THE NATURE OF BARZAKH -No:20- ‘The Angels Smell and Touch the Limbs of a Person at the Time of His Death

The Angels Smell and Touch the Limbs of a Person at the Time of His Death

Daud bin Abi Hind (mercy of Allah be upon him) has stated that once he fell seriously ill. In the course of his illness, a man who had a large head and flushy shoulders and resembled the Sudanese, appeared before him. As soon as he saw the man, he said, “‘Verily we are for Allah and to Him shall) We return.’’ He guessed that the man had come to extract his soul." But he was not a disbeliever that the black angel should disembody his soul as he had heard that the soul of a disbeliever was separated by a black angel. Inthe meantime he heard a sound and it seemed to him as if the roof of the house had collapsed. The roof was- broken to pieces and the sky became visible. Two angels clad in white dress alighted from the sky. 

Both of them rebuked the black. person and sent him away. The black man, however, stared at him from a distance, and both the angels kept on scolding him. Then one of the angels sat near his head and the other one near his feet. The former asked the latter to touch his feet. That angel touched his feet and told his companion that he used to go onfoot to say his prayers. Then the latter asked the former to touch his mouth. That angel touched his mouth and told that it was still fresh with the memory of God. (Abu Abi-ud-Dunya; Kitab Man ‘Aasha Ba‘ad-ul-Maut). Hadrat Abu Qatadah ((رضي الله عنه)) is reported to have said that his nephew called Majan fell seriously ill. It was perhaps due to the faults of his nephew that he did not visit him to enquire after his health. When Majan was on the verge of death, Abu Qatada’s affection and love got the better of him and considering that he was the son of his dear brother and was nearing his end, and that he should enquire after his health. Qatada(رضي الله عنه) visited his sick nephew and sat beside his bed all the night long. He states that two black men appeared with hammers in their hands. Then two angels descended from the roof of the house. 

He heard one of the angels saying to the other that he should go to the patient to ascertain whether or not the patient had done any good deed. So one of the angels approached his nephew and smelt his head, belly and feet. Then he returned and informed his companion that he had smelt his head and had found it empty of the knowledge of the Holy Qur’an; he had smelt his belly but had found no sign of keeping the fast. Last of all he had smelt his feet but had found no mark of his standing for worship even for a single night. Thereafter, the other angel came to Majan and smelt his head, belly, palm of his hand and feet. Then Abu Qatada(رضي الله عنه) heard the angel say that he wondered that although he was one of the followers of the Holy Prophet (ﷺ) yet he was lacking in those qualities for which his followers were distinguished.

Then the angel opened his mouth and squeezed the tip of his tongue. Abu Qatada has stated that at that time he heard the angel utter Allah is the Greatest and say that he had found a Takbir on the tip of his tongue, which he had very sincerely uttered in Antakia, a city of Rome. As soon as the angel wrung his tongue, the fragrance of musk spread in all. directions, and just then the soul of Majan was extracted. Abu Qatada (رضي الله عنه) has reported that when the angel left after extracting the soul, he asked both the ‘black men standing at the door to go away as they could mot touch the dead body. In the morning, Abu Qatada (رضي الله عنه) related the incident to the people. It moved them deeply and all of them after offering his funeral prayer, blessed his soul.