Crossing the Sirat Bridge! 7 Questions at 7 Stops! - Towards Eternity
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Sirat Bridge... The famous bridge over hell... Without a doubt, we will all cross over this bridge, which is as thin as hair and as sharp as a sword. No one will get to cross over the Sirat until they have passed seven stages of questions. Seven questions at seven different stops. So, what are these seven questions? And will you be ready to answer these questions? In one of the hadith al Shariff, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) describes the bridge of Sirat, As too easy for some and too difficult for others to cross, depending on the deeds one has. Hell has a bridge thinner than hair and sharper than a sword. Therein are fetters and thorns that grasp whom Allah wills.
People will pass over the bridge in a blink, as fast as light, like wind or on noble horses and mounts. The Angels will say: O Lord, give peace! O, Lord! Give peace, ...they will continuously say. There will be those who survive without a scratch, those with a hammering, and those whose faces will be cast straight into the fire. Yes. As it is understood from the hadith, people will pass through the bridge based on their ranks in the sight of God. Some will pass by at the speed of light, while others will crawl until the end of the journey. As said in the Qur'an in Chapter 79, Verse 6: Israfil will blow the Trumpet twice.
For the first one, with the fury of it, all between the heavens and earth will tremble with the fury of it, the judgment day will start, except for those for whom God made an exception. When the trumpet is blown the second time, the resurrection will begin, and people will run towards their Lord to be gathered in mahshar (the place of resurrection). Those who are resurrected in this frightful mahshar will be given a record of the deeds that they committed on earth. It is said in the verses of the Qur'an: Having your record given to you in your right hand is an indication of glad tidings of heaven...
And if your record is given in your left hand or from the back, it is news about the punishment of hell. While on Earth, the scribe angels called Kiraman Katibeen record everything everywhere. All the good we've done and the sins we've committed will be in front of us. Regarding this book of deeds, it is said in verse 49. Surah al Kahf: "And the book (of deeds) will be placed (before them). Then you will see the guilty people scared of what is written inside. Woe to us! they say." What kind of book is this? It has a record of all things and does not leave any sin, small or large! So they will be confronted with what they did. And your Lord does injustice to no one. Yes.
The book will be put before us in mahshar. Once we get the book of deeds, we will be at the end of the road. But there's one last stop before we go to our final destination. It's a stop that is as thin as a hair and sharp as a sword. It's a stop which everyone will have to pass without any exception. This stop is the Sirat Bridge... "There is none among you who does not have to arrive at it. This is undertaken by your Lord as an absolute decree, bound to be enforced." Surah Maryam 71. Verse According to hadiths, Sirat is a straight path over hell. Everyone will pass through it. The believers will pass through swiftly or slowly depending on their deeds.
As for the unbelievers and the sinners, they will stumble and fall into hell. In a hadith of our Prophet (pbuh): The first ones to cross the sirat will be himself and then his ummah, and people will cross swiftly if their deeds are good. So, what will be asked when you cross this bridge? Everyone will be questioned for their good deeds and the sins they committed in this life on the sirat. As we said at the beginning, "No one will be able to cross the sirat until they are questioned in 7 stages." Seven questions in seven stops... The first thing that is going to be asked at the first stop: It is our faith! We will easily pass through the first step if our faith is strong.
But those people that denied faith will start to fall into hell in the very beginning. And we know those who are given opportunities to believe and still don't will have hell as their final abode. After God introduced Himself through His attributes and His servants, those who opted not to believe, ultimately, their final destination will be hell. Hell will be so ruthless that when it is asked, "are you full?" It will scream, "Is there no more?" in reply. In other words, no matter how many disbelievers there will be on that day, there will be no such thing as hell being full. But don't fear!
If you are one of those who believe and do good deeds, you may be relieved of the stress of mahshar in the blink of an eye. Just like prophet Ibrahim was saved from the fire, in peace. You will still have a chance if you believed in faith but did not accumulate the deeds to save you. Otherwise, there will be hooks that will not leave you alone for your sins. If you ree yourself from those hooks, then well and good! But if you don't, the fires of hell will be waiting to swallow you.
As it is said in the 72nd verse of surah Maryam: "Then We will save those who feared Allah and will leave the wrongdoers in it, fallen on their knees." Let's continue discussing how our journey on the bridge will be. Hell will catch our eye with all its terrors and horrors beneath our feet. We will try not to look, and we will try to concentrate on walking over it. We will be looking at the people surrounding us. On the one hand, there will be those who repented, And on the other hand, there will be those who will fall into hell. There will also be those who were mindful of the afterlife while they were in this world.
They will be the ones who will pass through the bridge swiftly without any pain. After successfully answering the first question, we will get to the point where the 2nd question is asked. Of course, what we will be accounted for here will be our prayer, which is the most significant pillar after faith! i.e. The pillars of faith that belong to Islam. If your prayers are complete and sincere, your reckoning will be easy. But if your prayers are not straight, your building -of faith- may collapse.
In the words of our prophet (pbuh): "Prayer is the pillar of Islam; whoever leaves it has destroyed his religion." Ajloni, Kashf al Khafa, 11/31 If we don't want to be touched by hellfire, we must make sure that our prayers are just like the solid pillars of a building. If we even see the fires of hell through the eye of a needle on Earth, we will not lift our heads from prostration. Alright. If our faith is firm and our prayers are straight, we will move to the third stage. If we did not spend the riches of God on earth in the way that God instructed us, the next question will not please us at all. Because we will be asked where we spent our goods and who we shared them with.
Did we give zakat? We will be asked. Think about it. You lived your life thinking the riches given to you by the creator were your own. Instead of giving zakat, which is something that God commanded us to "distribute", you chose to hide it from those in need rather than giving it to its rightful owners. We should seek refuge in God from such a situation. If we hide our goods, heaven will be hidden from us. If we have earned and spent our goods in accordance with what God has instructed us, we will be questioned about fasting at the next stop, which is prescribed to us, as well as to the nations that came before us.
If we don't want to say "I wish" during this questioning, we must make up for our fasts, which we did not perform with all kinds of excuses in the past. After that, we will be at the 5th stop. At this stop, we will be questioned about the pilgrimage. If you delayed the pilgrimage due to financial issues, you must perform it once you're financially stable enough to perform it. If we make excuses and do not perform this duty despite being financially stable enough to perform it, we may face a horrific result. At the 6th stop, we will come to a subject that concerns everyone without exception. Protecting the rights of others and looking after our relatives.
We always ignore the rightful due of others by taking over people's rights. However, there are so many other things that are counted towards people's rights. Sometimes we do things without knowing, sometimes we do them deliberately, with the feeling that nothing will happen. For instance, we spread words about someone without even thinking whether that is true. So, we easily become part of slander or gossip. The concept of family and relatives is important in our faith. It needs to be given a lot of importance. However, we may not always get along with every relative. We may even dislike some of their behaviours. But that does not mean we should completely cut off ties with them.
Let's look back at our prophet's companions (ra). Some of their parents weren't even Muslim, but they still tried to please them, except on those matters that God forbade. After we pass all of this, we will be questioned about cleanliness, in other words, ghusl. If we passed the previous six questions, By God's grace, we will be among those who prioritise cleanliness. If we had difficulty with cleanliness, it would be unlikely to overcome the preceding questions. After all these questions, hell won't have the chance of asking people to belong in its territory, and heaven will ask God to make people its inhabitants.
The prophet (pbuh) said in a hadith al sharif: (Many people will not know that they crossed the Sirat and will ask the angels, "Where is the Sirat, and where is Hell? Did we cross over them?" Angels will answer, "You crossed the Sirat, which was over Hell. However, Hellfire receded and was covered because of your light.") [Jami'us-saghir] It is said. The fire of hell will say to the believers: "O Believer! Go over me swiftly; your light diminishes my flames." God willing, we can be awarded paradise. It's such a beautiful place to go at the end of this whole trip. No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human can dream or imagine heaven. It is not hard to live a pure and clean life.
We also need to take certain steps to resist the pleasurable poisons of the end times. Remember that everything we share with you is accurate and will happen. Is it then necessary to destroy our hereafter for a temporary life on Earth? Alright. which one do you care more about? This temporal bridge of Earth? Or The bridge that leads to eternity?
People will pass over the bridge in a blink, as fast as light, like wind or on noble horses and mounts. The Angels will say: O Lord, give peace! O, Lord! Give peace, ...they will continuously say. There will be those who survive without a scratch, those with a hammering, and those whose faces will be cast straight into the fire. Yes. As it is understood from the hadith, people will pass through the bridge based on their ranks in the sight of God. Some will pass by at the speed of light, while others will crawl until the end of the journey. As said in the Qur'an in Chapter 79, Verse 6: Israfil will blow the Trumpet twice.
For the first one, with the fury of it, all between the heavens and earth will tremble with the fury of it, the judgment day will start, except for those for whom God made an exception. When the trumpet is blown the second time, the resurrection will begin, and people will run towards their Lord to be gathered in mahshar (the place of resurrection). Those who are resurrected in this frightful mahshar will be given a record of the deeds that they committed on earth. It is said in the verses of the Qur'an: Having your record given to you in your right hand is an indication of glad tidings of heaven...
And if your record is given in your left hand or from the back, it is news about the punishment of hell. While on Earth, the scribe angels called Kiraman Katibeen record everything everywhere. All the good we've done and the sins we've committed will be in front of us. Regarding this book of deeds, it is said in verse 49. Surah al Kahf: "And the book (of deeds) will be placed (before them). Then you will see the guilty people scared of what is written inside. Woe to us! they say." What kind of book is this? It has a record of all things and does not leave any sin, small or large! So they will be confronted with what they did. And your Lord does injustice to no one. Yes.
The book will be put before us in mahshar. Once we get the book of deeds, we will be at the end of the road. But there's one last stop before we go to our final destination. It's a stop that is as thin as a hair and sharp as a sword. It's a stop which everyone will have to pass without any exception. This stop is the Sirat Bridge... "There is none among you who does not have to arrive at it. This is undertaken by your Lord as an absolute decree, bound to be enforced." Surah Maryam 71. Verse According to hadiths, Sirat is a straight path over hell. Everyone will pass through it. The believers will pass through swiftly or slowly depending on their deeds.
As for the unbelievers and the sinners, they will stumble and fall into hell. In a hadith of our Prophet (pbuh): The first ones to cross the sirat will be himself and then his ummah, and people will cross swiftly if their deeds are good. So, what will be asked when you cross this bridge? Everyone will be questioned for their good deeds and the sins they committed in this life on the sirat. As we said at the beginning, "No one will be able to cross the sirat until they are questioned in 7 stages." Seven questions in seven stops... The first thing that is going to be asked at the first stop: It is our faith! We will easily pass through the first step if our faith is strong.
But those people that denied faith will start to fall into hell in the very beginning. And we know those who are given opportunities to believe and still don't will have hell as their final abode. After God introduced Himself through His attributes and His servants, those who opted not to believe, ultimately, their final destination will be hell. Hell will be so ruthless that when it is asked, "are you full?" It will scream, "Is there no more?" in reply. In other words, no matter how many disbelievers there will be on that day, there will be no such thing as hell being full. But don't fear!
If you are one of those who believe and do good deeds, you may be relieved of the stress of mahshar in the blink of an eye. Just like prophet Ibrahim was saved from the fire, in peace. You will still have a chance if you believed in faith but did not accumulate the deeds to save you. Otherwise, there will be hooks that will not leave you alone for your sins. If you ree yourself from those hooks, then well and good! But if you don't, the fires of hell will be waiting to swallow you.
As it is said in the 72nd verse of surah Maryam: "Then We will save those who feared Allah and will leave the wrongdoers in it, fallen on their knees." Let's continue discussing how our journey on the bridge will be. Hell will catch our eye with all its terrors and horrors beneath our feet. We will try not to look, and we will try to concentrate on walking over it. We will be looking at the people surrounding us. On the one hand, there will be those who repented, And on the other hand, there will be those who will fall into hell. There will also be those who were mindful of the afterlife while they were in this world.
They will be the ones who will pass through the bridge swiftly without any pain. After successfully answering the first question, we will get to the point where the 2nd question is asked. Of course, what we will be accounted for here will be our prayer, which is the most significant pillar after faith! i.e. The pillars of faith that belong to Islam. If your prayers are complete and sincere, your reckoning will be easy. But if your prayers are not straight, your building -of faith- may collapse.
In the words of our prophet (pbuh): "Prayer is the pillar of Islam; whoever leaves it has destroyed his religion." Ajloni, Kashf al Khafa, 11/31 If we don't want to be touched by hellfire, we must make sure that our prayers are just like the solid pillars of a building. If we even see the fires of hell through the eye of a needle on Earth, we will not lift our heads from prostration. Alright. If our faith is firm and our prayers are straight, we will move to the third stage. If we did not spend the riches of God on earth in the way that God instructed us, the next question will not please us at all. Because we will be asked where we spent our goods and who we shared them with.
Did we give zakat? We will be asked. Think about it. You lived your life thinking the riches given to you by the creator were your own. Instead of giving zakat, which is something that God commanded us to "distribute", you chose to hide it from those in need rather than giving it to its rightful owners. We should seek refuge in God from such a situation. If we hide our goods, heaven will be hidden from us. If we have earned and spent our goods in accordance with what God has instructed us, we will be questioned about fasting at the next stop, which is prescribed to us, as well as to the nations that came before us.
If we don't want to say "I wish" during this questioning, we must make up for our fasts, which we did not perform with all kinds of excuses in the past. After that, we will be at the 5th stop. At this stop, we will be questioned about the pilgrimage. If you delayed the pilgrimage due to financial issues, you must perform it once you're financially stable enough to perform it. If we make excuses and do not perform this duty despite being financially stable enough to perform it, we may face a horrific result. At the 6th stop, we will come to a subject that concerns everyone without exception. Protecting the rights of others and looking after our relatives.
We always ignore the rightful due of others by taking over people's rights. However, there are so many other things that are counted towards people's rights. Sometimes we do things without knowing, sometimes we do them deliberately, with the feeling that nothing will happen. For instance, we spread words about someone without even thinking whether that is true. So, we easily become part of slander or gossip. The concept of family and relatives is important in our faith. It needs to be given a lot of importance. However, we may not always get along with every relative. We may even dislike some of their behaviours. But that does not mean we should completely cut off ties with them.
Let's look back at our prophet's companions (ra). Some of their parents weren't even Muslim, but they still tried to please them, except on those matters that God forbade. After we pass all of this, we will be questioned about cleanliness, in other words, ghusl. If we passed the previous six questions, By God's grace, we will be among those who prioritise cleanliness. If we had difficulty with cleanliness, it would be unlikely to overcome the preceding questions. After all these questions, hell won't have the chance of asking people to belong in its territory, and heaven will ask God to make people its inhabitants.
The prophet (pbuh) said in a hadith al sharif: (Many people will not know that they crossed the Sirat and will ask the angels, "Where is the Sirat, and where is Hell? Did we cross over them?" Angels will answer, "You crossed the Sirat, which was over Hell. However, Hellfire receded and was covered because of your light.") [Jami'us-saghir] It is said. The fire of hell will say to the believers: "O Believer! Go over me swiftly; your light diminishes my flames." God willing, we can be awarded paradise. It's such a beautiful place to go at the end of this whole trip. No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human can dream or imagine heaven. It is not hard to live a pure and clean life.
We also need to take certain steps to resist the pleasurable poisons of the end times. Remember that everything we share with you is accurate and will happen. Is it then necessary to destroy our hereafter for a temporary life on Earth? Alright. which one do you care more about? This temporal bridge of Earth? Or The bridge that leads to eternity?