# When The Qur’an Arrives in Your Grave | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 20 **Author:** Dr. Omar Suleiman **Series:** The Other Side | Barzakh and Beyond **Published:** 2025-03-18 **YouTube:** https://youtu.be/Q9l-C7WxsHI **URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-other-side-barzakh-and-beyond/the-quran-in-your-head-or-crushing-it-the-other-side **Topics:** Afterlife, Faith ## Description Debt follows you into the Barzakh. The soul remains suspended until its dues are settled, held back from its final destination. ## Transcript **[0:00]** The Qur'an will either save your soul or crush your skull. What do you allow to fill your mind? **[0:15]** For some of us, it's all the details of daily life, work, chores, children, homework. Others among us fall into rabbit holes of gossip, social media, and all sorts of unnecessary information. If you're not careful, these thoughts can consume not just your life, but your memorization **[0:35]** of the Qur'an. And while that may seem like a minor sin in the moment, the consequences are not. To lose your connection to the Qur'an could mean that you lose your greatest ally when you're six feet under and beyond. **[1:03]** Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that if we were to reveal this Qur'an upon a mountain, it would have flattened out of its awe of Allah. Yet somehow Allah made the heart of one man, being the Prophet (ﷺ), able to grasp this Qur'an. As for the rest of us, it has the potential to be what the Prophet (ﷺ) **[1:20]** said, رَبِيعَ قُلُوبِنَا وَنُورَ صُدُورِنَا The spring of our hearts, and the light in our chests. On the other hand, the Prophet (ﷺ) said that the one who has no Qur'an in his chest is like البيت الخرب, a home in ruins. **[1:37]** This all makes the punishment that the Prophet (ﷺ) saw regarding the Qur'an make so much more sense. The Prophet (ﷺ) says that as I set out with those two angels, we came across a man who was lying down. And behold, another man was standing over his head, and he was holding a boulder. **[1:57]** He would crush that man's head with the boulder, injuring it, and then the boulder would roll away. And the Prophet (ﷺ) said that the one who was crushing his head would go and chase the boulder and then bring it back. And by the time he got back, the man's head was restored, and he would do it again and **[2:13]** again and again and again. And the Prophet (ﷺ) said, Ya Jibril, what is this? And he was told that this is the symbol of the one who forgot the Qur'an. He neither recites it nor acts upon it, and he goes to sleep at night neglecting his prayers. **[2:30]** Now is this referring to someone who just forgot some of the surahs of the Qur'an due to their weak memory? No, this is referring to intentional neglect. And the scholars talk about two different types of forgetting, which is called nisyan when it comes to the Qur'an. The first type is the blameworthy type, which is a nisyan that comes from ihmal, which is **[2:50]** to neglect and completely lack care for the Qur'an. And this is not the same as forgetfulness out of condition or circumstance. And Imam al-Shawkani rahimahullah ta'ala also says that perhaps nisyan here means not acting upon it, as some of the narrations of the Prophet (ﷺ) indicate. **[3:09]** But the point is, this is a person who has abandoned the Qur'an, that does not act upon the Qur'an, that does not care to look to the Qur'an for guidance. And this is the person who the Prophet (ﷺ) will complain about on the Day of Judgment. **[3:24]** Wa qala al-rasoolu ya rabbi inna qawmi takhadhu hadha al-Qur'ana mahjoora. Oh my Lord, my people have abandoned this Qur'an. SubhanAllah, the word mahjoora comes from hijra, like a person migrated away from the Qur'an. **[3:40]** Can you imagine the spiritual state of a person who did hijra away from the Qur'an? And so their life has no more connection to it. And the Qur'an comes down, as Allah says, like rain, and it hits hard land sometimes. What if that hard land is your hard head or your hard heart that refuses to grant it entrance? **[4:01]** But if you find yourself instead falling in love with the Qur'an, especially in Ramadan, and asking where have you been for the rest of the year? Ask yourself, where have you been? Because that Qur'an has been sitting on your shelf, ready to be the best friend you ever **[4:16]** had, ready to be to you as a light in your darkest moments, including when you go to your grave. And then you find it speaking back to you as you used to read it, and holding you for the rest of your journey. How beautiful is that Book of Allah that descends into your heart like light. **[4:34]** And now as you are in your grave, you look up and you see this light descending upon you from above. Ubadah ibn Samit (رضي الله عنه) said that when a believer who has been devoted to the Qur'an is on his deathbed, the Qur'an comes and stands by his head as he's being washed. **[4:52]** And when the washing is completed, it enters between his chest and his kafan. And when he is placed in his grave and Munkar and Nakir come to question him, the Qur'an comes between him and the angels. The angels say to the Qur'an, step aside so that we may question him. **[5:10]** But the Qur'an replies, by Allah, I will never leave him. If you've been commanded to ask him, go ahead and do as you wish. The Qur'an then looks at the man and says, Araftani, do you recognize me? The man says no. The Qur'an says, I am your companion, the Qur'an, that used to keep you awake at night **[5:30]** and that used to make you thirsty during the day and prevented you from indulging in desires and listening to forbidden things. And you will find me today as a loyal companion. The Qur'an then continues and says, Rejoice! For after the questioning by Munkar and Nakir, you will no longer have any fear or sorrow. **[5:50]** The angels leave him, and the Qur'an ascends, requesting a mattress and a covering from Jannah for him. The believer is granted a mattress, a covering, and a lamp from Paradise, along with some of its fragrant plants, which is carried by a thousand angels from the nearest heaven. **[6:08]** The Qur'an proceeds them to the grave and says to the man, Did you miss me after I left you? I remained with my Lord until He ordered a mattress and covering for you from Paradise. The angels enter the grave. They place the mattress beneath the man's feet, the covering under his head, and the **[6:25]** fragrant plants by his chest. They place him on his right side, and they leave. And the man remains gazing at the angels until they ascend to the heavens. Finally, the Qur'an will be placed near the man's head in the direction of the Qibla, **[6:41]** continuing to expand the space of his grave according to Allah's will. Your recitation of the Qur'an and its presence in your heart is the most precious asset you carry into the barzakh. It's your companion when you're alone in your room, and now it's your companion when you're **[6:57]** alone in your grave. Now this is the whole Qur'an, but there are certain parts of it that are specific to protection from the punishment of the grave. And I want you to think about at night as you're about to go to sleep, but you choose to read Surat al-Mulk. **[7:12]** Abdullah bin Mas'ud (رضي الله عنه) confirms that whoever recites Surat al-Mulk every night, Allah will protect him from the punishment of the grave. But there's this intriguing narration reported by Uqba ibn Amir (رضي الله عنه), where he says that the Prophet (ﷺ) said, if the Qur'an were written on a skin and then thrown **[7:31]** into the fire, then it would not burn. Now by the way, subhanAllah, how many images have come out of Gaza of burnt masajid and burnt homes, and the Mushaf survives. Now some of the scholars say that what the Prophet (ﷺ) is referring to is the things **[7:46]** that they used to write the Qur'an on, certain types of bones and animal skins so that the ink would not burn off with intense heat. But Imam Ibn Qutayba rahimahullah offers this fascinating insight into the meaning of this narration. He said, verily Allah would not let the fire touch a soul full of the Qur'an. **[8:06]** And this is narrated from Abu Umamah (رضي الله عنه) that he said, memorize the Qur'an or recite the Qur'an regularly and do not be deceived by these physical copies of the Qur'an for Allah does not punish with fire a heart that has contained the Qur'an. **[8:23]** And so the fire will not consume you if you have consumed the Qur'an. And then you will find it again on the Day of Judgment, pulling you out of your grave into salvation when you're shocked with that next transition that the Prophet (ﷺ) mentions **[8:39]** as al-faza' al-akbar, the great shock. He says (ﷺ), indeed the Qur'an will meet its companion on the Day of Resurrection when his grave is opened. And it will appear to him like a pale man and it will say, do you recognize me? **[8:54]** Once again. And the man will say, I don't recognize you. Some of the scholars say that's the time that a person would forget their own children and their own parents. And the Qur'an would say to you again, I am your companion in the Qur'an that made you thirsty during the scorching days and kept you awake during the nights and every **[9:13]** merchant shall benefit from his trade. And today you will benefit from all of your trade. Is there any trade more beneficial than the time you give to the words of Allah? It elevates your spirit here and will elevate you in Jannah by every single letter of it. **[9:32]** How much would you wish when you get to your grave to have become its companion if you forgot it? And even if it was your companion, how much more time would you have wished to have spent with this beloved friend? And if the dead could speak, what do you think they would tell you that they wish they did **[9:50]** more of? ## Other Episodes in "The Other Side | Barzakh and Beyond" - [6,000 Bodies Washed and Buried | Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Ahmad Hraichie, “The Muslim Undertaker”](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-other-side-barzakh-and-beyond/6000-bodies-washed-and-buried-muslim-undertaker-the-other-side-barzakh.md) - [SERIES FINALE: It’s Not the End | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 30](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-other-side-barzakh-and-beyond/the-greatest-deed-is-hope-in-allah-the-other-side.md) - [Everyone Will Have Regrets | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 29](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-other-side-barzakh-and-beyond/everyone-will-have-regrets-the-other-side.md) - [Your Tahajjud Just Earned You Jannah | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 28](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-other-side-barzakh-and-beyond/your-tahajjud-just-earned-you-jannah-the-other-side.md) - [Laylatul Qadr in the Heavens and the Graves | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 27](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-other-side-barzakh-and-beyond/layalatul-qadr-in-the-heavens-and-the-graves-the-other-side.md) - [Your Duas Can Change The Worlds | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 26](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-other-side-barzakh-and-beyond/your-duas-can-change-the-worlds-the-other-side.md) - [People From a Past Life | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 25](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-other-side-barzakh-and-beyond/people-from-a-past-life-the-other-side.md) - [Best Friends Forever | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 24](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-other-side-barzakh-and-beyond/best-friends-forever-the-other-side.md) - [Your Loved Ones Never Left You | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 23](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-other-side-barzakh-and-beyond/your-loved-ones-never-left-you-the-other-side.md) - [Why Allah prescribes you Bitter Medicine | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 22](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-other-side-barzakh-and-beyond/when-allah-prescribes-you-bitter-medicine-the-other-side.md) - [The Most Important Prayer of Your Life | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 21](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-other-side-barzakh-and-beyond/the-most-important-prayer-of-your-life-the-other-side.md) - [The Many Forms of Zina | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 19](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/the-other-side-barzakh-and-beyond/the-many-forms-of-zina-the-other-side.md) - ["You Owe Me." 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