The Hadith have dealt in details about purgatory and its specific features and their numbers are so great that late Khwaja Tusi has claimed their continuity in his book Tajri-ol-Aqaid. He says:
“The punishments of the grave are something real because they are intellectually possible and the continuity in traditions also proves it.
We now present some very clear traditions from the Islamic archives.
The first Hadith:
The graves are a part of the gardens of Paradise and also an abyss among the many abyss of Hell.
Tirmizi has also recorded this Hadith and Allama Majlisi has recorded it once in the name of Hazrat Ali Ibn Abi Talib and in the name of Ali Ibn Hussein in another instance.
Hadith number two:
When the bodies of the pagan were thrown into the well after the battle of Badr the Messenger spoke these famous words:
“O people of the grave! Did you find the promise that God had made to be true? I found the promise of my God (about victory) to be true.”
Some people interjected, “O Messenger of God can they hear?” He answered you do not hear my words more than them but they cannot answer today.” (1)
The same meaning can be found present in various traditions.
There is one that says that the Messenger called out to the pagans by their names and said:
“O Abu Jahal, O’tba, Sheeba, Omaiyya did you find God’s promise to you to be true? I find the promise He had made to me to be true. Omar Ibn Khattaab said, “O Messenger of God are you talking to the bodies that are lifeless?” He answered “By the entity in whose hands lays my life you do not hear my words better than them but they are unable to answer.” (2)
This Hadith not only proves a special kind of life in the interred bodies in purgatory it is also a proof that they have a special connection with this world at least to hear some words.”
Hadith number three:
While returning from the battle of Siffeen Hazrat Ali stood near a graveyard behind the walls of Kufa and said:
“You have gone ahead and soon we will join you. Your houses have been inhabited by others. Your wives have married others and your wealth has been distributed. This is the news from our side, what is the news from yours?”
He then turned to his companions and said:
“They can give you the news provided they are allowed to speak, that the best provision and ration for the journey of the hereafter is piety.”(3)
This Hadith also tells us that not only the existence of purgatory is a reality for the soul but it has a very special connection with this world.
Hadith number four:
There are various sermons in Nahjul Balagha about purgatory. Imam Ali spoke about some of the deceased:
“They have met death before you and have entered purgatory” (4)
Speaking about the “Ahli Zikr” Imam Ali said:
“Though they exist in this world but they have covered the distance between this world and the hereafter for they have joined it. They see the world beyond as if they see purgatory and they have become aware of its secrets.” (5)
The fifth hadith:
Imam Sadiq has said:
“By God! I fear only for your stay in purgatory”
(This means that the true believers will benefit from the intercessions of the Holy Messenger and the infallible Imams but the accounting in purgatory is something else.” (6)
The sixth hadith:
In another Imam Sadiq has said:
“Purgatory is in the grave a stage for reward and punishment between this world and the hereafter.” (7)
A Hadith has been recorded in Tafsir Durre Manshur in which the Messenger is reported to have said;
“When the soul of the true believer is confiscated then the people of God and His mercy come to welcome them and say: “The new comers should be looked after, they should rest since they have been subject to a hard pain. Then they ask about some friends and when they know that some of them have left this world before the new comers they say: “They have been taken to Hell (and this is why there is no sign of them here). (8)
Hadith No.8.
We understand from certain Hadith that the good deeds of the relatives give happiness to the souls of the true believers. Imam Jafar Sadiq said:
“The soul feels happiness when someone prays for it to be forgiven just like the living person are happy receiving gifts.” (9)
This same meaning is there in the Hadith about the Messenger in which he has said:
“The gifts from the living to the dead are the prayers for their forgiveness.” (10)
Hadith No 9
It is reported that Imam Sadiq said:
“He who denies these things is not among our Shias: Meraj, the questioning in the grave and intercession.” (11) This is about the questioning in purgatory.
Hadith No 10.
We end this series of tradition with one from Kanz-ol-A’maal:
(Though there are umpteen and continuous about this)
The Messenger pointed towards the martyrs of Uhud and said:
“O people! Visit them and greet them. By the God who controls my life, they will answer to any Muslim who will greet them.” (12)
This book has recorded other traditions in this regard.
It is clear that those who deny visiting the dead and consider them to be as stones and wood are so ignorant about the Hadith and far from the teachings of the Messenger.
All those traditions that speak about the torments in the grave, its hardships and the questioning, plus those that speak about the result of man’s good and bad deeds; those traditions that speak about the souls’ contacts with their living relatives and their conditions; those traditions that speak about Meraj and its events and the meeting of the Messenger with the earlier apostles are all proof about purgatory and all this discussion will come to naught without the existence of such a world.
1. Kanz-ol-A’maal vol. 1 page 377 Hadith 29876
2. Kanz-ol-A’maal vol. 10 page 377 and Hadith 29874
3. Nahjul Balagha Sayings 130
4. Nahjul Balagha sermon 221
5. Nahjul Balagha sermon 222
6. Tafsir Nurus Saqlain vol.3 page 553 Hadith 120
7. Tafsir Nurus Saqlain vol. 3 page 554 Hadith 122
8. Tafsir Durre Manshur as in Tafsir Al Mizan vol.20 page 494
9. Muhijat-ol-Baida vol.8 page 292
10. Muhijat-ol-Baida vol.8 page 291
11. Behar-ol-Anwar vol.6 page 223.
12. Kanz-ol-A’maal vol. 10 ;page 382 Hadith 29896
