Voices of Islam (160 page)

I then remembered that the soul would have to be brought back to Earth once again to join with the body while it was being washed and prepared for burial. The soul also had to be with the body for the Interrogation in the Grave, after which it would remove itself to a medial station called the
Barzakh,
the ‘‘interval,’’ or ‘‘isthmus.’’ In the Qur’an, the Barzakh is a barrier set up by God to keep two bodies of water separate and distinct (Qur’an 25:53). In Islamic eschatology, the term refers to the separation between the world of the dead and the world of the living. Once they have arrived at the Barzakh, the dead do not return to the world of the living. While there, the soul awaits the coming of the Hour (
al-Sa‘a
). At the coming of the Hour, the soul unites again with the body to be resurrected and to stand before God on Judgment Day. Denying the coming of the Hour means denying God’s justice and acknowledging the dominion of evil

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(Qur’an 25:11). My father would say in Moroccan dialect, ‘‘Were it not for the Hour, the evil ones (literally, ‘‘the bastards’’) would succeed’’ (
Law kan ma kantsh al-Sa’a, lasilku ulad al-haram
).

My father said that the body without the soul is nothing more than flesh and bones. It will perish and later it will be consumed by worms. The soul, he would clarify, is what allows the dead to be conscious of what goes on around them (Qur’an 35:22). Those who care for the body after death must be aware that the dead person can hear and feel everything they say or do. Thus, they must take care to say or do nothing that would disturb the soul’s tranquility.

THE WORLD AND THE HEREAFTER

Forest Lawn Cemetery and Hollywood Mortuary started to appear from afar. I could see from the window of the car that we would soon arrive at our destination. I thought if my parents were still alive, and if I were to share with them my shock upon hearing the news of the young woman’s death and the experience I was about to undergo, what would their advice be? At that moment, I imagined my father reminding me of the following Qur’anic verses: ‘‘No soul can die except by Allah’s leave and at a time appointed’’ (Qur’an 3:145); ‘‘No soul knows in what land it will die’’ (Qur’an 31:34); ‘‘Wherever you may be, death will overtake you’’ (Qur’an 4:78). He would also have mentioned the following Hadith as a comfort for those who were left behind: ‘‘A sudden death is a solace for the faithful but a sorrow for the unbeliever.’’
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My beloved mother was a woman of few words. Rather than giving long explanations, she would probably have used a pointed Moroccan aphorism: ‘‘Grave-diggers and burial providers can be found in every land’’ (
haffar u daffan fi kull al-bled
). Being known for her wisdom, she might have added, ‘‘Pursue your happiness wherever it might be. Spread through God’s land and seek His bounty (Qur’an 62:10), and never worry about who will be there to care for your remains when your appointed time comes.’’ This was an adven- turous statement, especially since it came from a woman who seldom left her house! Thinking of my mother, I could see what had motivated me to seek my happiness in faraway lands and to end up settling in the United States.

I took the Qur’anic verses that my father referred to as a warning not to question the will of God for taking a young life prematurely and to content myself with serving as one of those ‘‘body washers and burial providers’’ that my mother alluded to in her astute dictum. I also came to realize how my conception of the Last Day (
al-Yawm al-Akhir
) as a fundamental article of the Islamic faith along with belief in God, His angels, His Books, and His Messengers (Qur’an 4:136) had moved me to a higher and deeper level of understanding than before.

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My parents’ warnings against being oblivious to the reality of the Hereafter and not allowing myself to be seduced by the deceptions of the material world (
al-ghurur
) now made more sense to me than before.
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I could see this as a valuable lesson worth passing on to my young daughter as well. I appre- ciated my parents’ advice to guard against the temptations of the material world (
al-dunya
) and to stay focused only on what would be of benefi in the Hereafter (
al-akhira
).
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My parents inspired me to emulate those whose hearts live in constant remembrance of God, who do not hate or fear death but perceive it as an opportunity that the soul takes to escape from worldly existence into the divine realm.
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My father likened the soul’s escape from the world through the annihilation of selfhood to a metaphorical ‘‘death’’ before physical death. By teaching me that one could realize such an annihilation in prayer, in living the Word of God through the Qur’an, and in embodying the Prophet Muhammad’s character through the Sunna, he brought me to a better understanding of what was meant by the concept of mystical death. Without this sensation, my father would say, life as we understood it would be devoid of meaning.

Being in proximity to Forest Lawn Cemetery made me think of the answers that the dead are supposed to give to the questions asked of them in the grave by Nakir and Munkir, the two Interrogating Angels. Softly, the phrases, ‘‘Allah is my Lord (
Allahu Rabbi
), the Qur’an is my Book (
al-Qur’anu Kitabi
), Muhammad is my Prophet (
Muhammadun Nabiyyi
), Islam is my Religion (
al-Islamu Dini
),’’ came out of my mouth. I felt a great sense of relief because remembering these words gave me the assurance that, were I to be the one that had died and were I to be the one to be interrogated in the grave, I would have passed my first test on the journey to the Hereafter. These four statements, which every Muslim must know by heart, are believed to be the key to deliverance from the torments of the grave. Failure to answer them correctly would result in frightful encounters with vipers, scorpions, and all sorts of chastisements and affl ctions that are unbearable for any human soul.

TERRORS OF THE GRAVEYARD

The sight of the well-kept graves covering a huge area of Forest Lawn Cemetery brought back memories of many frightening cemetery stories that I heard when I was a child. Some of these stories instilled in me a great fear of visiting cemeteries, especially at night. Their moral teachings, while bringing those who have sinned to be accountable for their wrongdoings, rely on fear as a preventive measure and encourage the young to avoid such sins in their own lives.

The sinners who are the subjects of cemetery stories include those who break their fast during the month of Ramadan, who show no mercy toward

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their frail and elderly parents, who are unfair to orphans and never care for the poor or the needy, and who commit major sins such as theft or murder. All sinners receive punishments that are commensurate with their wrong- doings. Such punishments might include wild beasts appearing at their graves at nightfall to terrorize them. Some tombs might be set ablaze, and vipers and scorpions might cohabit with the bodies in their graves. Even the Earth itself might take revenge on them and would say to them, ‘‘You have had much fun on my surface, but today you will suffer inside of me. You used to delight in all kinds of delicacies on my surface, but today the worms will eat you inside of me.’’
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These punishments will continue until the Gathering of Bodies (
hashr al- ajsad
) on Judgment Day, which the Qur’an also refers to as the ‘‘Day of Separation’’ (
yawm al-fasl
).
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The Balance (
mizan
), the scale that weighs the deeds of every individual, will be the measure through which justice is dispensed. ‘‘Allah it is who has revealed the Scripture with the Truth and the Balance. How can you know? It may mean that the hour is nigh’’ (Qur’an 42:17); ‘‘As for him whose scales are heavy [with good works], he will have a pleasant life [in the Hereafter]. But as for him whose scales are light, the Bereft and Hungry one [Satan] will be his mother. Ah, what will convey unto you what she is—Raging Fire’’ (Qur’an 101:6–11). The Bridge of Hell (
Sirat al-Jahim
), starting at the door of Hell and comparable in its thinness to the finest hair, will be crossed by every human soul that desires to get to Heaven. ‘‘Gather together those who did wrong, along with their wives and that which they used to worship instead of Allah. Lead them to the Bridge of Hell, and then stop them, for they must be interrogated’’ (Qur’an 37:22–24). Those without sin will cross the Bridge as lightly as a feather and will attain Heaven and all the benefi it entails. Failure to cross the Bridge will result in the soul falling down to
Jahannam
(similar to the Hebrew
Gehennah
), the top layer of Hell, and all the nightmares that go with it.
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When I was a child, the two cemetery stories that frightened me the most and made the greatest impression on me were ‘‘The She-Mule of the Graveyard’’ (
baghlat al-qubur
) and ‘‘‘Ali Wants His Hand Back’’ (
‘Ali bgha yaditu
). Both stories were narrated by candlelight or around the fireplace during the long cold nights of winter in the Middle Atlas Mountains. The storyteller, a woman from the Sahara desert who was known to perform wonders with her words, would receive gifts for her expertise, and her dedicated audience, both young and old, would honor her with respectful silence and complete attention.

Thursday night was the night dedicated to storytelling. My father’s regular weekly travel freed the day for my mother to invite my aunts over to our house, along with their daughters and some of my mother’s female neigh- bors, one of whom was the storyteller. The gathering would start after dinner and would not end until it was almost dawn, for my mother’s objective was to get as many extra hands as she could to help with the wool carding, spinning,

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or weaving that she wanted to finish that evening. Listening to these stories provided our entertainment, and their length affected the degree of our productivity. Hot and sweet Moroccan tea, rich in caffeine, would be served to keep us all awake and alert. When my mother noticed that the heap of wool she had put out for carding and spinning was not going down fast enough, she would say, ‘‘Speak, but spin (
hadith u maghzil
)!’’ which was one of her favorite aphorisms.
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The story of the She-Mule of the Graveyard was about a widow who lost her husband, but who failed to keep herself chaste during the four-month and ten-day period (
‘idda
) that every woman must observe after the death of a spouse. After her death, she was turned into a werewolf-like creature as a punishment for her sins. According to Moroccan tradition, during the period of grieving a widow must wear only white, she must never leave her house after dark, and she must not wear makeup nor dye her hair with henna. Above all, according to Islamic law, she must not have sexual relations with anyone. Islamic law is strict about making the
‘idda
period mandatory to ensure that any child conceived by the husband before his death will be acknowledged as his heir. If the widowed woman is accused of having sex with a man during this period, the matter must be settled in the courts. The concern of the law is for the rights of the child, who in Islam takes the father’s family name and has specific rights of inheritance. Failure to observe such a rule would result in the kinds of ‘‘Who’s my daddy?’’ controversies that one sees on daytime TV talk shows in the United States. Since DNA testing is not available in most Muslim countries, other means, such as the
‘idda
waiting period, have to be used to ensure that a child born after the death of a husband is actually his.

The story of the She-Mule of the Graveyard is meant to dissuade girls from ever thinking of cheating on their husbands, whether they are alive or dead. No girl would want to see her body transformed into this werewolf-like crea- ture after sinning in such a way. The storyteller described the transformation of the She-Mule of the Graveyard as an excruciatingly painful process. As she emerged from beneath the dirt and stones that covered her grave, every limb and extremity of her body would be broken and bruised repeatedly. She would emerge from her grave on the fourteenth of every lunar month, when the moon is at its brightest. Each time this happened, she would undergo the same tortures and would emerge from the grave resembling a mule. She would be heavily shackled with chains from head to toe. The chains would cause great pain to her bruised body and their rattling sound would reveal her accursed nature to the living. Her beastly appearance, with eyes like balls of fire and long sharp teeth ready to inflict vampirelike bites on anyone who crossed her path, were meant as a warning for sexual transgressors. Those who lived pure lives were immune from any harm she might cause. The main victims of this creature were men who committed the sin of having sex with a widowed woman, thus transgressing the boundaries of a sacred period set by

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Islamic law. Those who were bitten by the She-Mule of the Graveyard were robbed of their masculinity and rendered impotent, sometimes for the rest of their lives.

‘‘‘Ali Wants His Hand Back’’ was about a woman who had procured the hand of a dead man named ‘Ali. She procured it for the magical powers she was told it would have over her husband’s love for her. Having paid a large amount of money for the hand to the man who had washed ‘Ali’s body for burial, she put it inside her husband’s pillow after making sure that ‘Ali’s burial had been completed without anyone being aware that the hand was missing. At this point in this story, when each of the listeners was thinking of what would come next, the storyteller brought ‘Ali himself into the picture. She described how he emerged from the grave shrouded in white, on the night of the day he was buried, and made us walk with him to the woman’s house to reclaim his hand.