পৃষ্ঠা 154: একাদশ অধ্যায়: কবর যিয়ারতের বিধান, শিষ্টাচার ও আন্তরিক আত্মোপলব্ধি

The dwellings of the dead stir up intense grief, and gazing upon them breeds deep melancholy.

Dwellings that do not answer you when you call out, and painful indeed is it for you that you receive no response.

And how can one answer whom you call when he is dead, enclosed by hard stones and earth?

Resident therein until Allah resurrects His creation; meeting you is beyond hope, even though you are so near.

You decay more with every passing day and night, and you are forgotten just as you decay, even though you were dearly beloved.

Abu Nu'aym narrated with his chain of transmission that Dawud al-Ta'i once passed by a graveyard where a woman was standing beside a grave reciting these two verses. He heard her, and that became the reason for his repentance; meaning, the reason for his turning away from the world and its worldly attachments, and his preoccupation with the Hereafter and preparing for it.

Bakr al-'Abid heard a woman at a grave saying: 'O 'Umar! Would that I knew, which of your cheeks decay began with first, and which of your eyes melted away before the other!' Thereupon Bakr collapsed unconscious. It was recorded by Ibn Abi al-Dunya in the book 'Dhikr al-Mawt' (Remembrance of Death).

And he narrated in 'Kitab al-Kha'ifin' from Muhammad ibn al-Husayn, from 'Abdullah ibn Musa who said: Whenever al-Hasan ibn Salih climbed the minaret (meaning, to call the adhan), he would look out over the graveyard. When he gazed at the sun shimmering intensely over the graves, he would let out a cry until he collapsed unconscious, and he would be carried and brought down.

One day, he attended a funeral. When the deceased was brought close to be buried, he looked into the niche (lahd) of the grave, broke into a sweat out of terror, and then slumped down unconscious. He was subsequently carried upon the bier of the deceased and returned to his home.

And he mentioned with his chain of transmission from 'Isa ibn Yunus, who mentioned al-Husayn ibn Salih and said: 'Rarely did I come at a prayer time without finding that he had fainted, having looked toward the graveyard, cried out, and collapsed unconscious.'

And with his chain of transmission from 'Umar ibn Dirham al-Quray'i, that he entered the graveyard while blindfolded, with his son leading him. When he stepped upon a grave, he said: 'O my son, where am I?'

And he narrated in 'Kitab al-Qubur' with his chain of transmission that a woman in Madinah used to be boastful and vain. One day she entered the graveyard and saw a skull, so she shrieked and returned in sincere repentance. Her fellow women came to her and asked: 'What happened?' She replied: 'My heart wept at the remembrance of death when I saw the skulls of the dead in their graves.' Then she said: 'Depart from me, and let no woman among you come to me except one who desires the service of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic.' Thereafter, she devoted herself entirely to worship until she died.

And with his chain of transmission from 'Isa al-Khawwas, that a man from the early generations entered the graveyard and passed by an exposed skull from one of the graves. He grieved with profound sorrow, then buried it. Then he turned around and saw nothing but graves...