Meaning: And of the trial of life and death, and an explanation of the trial of the grave, its bliss, and its punishment

The Shaykh : And of the trial of life and death. The trial is a test. It can be through good and it can be through evil. Allah the Exalted said: . Allah may test a person with evil through calamities, illness in his body, in his family, in his relatives, through poverty, or through other calamities, to test him: will he be patient or will he not? The trial may be through good, to test him: will he be grateful or will he be arrogant? And when Sulayman came upon the valley of the ants, . Yes. . And in another verse He said: . Yes, I seek forgiveness from Allah. Yes, before that He said: .
So the trial of life is through good and through evil. It is through evil to test the person: will he be patient or not? It is through good to test him: will he be grateful or not? So in reality, a person is between two things: either good or evil. Both are a test. And a person may be tested in his religion, may Allah protect us, in the trial of the world in religion, and that revolves around two things: doubts and desires.
Doubts, such that the truth becomes confused for the person until he cannot distinguish between the truth and falsehood, and he stumbles and perishes. Desires, where the person has distinction and knowledge, but he has a bad will.
The trial of the Christians, for example, is from the category of desires or from the category of doubts? It is from the category of doubts. The trial of the Jews is from the category of desires, because they knew the truth and opposed it. Thus, a person, may Allah protect us, may be tested in his religion so that the truth becomes confused for him, or he may be tested in his religion so that he does not want the truth.
. Death, is there a trial in it? Yes, what is it? Death has a trial. In fact, it has two trials: one before death and the second after death—pay attention, my brother—the trial before death. When a person’s time comes, Satan comes to him and presents doubts to him, so that he may even leave the religion at the time of his death. For this reason, we should always ask Allah for a good ending. Satan may present himself to the person in the form of his parents or in the form of his father. He says to him, “My son, the religion of Islam is not a true religion, and the true religion is Judaism or Christianity, so be a Jew or a Christian.” And the person in that state, with death approaching him, does not have full distinction, so he is tested, and then he becomes a Jew or a Christian, may Allah protect us. And this is a great trial. It is mentioned that Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him), when his death was approaching, would faint and say: “Later, later. Later, later”. When he regained consciousness, he was told, “O Abu 'Abd Allah, you are saying ‘later, later.’ What is this speech?” He said: “Satan was presenting himself to me and saying, ‘Test me, O Ahmad’”. Meaning, he was unable to mislead me, so I would say to him: “Later, later”, meaning, until now you have not succeeded, why? Because his soul is in his body, so he is not safe from the trial as long as the soul has not exited. The matter is very serious. This is the trial of death that comes; it occurs before death.
The trial that occurs after death is that the person is tested in his grave. Two angels come to him and ask him, “Who is your Lord? What is your religion? Who is your Prophet?” As for the believer, and I ask Allah to make me and you among them. As for the believer, he says, “Allah is my Lord, Islam is my religion, and my Prophet is Muhammad.” Then a caller calls out from the sky, “Your servant has spoken the truth, so spread for him from Paradise and dress him from Paradise, and open for him a door to Paradise.” And his grave is extended for him, and it is made spacious for him to the extent of his sight. And he is given from the spirit of Paradise and its bliss what pleases him, until he says, “My Lord, establish the Hour so that I may return to my family,” because he sees that there is a greater bliss, which is the bliss of Paradise, in which is what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and what has not occurred to the heart of any human. And as for the non-Muslim, such as the doubter and the disbeliever, he says, “Ha, ha,” when asked, “Ha, ha, I do not know. I heard people saying something, so I said it,” because faith did not enter his heart, may Allah protect us. He heard and said it without faith. So he is struck with an iron mallet, and he lets out a scream that everything hears except humans.
He is struck with an iron mallet and lets out a scream that everything hears except humans, and his grave is tightened upon him until his ribs are crushed. And he says, “My Lord, do not establish the Hour,” because he knows that behind this punishment is something greater and more severe than it. This is the trial of death.