(somber music) (somber music continues) (bus engine revving) (gentle music) - See you on the other side. Are you sure? Where are you going? And how do I know I'll make it there? What's it like over there? Is there a way you can tell me about it? Do people know me there? Have you seen my home? Am I viewed amongst the righteous or the wicked? What's real about what's around me right now? There's this world you're in and another world that simultaneously exists that you can't see, but it sees you. Allah, the angels, and other elements of the unseen are watching you. And the things you see around you are deeper than they look and can perhaps even perceive that realm better than you. And you're only one step away from it. It starts with a basic truth. Those we have buried are not actually dead. They've entered the Barzakh, a parallel existence where there are people right now that are just as alive as you. Some of them are watching green birds that were once in bodies of martyrs soar above them, others are drowning in rivers of blood. Some are dwelling in beautiful homes among family members that have been dead for decades, others are busy being devoured by beasts with many heads. So what is this realm? And what do we know about the people who reside in it? And what would knowing about that world do for us today to make sense of the world we live in right now? And what does it mean for us in our own individual journeys, trying to find our way back to Allah? (dramatic music) Centuries ago, there was a soldier that wandered in the desert near Kufa in Iraq, and he was trying to find the city center. And as he is wandering around looking for the city, he comes across one of the most famous scholars of his time, Ibrahim ibn Adham Rahimahullah but he had no idea who he was. So he goes up to him and he asks him, "Are you a slave?" Ibrahim says, "Yes." He says, "Ayna al Umraan?" Which linguistically means where are the city dwellings? Where is everyone at? So Ibrahim ibn Adham Rahimahullah said, "Follow me." And then he takes him to a graveyard. And the man said, "I asked you to take me to the city dwellings." Ibrahim ibn Adham Rahimahullah said, "It's right here." And he pointed to the graveyard again. So the man ends up striking him in the head, and then dragging him to the actual city, while the people come to him rushing saying, "What are you doing, that's Ibrahim ibn Adham Rahimahullah" He said, "But I asked him if he was a slave, as if that would've made his action okay. So they said to Ibrahim ibn Adham Rahimahullah "Oh our teacher, why didn't you just tell him who you are?" He said, "Well, he asked me if I was a slave, but he didn't say to whom, meaning I'm a slave to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'Aala" They said, "Well, what did you say when he struck you?" He said, "I made dua for Allah to give him Jannah." They said, "Why would you do that?" He said, "Because I knew I would be rewarded because of him, and I didn't want him to be punished because of me." They said, "Okay, but why did you take him to the graveyard in the first place? He asked you for al Umraan, he asked you where the city center was." And Ibrahim ibn Adham Rahimahullah said, "I've noticed that when people move to their graves, they settle there, but no one ever comes back here from there." Meaning the graveyard is where the living actually are. They say that the secret to success is being one step ahead. For the pious predecessors, the secret was being one stop ahead. They were all ready for all spiritual practical purposes, living in the next light. But what if we could walk up to the graves of our ancestors and just ask them to tell us what it's like for them now? In one narration from Jabir radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu the Prophets SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said that there was a group from Bani Israel in the past that were traveling, and as they were traveling, they pass a cemetery. And when they get there, they say to each other, let's pray two Rak'ahs and ask Allah to bring back some of these people so that they can tell us about death and they can tell us about life in the grave. So they all pray two Rak'ahs and then they made dua to Allah. And right after that, this man rises from the grave, shaking the dust off and he says, "Oh people, you sought nothing but this. I died a hundred years ago and the heat of the moment of my death has not yet cooled down. So can you ask Allah to return me to the state that I was in before?" The thing is, we don't need the dead to tell us how real death is and how we're all going to end up in the Barzakh someday. And every single soul who has ever walked the face of the Earth and passed away is there right now. Think about it, right now, the global population of earth is nearly 8 billion people. But in the Barzakh, we're talking about estimates of 117 billion human souls. And since it's impossible to know for sure, just think of when Allah says, Waqurunan bayna dhalika kathira, "And so many people and nations in between." How many years will you live there? Until the Day of Judgment. That means the vast majority of humanity would've had a longer life in Barzakh than on this Earth. And you might move in there tomorrow and end up living for a thousand years or more there. And it's called Hayatul-Barzakh, "the life of the Barzakh" for a reason. You have a full life, you have a family, you have friends, you have adults and children, you have a home and you have neighborhoods. You have food and drink, and it even has its own animals in that realm. All of the features of life are there, but with its own unique set of dimensions and time and space. So it's not like dunya, in that you age or like jannah, where we're all the same age. You can also seemingly be in two places at once or at least transfer between them with remarkable speed. So think of the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam, leading the prophets in prayer at Masjid-al-Aqsa in one moment and then almost in an instant, talking to each of them throughout the seven heavens. What if you could be in your grave one moment and then right under the throne of Allah the next? See, the more righteous you are, the more range you have to travel first class all over that world as you like. And most importantly, the Barzakh is happening right now. Think about Musa and Firaun alive in that world. The Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam saw Musa 'Alayhi Salaam praying alone in his grave as people read about the moment he was alone in the cradle in the Nile River. Then while we're still reading about Firaun throwing people into ditches of fire here, Allah is throwing him into a ditch of fire there. This is all as real as what's in front of us right now. And while we can't physically perceive it yet, we have these portals into the Barzakh to remind us of its rich dimensions. We may enter into it at times in our sleep through our dreams. And when we're awake, the grave stares at us like this door to a world of new realities made possible by the changes you're willing to make in your current reality. And we're all just one heartbeat away from entering into this dimension or one bomb. Imam Hasan al-Basri Rahimahullah said about us all, Ya ibn Adam, innama anta ayyam, "Oh, son of Adam, you are nothing but a number of days." Whenever a day passes, then a part of you has gone. For our oppressors, we also remember that they too are but a set of days. "Fala ta'ajal 'alayhim Innama na'uddu lahum 'adda." Allah says, "Do not be hasty with them- indeed, we are counting down their days." Ibn al-Abbas Radi Allahu anhuma said, that means, na'uddu anfaasahum fi al-dunya "We're counting down every single one of their breaths in this life." And when you awake to that world, do you really know which category you'll belong to? Will you fly with the Shuhada who never feel pain again because they sacrificed a whole life for Allah? Or will you rot in pain with the tyrants for all the lives you made miserable on Earth? Will you gather with the sincere believers truly resting in peace and joy and anticipation of a greater joy to come? Or will you be with the disbelievers and hypocrites, previewing eternal punishment instead? Or are you somewhere in between, a flawed believer with a mix of good and bad who will pay for your sins there or hope that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'Aala overlooks them? It's at this station that everything will be made clear. And that's why when Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu would stand by a grave, he would weep until his beard would become wet. And it was said to him, when Paradise and Hellfire are mentioned, you don't weep like this. But when you stand next to a grave, why do you cry so much? And he said, "The Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said, Inn'al qabra 'awwalu manzili min manazil alakhira, that, "Verily the grave is the first station of the Hereafter. If it is good, then everything after it will be better. And if it is bad, then everything after it will be worse. And I have never seen anything more harrowing than the grave." But the grave doesn't have to just be a place of the frightening unknown. It can also be a place of rest and reward. For some people, the grave is rest. Nasroukh Rahimahullah said, "There is no home better for a believer than his grave. Qad istaraaha min amr al-dunya aw min adhab-illah "He has been relieved from the affairs of this world or from the punishment of Allah." And for those of us who lost someone, who is the greatest source of joy in our lives, the grave can be a place where we finally get to reunite with the ones that we love so much. Uthman ibn Sauda Rahimahullah said that his mother, Raahiba Rahimahullah who was a righteous woman, looked at him and said to him at the time of her death, "My son, do not forsake me in life or in death." And so he would go and visit her grave as he used to visit her home and make dua for her. And then he sees her in a dream where his mother is looking beautiful and receiving these endless gifts of silk garments and perfume. And then she turns to him in that dream and says, "I'm pleased to receive you when you come to visit my grave." So do not stop visiting me. But for now, think about your grave, which you will one day visit and live in for an unspecified period of time. What does that grave look like? What does it feel like? What does it smell like? When Abdullah bin Ghalib Rahimahullah died, an amazing smell came out of his grave like mist right after he was buried. Then he was seen in a dream and asked about that smell and he said, "That was the breath of my recitation and my thirst." So as you start Ramadan, I want you to think about that with your fasting breaths. Your grave is breathing, it's a home under construction and the door to a reality that most people pay no heed to though it is absolutely inevitable. So what does your other side look like? What have you built that awaits you and what answers will we find beneath the surface that will give us enough clarity to make the cruel world above it make a bit more sense? LaAAallee aAAmalu salihan feema tarak kalla innaha kalimatun huwa qailuha wamin waraihim barzakhun ila yawmi yubAAathoon Captioning provided by MUHSEN (www.muhsen.org)