never supposed to be just
about you. You see there is a dimension of empathy altogether that we often don't consider. When we see the pain of our brothers and sisters around the world that are living,
we're moved to make du'a for them. And the Prophet (ﷺ) said that the parable of the believers in their affection, mercy, and compassion for each other is like that of a single human body. When
one limb aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever. Just imagine if when you walked up to a Muslim graveyard, you saw people being tortured in their graves. And that
would be far worse than anything that you're seeing on your screens. What type of du'a would you make for them? There's this beautiful narration from Bishr ibn Mansur, rahimahullah. He narrates that there was a man who would regularly go to the graveyard and attend the
janazah. And in the evening, he would stand by the entrance of the graves and he would say this beautiful du'a. He would say,
May Allah ease your loneliness. May Allah have mercy on you and your estrangement. May Allah forgive your sins and may Allah accept your good deeds. The man said that one evening,
I got late and so I returned to my family without visiting those graves. And then while I was sleeping, I saw this large group of people coming towards me. I asked them, who are you?
What do you want? And they replied, we are the people of the graves. I said, what brought you here? They said, you used to give us a gift before going home. And I said, what is that gift?
They said that du'a that you used to make for us every single evening. And I replied to them and said, I'll get back to doing that. And he said, I never forgot them again after that dream. Can you imagine what it must have been like for that man to die and then to actually meet all of
those people in the barzakh? Imagine you meeting all the people that you used to make du'a for. The ones in Gaza, the ones in Syria, the ones in Sudan, the ones all over the world.
Did they feel the warmth of your du'as for them? What if you could actually see what your du'a was doing for them on the other side? What if you could see the impact that you were having on them with those sincere words from your heart?
