Question
What is the authenticity of the following narration?
Sayyiduna Abu Sa’id Al Khudri (radiyallahu ‘anhu) reported that Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) entered his place of salah and observed some men laughing. He said, “If you constantly remember the destroyer of pleasures, death, I will not see you in that which I see you now. So constantly remember the destroyer of pleasures: death, for every day the grave calls out, ‘I am the house of the estranged, I am the house of the solitude, I am the house of dust, and I am the house of worms.’
When the believing worshipper is buried, the grave says to him: ‘Welcome. Indeed, to me, you are the most beloved of those who walked upon me. Since you have been entrusted to me and delivered to me today, you shall see what I have arranged for you.’ It will then widen for him so that his sight extends, and a door to Jannah will be opened for him’
When a sinner or disbeliever is buried, the grave says to him: ‘You are not welcome. Indeed, to me, you are the most hated of those who walked upon me. Since you have been entrusted to me and delivered to me today, you shall see what I have arranged for you. ‘He said: ‘It will begin closing in on him until his ribs are crushing each other.’
Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) clasped some of his fingers between others and said: ‘Allah will set seventy serpents on him, if even one of them were to blow on the earth, nothing upon it would grow as long as it remained. They will chew on him and bite him until he is brought for reckoning.’
Nabi (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) then said: ‘The grave is either a garden from the gardens of Jannah or a pit from the pits of the Fire.’”
Answer
Imam Tirmidhi (rahimahullah) has recorded this Hadith and has declared it weak.
(Sunan Tirmidhi, Hadith: 2460)
However, various parts of this Hadith have been recorded in other reliable narrations which support the Hadith in question.
(See: Musnad Ahmad, vol. 2, pg. 293, vol. 3, pg. 126 and vol. 4, pg. 287. Also see Al Maqasidul Hasanah, Hadith: 147)
See here for a similar narration.
And Allah Ta’ala Knows best.
Answered by: Mawlana Suhail Motala
Approved by: Mawlana Muhammad Abasoomar
Checked by: Mawlana Haroon Abasoomar