I was doing some reading yesterday and I came across this hadith, and it really got to me, so I thought I would share it with all of you so you may attain the same amount of benefit or more. The part that affected me the most is the part that is bolded.
Narrated Samura bin Jundub:
Allah’s Apostle very often used to ask his companions, “Did anyone of you
see a dream?” So dreams would be narrated to him by those whom Allah wished
to tell. One morning the Prophet said, “Last night two persons came to me
(in a dream) and woke me up and said to me, ‘Proceed!’ I set out with them
and we came across a man Lying down, and behold, another man was standing
over his head, holding a big rock. Behold, he was throwing the rock at the
man’s head, injuring it. The rock rolled away and the thrower followed it
and took it back. By the time he reached the man, his head returned to the
normal state. The thrower then did the same as he had done before. I said to
my two companions, ‘Subhan Allah! Who are these two persons?’ They said,
‘Proceed!’
So we proceeded and came to a man Lying flat on his back and another man
standing over his head with an iron hook, and behold, he would put the hook
in one side of the man’s mouth and tear off that side of his face to the
back (of the neck) and similarly tear his nose from front to back and his
eye from front to back. Then he turned to the other side of the man’s face
and did just as he had done with the other side. He hardly completed this
side when the other side returned to its normal state. Then he returned to
it to repeat what he had done before. I said to my two companions, ‘Subhan
Allah! Who are these two persons?’ They said to me, ‘Proceed!’
So we proceeded and came across something like a Tannur (a kind of baking
oven, a pit usually clay-lined for baking bread).” I think the Prophet said,
“In that oven t here was much noise and voices.” The Prophet added, “We
looked into it and found naked men and women, and behold, a flame of fire
was reaching to them from underneath, and when it reached them, they cried
loudly. I asked them, ‘Who are these?’ They said to me, ‘Proceed!’
And so we proceeded and came across a river.” I think he said, “…. red
like blood.” The Prophet added, “And behold, in the river there was a man
swimming, and on the bank there was a man who had collected many stones.
Behold. while the other man was swimming, he went near him. The former
opened his mouth and the latter (on the bank) threw a stone into his mouth
whereupon he went swimming again. He returned and every time the performance
was repeated, I asked my two companions, ‘Who are these (two) persons?’ They
replied, ‘Proceed! Proceed!’
And we proceeded till we came to a man with a repulsive appearance, the most
repulsive appearance, you ever saw a man having! Beside him there was a fire
and he was kindling it and running around it. I asked my companions, ‘Who is
this (man)?’ They said to me, ‘Proceed! Proceed!’
So we proceeded till we reached a garden of deep green dense vegetation,
having all sorts of spring colors. In the midst of the garden there was a
very tall man and I could hardly see his head because of his great height,
and around him there were children in such a large number as I have never
seen. I said to my companions, ‘Who is this?’ They replied, ‘Proceed!
Proceed!’
So we proceeded till we came to a majestic huge garden, greater and better
than I have ever seen! My two companions said to me, ‘Go up and I went up’
The Prophet added, “So we ascended till we reached a city built of gold and
silver bricks and we went to its gate and asked (the gatekeeper) to open the
gate, and it was opened and we entered the city and found in it, men with
one side of their bodies as handsome as the handsomest person you have ever
seen, and the other side as ugly as the ugliest person you have ever seen.
My two companions ordered those men to throw themselves into the river.
Behold, there was a river flowing across (the city), and its water was like
milk in whiteness. Those men went and threw themselves in it and then
returned to us after the ugliness (of their bodies) had disappeared and they
became in the best shape.” The Prophet further added, “My two companions
(angels) said to me, ‘This place is the Eden Paradise, and that is your
place.’ I raised up my sight, and behold, there I saw a palace like a white
cloud! My two companions said to me, ‘That (palace) is your place.’ I said
to them, ‘May Allah bless you both! Let me enter it.’ They replied, ‘As for
now, you will not enter it, but you shall enter it (one day).
*I said to them, ‘I have seen many wonders tonight. What does all that mean
which I have seen?’ They replied, ‘We will inform you: As for the first man
you came upon whose head was being injured with the rock, he is the symbol
of the one who studies the Quran and then neither recites it nor acts on its
orders, and sleeps, neglecting the enjoined prayers. *
As for the man you came upon whose sides of mouth, nostrils and eyes were
torn off from front to back, he is the symbol of the man who goes out of his
house in the morning and tells so many lies that it spreads all over the
world.
And those naked men and women whom you saw in a construction resembling an
oven, they are the adulterers and the adulteresses;
And the man whom you saw swimming in the river and given a stone to swallow,
is the eater of usury (Riba).
And the bad looking man whom you saw near the fire kindling it and going
round it, is Malik, the gatekeeper of Hell.
And the tall man whom you saw in the garden, is Abraham and the children
around him are those children who die with Al-Fitra (the Islamic Faith).”
The narrator added: Some Muslims asked the Prophet, “O Allah’s Apostle! What
about the children of pagans?” The Prophet replied, “And also the children
of pagans.” The Prophet added, “My two companions added, ‘The men you saw
half handsome and half ugly were those persons who had mixed an act that was
good with another that was bad, but Allah forgave them.’”
*Allahuma inne asaluka Ilman naafian wa amalan mutabalan wa rizqan tayyibah.
Allahuma innee aoodhubika min ilmin laa yanfau’ wa qalbin laa yakhshau’ wa
min nafsin laa tashba’ wa min dawatin laa yustajaabulaha. Allahumma innee
abduka, ibnu abdika, ibnu ‘amatika, naasiyatee biyadika, maadhin fiyya
hukmuka, ‘adlun fiyya qadhaa’uka, ‘as’aluka bikulli ismin huwalaka ,
sammayta bihi nafsaka, ‘aw ‘ anzaltahu fee kitaabika, ‘aw ‘allamtahu ‘ahadan
min khalqika, ‘awista ‘tharta bihi fee ‘ilmil-ghaybi ‘indaka, ‘an taj’alal -
Qur’aana rabee’a qalbee, wa noora sadree , wa jalaa’a huznee, wa thahaaba
hammee.*
O Allah I ask you for knowledge which benefits, deeds which are accepted by You and sustenance which is good and lawful. O Allah I seek refuge in you from knowledge that does not benefit and from a heart which does not fear You and from a soul (desires) which is not satisfied and from prayers which are not answered. O Allah ! I am Your Slave and the son of Your male slave and the son of Your female slave. My forehead is in Your Hand { i.e , you have control over me}. Your judgment upon me is assured and Your decree concerning me is just. *I ask by every Name that you have revealed in Your Book, taught any one of Your creation or kept unto Yourself in the knowledge of Unseen that is with You, to make Qur’an the spring of my heart, and the light of my chest, the banisher of my sadness and the reliever of my distress.*
Ameen!
