By Mawlana Saanwal ibn Muhammad
It is the belief (aqidah) of the Ahl al-Sunnah wa ‘l-Jama’ah that the punishment in the grave is a reality which is proven from the Qur’an and ahadith. Hereunder are some references.
Verses from the Qurān:
النَّارُ يُعْرَضُونَ عَلَيْهَا غُدُوًّا وَعَشِيًّا . وَيَوْمَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ أَدْخِلُوا آلَ فِرْعَوْنَ أَشَدَّ الْعَذَابِ
“And they will be exposed to the fire day and night. Then, on the day the hour will rise (day of judgement), it shall be said to the Angels: Cast the people of the Pharaoh into the severest punishment!” (40:46)
There are many conflicting narrations regarding Yazid ibn Mu’awiyah. Some narrations describe him as being addicted to dancing, wine and music. (Al-Bidayah wa ‘l-
Is there a narration, which documents that Allah’s Messenger (Allah bless him and grant him peace) ever performed an ‘ibadah (worship) like reciting Qur’an, and asking Allah to forward the reward to any of his deceased relatives?
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Acquire knowledge, and acquire tranquility and dignity in order to acquire knowledge. And remain humble before whom you acquire knowledge” (al-Jami’ al-Saghir)
I find the book Fadha’il al-A`mal [of Shaykh Muhammad Zakariyya al-Kandhalwi] informative in explaining themes through ayah of the Qur’an and ahadith. However, I find some of the other material very strange. For example, in Fadha’il al-Salah, it says that ’Allamah Ibn ‘Abidin al-Shami (d. 1252 H / Allah have mercy on him) prayed a thousand nafl rak’ah every day. How is this humanly possible in a 24 hour day (if each rak’ah where to take 1.5 minutes on average, then he would be praying 25 hours a day of nafl salah!)? Also, it talks about a boy who fasted every day till he was reduced to a skeleton and prayed all night and then died. As unbelievable as this is, is such an act not against the Shari’ah (which teaches moderation)? Where do these and other such statements come from? By no means do I wish to attack this work. I merely seek clarification and verification of the authenticity of such statements.
To acquire knowledge under the expertise of a fully qualified, Sunnah conscious ‘alim of deen is absolutely essential. Failure to do so generally results in absolute misguidance. In fact, this has been the practice of the anbiya
A few words have already been mentioned in Fadha’il al-A’mal about the Ramadan practices of Shaykh al-Hind Mawlana Mahmud al-Hasan Deobandi (Allah have mercy on him). Shaykh al-Islam Mawlana Husain Ahmad Madani (Allah have mercy on him) writes in his book Safarnama Aseer Malta:
