English Translation

Muhammad ibn Ja'far narrated to us, Awf narrated to us, from Abu Raja' al-Utaridi: Samura ibn Jundab al-Fazari narrated to us, who said: It was the practice of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) to say to his companions, "Has any of you seen a vision?" He said: So whoever Allah willed to relate one would relate it. He said: And one morning he said to us, "Two visitors came to me last night, and they roused me, and they said to me, 'Set out.' And I set out with them, and we came upon a man lying down, and there was another standing over him with a rock, and behold, he brought the rock down upon his head, crushing his head with it, and the stone rolled away over here; he would follow the stone and take it, and it would not return to him until his head had become whole again as it was. Then he would return to him and do the same as he had done the first time." He said: I said, "Glory be to Allah! What are these two?" He said, "They said to me, 'Set out, set out.'" So I set out with them, and we came upon a man lying on his back, and there was another standing over him with an iron hook, and behold, he would come to one side of his face and tear his cheek up to the back of his neck, and his nostril up to the back of his neck, and his eye up to the back of his neck. Then he would turn to the other side and do the same as he had done to the first side. He would not finish with that side before the first side had healed as it was, then he would return and do the same as he had done the first time." He said: I said, "Glory be to Allah, what are these two?" He said, "They said to me, 'Set out, set out.'" He said: So we set out and came upon something like the structure of an oven - Awf said, and I think he said - with clamor and voices in it. He said: I looked in, and there were men and women, naked, and a flame would come up to them from below them; whenever that flame reached them, they would cry out. I said, "Who are these?" He said, "They said to me, 'Set out, set out.'" He said: So we set out and came to a river - I think he said it was red like blood - and in the river there was a man swimming; then that man would come to the man who had gathered stones, and he would open his mouth for him, and he would feed him a stone after stone. He said: Then he would go off and swim as far as he would swim, then return to him; every time he returned to him, he would open his mouth for him and feed him a stone. I said, "What is this?" He said, "They said to me, 'Set out, set out.'" So we set out and came upon a man hideous to look at, as hideous as any man you could see, and there he was beside a fire of his, stoking it and running around it. I said to the two of them, "What is this?" He said, "They said to me, 'Set out, set out.'" So we set out and came upon a lush green meadow, in which there was every kind of spring flower. He said: And in the midst of the meadow there was a tall man standing - I could hardly see the top of his head for its height in the sky - and around the man there were more children than I have ever seen, and the most beautiful. I said to the two of them, "What is this, and who are these?" He said, "They said to me, 'Set out, set out.'" So we set out and came to a great tree, the like of which in greatness and beauty I had never seen. He said: They said to me, "Climb up into it." So we climbed up into it, and I came to a city built of bricks of gold and bricks of silver. We came to the gate of the city and asked that it be opened, and it was opened for us, and we entered it. We met in it men, half of whose bodies were as handsome as anything you could see, and half as ugly as anything you could see. He said: They said to them, "Go and fall into that river." And there was a small river running crosswise, like pure white milk. He said: So they went and fell into it, then returned to us, and that ugliness had left them, and they had become in the most handsome form. He said: They said to me, "This is the Garden of Eden, and that is your dwelling." He said: Then, as my gaze rose upward, there was a palace like a white cloud. They said to me, "That is your dwelling." I said to them, "May Allah bless you both, leave me so that I may enter it." They said, "As for now, no - but you will enter it." I said, "I have seen wondrous things tonight - what is it that I have seen?" They said, "We shall inform you. As for the first man you came upon, whose head was being crushed with the stone - he is a man who takes up the Qur'an and casts it aside, and sleeps instead of performing the prescribed prayers. As for the man you came upon whose cheek was torn from the side of his face up to the back of his neck, and his eye and his nostril up to the back of his neck - he is the man who goes out from his house in the morning and tells a lie that spreads to the horizons. As for the naked men and women in the structure like an oven - they are the fornicators and adulteresses. As for the man swimming in the river and being fed stones - he is the one who consumes usury. As for the hideous man beside the fire, stoking it - he is Malik, the keeper of Hell. As for the tall man you saw in the meadow - he is Abraham, peace be upon him. As for the children around him - every child who died upon the natural disposition." He said: Some of the Muslims said, "O Messenger of Allah, and the children of the polytheists?" The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "And the children of the polytheists too." "As for the people who were half handsome and half ugly - they had mixed a righteous deed with another, an evil one, so Allah pardoned them." I heard it from Abbad ibn Abbad, relating it from Awf, from Abu Raja', from Samura, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said, "the stone rolls away over here" - my father said: I began to marvel at the eloquence of Abbad.