English Translation

Al-Bara' ibn Azib reported: We went out with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) for the funeral of a man from the Ansar. We arrived at the grave, and the niche had not yet been dug. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) sat and we sat around him as if birds were perched on our heads. In his hand was a stick with which he was scratching the ground. He raised his head and said: "Seek refuge with Allah from the punishment of the grave" — two or three times. Then he said: "When the believing servant is about to depart from this world and enter the Hereafter, angels with white faces descend to him from heaven — as if their faces were the sun. They carry with them burial shrouds and embalming from Paradise. They sit as far as the eye can see. Then the Angel of Death comes and sits by his head and says: 'O good soul, come out to the forgiveness of Allah and His pleasure.' It flows out like a drop flows from the mouth of a water skin. He takes it, and they do not leave it in his hand for the blink of an eye before they take it and place it in those shrouds and that embalming. The most fragrant scent of musk on the face of the earth comes from it. They ascend with it through the gates of heaven, and at each heaven the angels ask: 'Who is this good soul?' They say: 'So-and-so, the son of so-and-so' — calling him by the best names he was known by in the world — until they reach the heaven above which is Allah. Allah Most High says: 'Record the book of My servant in Illiyyun and return him to the earth, for from it I created them, to it I return them, and from it I shall raise them again.' His soul is returned to his body, and two angels come and sit him up." He mentioned the hadith at length. Narrated by Ahmad and Abu Dawud.