Beliefs

Allamah Majlisi says in Haqqul Yaqeen:

Muslims have a unanimously agreed belief that the squeezing of grave and both reward and punishment therein are real facts. According to reliable traditions, the grave will press the same body, which was been buried. Of course, every body is not necessarily squeezed in the grave. It depends upon the deeds, that is, this punishment is inflicted only on those who have earned it by sinning. The degree of squeeze will also depend on the severity of his sins. The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) is reported to have said that the squeezing of the grave is the expiation of the sin of wasting away the bounties granted by God.

Shaykh Kulaini (r.a.) has, reliably narrated from Abu Baseer that he asked Imam Ja'far Sadiq (a.s.), "Is any body spared the squeeze in grave?"

The Imam replied, "Refuge God from this matter! Very few people escape the squeeze of the grave."

When Ruqaiya, the stepdaughter of the Prophet expired, the Prophet stood at her grave raising his head towards the sky. Tears flowed from his eyes. Then he told the people, "I remembered the calamity this lady has just passed. It made me extremely gloomy and I prayed: O Allah! Forgive her. You are Most Merciful. Please save her from the squeeze of the grave.' Then he said, "God has pardoned her."

It seldom so happens that a person is saved from the squeeze of grave. This is because the squeezing of the grave is the result of sins. The matter is so sensitive that even an unwise and unjust behaviour with one's own family members can cause squeeze in the grave. As a testimony to this statement and with a view to show the importance of this squeeze, we narrate below a tradition related to Saad bin Muaaz Ansari.

Saad was a chief of the Ansars as well as a respected person in the eyes of the Holy Prophet and also in the opinion of all Muslims. Once he was riding to visit the Holy Prophet. The latter asked Muslims to receive him. The Holy Prophet himself had also stood to welcome him. The Holy Prophet had once appointed Saad as arbiter in a case concerning some Jews. When he (Saad) expired, seventy thousand angels joined his funeral procession. The Holy Prophet shouldered all the four corners of his coffin and said, "There were columns and rows of angels in the funeral of Saad. My hand was in the hand of Jibraeel. I was following him (Jibraeel) wherever he moved." In short, he was such a nice gentleman that, besides all these things, the Holy Prophet lowered his body in the grave. Seeing this, the mother of the deceased cried out, "Congratulation to you, 0 Saad! Congratulation for winning paradise." The Holy Prophet asked that lady, "From where did you know that your son has reached paradise? Right now he is under squeeze of the grave." The companions asked, "0 Messenger of God! Is a pious man like Saad is also being squeezed in the grave?" The Holy Prophet replied, "Yes."

According to another narration, when people asked the reason for the squeeze of Saad's grave, the Holy Prophet replied that Saad was not behaving nicely with his family members and his attitude towards his wife was rather bad.

Adapted from the book: "The Hereafter (Ma'aad)" by: "Ayatullah Dastghaib Shiraazi"