سورة القارعة

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): فَأُمُّهُ هَاوِیَةٌ [his abode shall be the abyss]; his brain, headfirst, will be cast into the Fire of Hell.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Isa ibn Maryam (peace be upon him) passed by a village whose inhabitants, birds and animals had all died. He said: "Know that these people died only by a punishment; for had they died separately, they would have buried one another." The disciples said: "O Spirit and Word (decree and will) of Allah! Ask Allah to bring them back to life for us, so that they may inform us of their deeds and we may avoid them." So he (peace be upon him) asked his Lord, and at that moment a call came to him from the sky: "Call them." Isa (peace be upon him) stood at night on a high point of the earth and said: "O people of this village!" One of them answered him: "At your service, O Spirit and Word (decree and will) of Allah!" Isa (peace be upon him) said: "Woe to you! What were your deeds?" He said: "Worship of the taghut (false idol) and love of the world along with little fear, long hopes, and heedlessness in amusement and play." He said: "How was your love for the world?" He said: "Like a child's love for his mother; when it turned toward us, we were pleased and happy and joyful, and when it turned away from us, we wept and grieved." He said: "How was your worship of the taghut?" He said: "Obedience to the people of disobedience." He said: "How was the end of your affair?" He said: "We spent the night in good health, and awoke in al-Hawiyah." He said: "What is al-Hawiyah?" He said: "Sijjin." He said: "What is Sijjin?" He said: "Mountains of burning embers that are kindled upon us until the Day of Resurrection." He said: "What did you say and what was said to you?" He said: "We said: 'Return us to the world so that we may practice asceticism in it.' It was said to us: 'You lie.'" He said: "Woe to you! Why did none of them speak to me except you?" He said: "O Spirit of Allah! They are bridled with bridles of fire in the hands of harsh and severe angels. I [in the world] was among them but was not of them. So when the punishment descended, it enveloped me along with them. Now I am suspended by a single hair over the edge of Hell, not knowing whether I shall be cast down into it or delivered from it." Then Isa (peace be upon him) turned to the disciples and said: "O friends of Allah! Eating dry bread with coarse salt and sleeping on rubbish heaps is a great good, along with the well-being of this world and the Hereafter."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): In a hadith it is reported that Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: "Indeed, Allah the Exalted established brotherhood among the souls in the world of shadows (azillah) two thousand years before He created the bodies. So if our Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble reappearance) of the Ahl al-Bayt rises, he will surely give inheritance to those brothers between whom Allah the Exalted established brotherhood in the world of shadows, and he will not give inheritance to the brother by birth." And the Imam (peace be upon him) said: "The souls meet each other in the air, and they recognise one another and question each other. So when a soul comes from the earth, they say: 'Leave him be, for he has escaped from a great terror.' Then they ask him: 'What did so-and-so do, and what did so-and-so do?' So every time he says that he is still alive, they hope that he will join them, and whenever he says: 'He died,' they say: 'He has fallen and dropped down!' And Allah the Exalted says: وَ مَنْ یَحْلِلْ عَلَیْهِ غَضَبِی فَقَدْ هَوی [And whoever My wrath descends upon has surely fallen], and He the Exalted says: وَ أَمَّا مَنْ خَفَّتْ مَوازِینُهُ * فَأُمُّهُ هاوِیَةٌ * وَ ما أَدْراکَ ما هِیَهْ * نارٌ حامِیَةٌ [And as for the one whose scales are light, his abode shall be the abyss. And what will make you know what it is? A burning fire]. And the parable of the world and the master of the world is like the parable of the sea, the sailor and the ship."