Aslam

When he reached the little door of the mosque, he was stabbed by Ibn Maljam Omme Kulsum, daughter of Ali, came out and said : What has happened to Fajr prayer, my husband Ameerul Momenin was murdered at Fajr prayer, my father Hazrat Ali has been murdered at Fajr prayer. A Quraishite old man said : When Ibn Maljam stabbed Hazrat Ali, he said : By the Lord of Ka'ba, my purpose has been fulfilled. He did not hold further useless talk and at death bed he began to utter : There is no deity but God

CONDITIONS IN GRAVE

It is reported by Zuhhak that a man asked : O Prophet of God, who is the person who has renunciated the world most? He said : He is one who does not forget the condition in the grave and destruction, who gives up the unnecessary fineries of the world, who prefers the everlasting happiness rather than the short lived happiness, who does not count tomorrow as included in his life and who counts himself as one of the inmates of the grave. Hazrat Ali was once ask^d; What is your condition? Why are you living in the neighbourhood of graves? He said : I have found those as good neighbours whose tongues are silent and who remembered the hereafter.

The Holy Prophet said: The grave is more fearful than what I glanced my look on. Hazrat Omar said : Once we came out with the Prophet to the graveyard. He sat by one grave and I was close to him. He began to weep and at last his companions also began

Vol-IV THE BOOK OF CONSTRUCTIVE VIRTUES 409

to weep. He asked us : Why do you weep? We said : We weep as you weep. The Prophet said : This grave is of my mother Anina, daughter of Wahab. I asked permission of my Lord to visit her grave and he gave me permission. Again I asked forgiveness for her but He rejected it. The affection of a son towards his mother has arisen in me.

Whenever Hazrat Osman waited by the side of a grave, he wept so much that his beard became wet. He once said : Why don' t you weep if Paradise and Hell are described to you but why do you weep if you stand by the side of a grave? He said : I heard the Prophet say : The grave is the first stage out of the stages of the next world. If one gets release from it, what is next to it is more easy than it. If he does not get release from it, what comes next is more difficult than it.

It has been narrated that Hazrat Amr^bin-A's got down and prayed two rakats by the side of a graveyard. He was said : You have never done so before. He said : I can remember what passed between the inmates of the graves and myself. I intend to be near God with the help of these two things.

The saint Muzahed said: What the grave will first say to the son of Adam is this : I am the dwelling house of insects and worms. I am the house of solitude, an unknown house, a house full of darkness. I have prepared this house for you. What are the things which you have prepared for me?