Munkar and Nakīr

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The angels Munkar and Nakir thinking about what to do with the dead people; drawn by al-Qazwīnī : Muhammad ibn Muhammad Shakir Ruzma-'i Nathani (today in the Walters Art Museum )

Munkar and Nakīr ( Arabic منكر و نكير, DMG Munkar wa Nakīr ) are two angels of death according to Islamic tradition . Their names are not mentioned in the Koran and mean "the negative" and "the reprehensible". Your task is to ask the dead about God, the prophet, the true religion and the direction of prayer in the grave, in the Barzach phase between death. Convicted unbelievers are beaten by them on the face and back ( Sura 47:27 and Sura 8:50 ) and, if they pass the test, are handed over either to their prosperity or, if they fail, to their torment and punishment. At-Tirmidhī describes them, according to a tradition by Abū Huraira, as black angels with blue eyes.

The questioning by Munkar and Nakīr

According to Islamic tradition , every person has to experience the time in the grave and the questioning by Munkar and Nakir after his death. A distinction is made here between the experiences of a believing and pious person, and those of an unbeliever or a bad believer, whose sins were not forgiven by Allah.

According to the tradition of al-Bara 'ibn ʿAzib, the Prophet Muhammad said of the situation of a righteous believer:

“Two dark angels will come to him and sit him up. They will ask him, 'Who is your master?' He will answer: 'My Lord is Allah.' They will ask him, 'What is your religion?' He will answer: 'My religion is Islam.' They will say, 'Who is this man who was sent to you?' He will say: 'He is the Messenger of Allah - sallallahu aleyhi ua sallam.' They will ask, 'What are your actions?' He will say, 'I used to read (recite) the Book of Allah and I believed in it.' [...] And this is the last of the trials that will afflict the believer, as Allah, may He be praised and glorified, says: 'Allah strengthens the believers with the firmly established Word, in this life as in the future; and Allah makes the wicked go astray; and Allah does what he will. '"

"So he will say: 'Allah is my Lord and my religion is Islam and my prophet is the prophet Mohammed - sallallahu aleyhi ua sallam.' So a voice will sound out of heaven (and Allah will say): 'My servant has spoken the truth, equip him from paradise and clothe him from paradise and open a gate to paradise for him.' "

As a contrast, the description of the situation for the unbeliever ( kafir ) follows:

“Two dark angels will come to him and sit him up. They will ask him, 'Who is your master?' He will say, 'Hah-hah (which indicates pain or laughter). I do not know!' They will ask, 'What is your religion?' He'll say, 'Hah-Hah, I don't know!' They will ask, 'What do you say about this man who was sent to you?' He won't even know his name, but he 'll be told 'Mohammed' and he'll say, 'Hah-hah, I don't know! I heard people say this and that. ' It is said, 'You should never know.' Then a voice from heaven will call out, 'He lied, so furnish his grave with hell. And opens a gate of hell for him. '"

The talqin

So that the deceased is well prepared for the interrogation by Munkar and Nakīr and gives the correct answers, a religious scholar instructs him on the most important questions of faith after the burial. This ceremony is called talqīn ("instruction").

Meaning of the grave in Islam

The tomb is an integral part of Islamic eschatology . Since one is subjected to an interrogation by the angels Munkar and Nakir in the grave, the interrogation is called a "small judgment". According to Islam , sinners there will pay for their offenses and the good will be rewarded for their good deeds. The sins of an unbeliever who denied the existence of Allah or "put other gods by his side " will not be forgiven. In the Koran it says:

“Verily, Allah will not forgive that gods are set by Him; yet He forgives what is inferior to that whom He wills. And whoever puts gods aside to Allah, he has truly devised a mighty sin. "

- Sura 4 , verse 48

According to Islam, this has that unbelievers in the grave must endure eternal fire and punishment until the day of the resurrection and in Jahannam and never get away from their punishment. In addition in the Koran:

“But those who disbelieve and reject Our signs, they should be the inhabitants of the fire, in which they must abide; and that is a terrible destiny! "

- Sura 64, verse 10

Believers must expect this punishment to get rid of their sins - but not if the sins have been forgiven by Allah. In this regard, the Prophet Mohammed said:

"A believer's soul is bound to his debt until it is paid off."

Furthermore, life in the grave is seen as an important preliminary stage to life in the hereafter . According to tradition, someone who has survived the questioning in the grave without punishment also experiences a carefree life in the afterlife, since this first stage was survived without any problems. Those who endured the questioning in the grave with painful consequence, on the other hand, experienced a difficult life in the hereafter. This also applies to a Muslim who, if not forgiven, could not fully settle his guilt in the grave. According to a tradition of Hane'a, the slave Uthman ibn Affans , Uthman ibn Affan said:

"I heard the Prophet - sallallahu aleyhi ua sallam - say: 'The grave is the first stage of the hereafter: Whoever overcomes this will be carefree in the hereafter, and if he does not overcome it, he will be in the worst condition' - I also heard him say, 'I have never seen a sight worse than the grave.' "

In this context another important Hadith (tradition) from Ibn Umar:

“The Messenger of Allah - sallallahu aleyhi ua sallam - said: 'If any one of you has died, he will be shown his (future) place in the morning and in the evening. If he is of the people of Paradise, then he is of them, and if he is of the people of Hell, then he is of them. He is told: This is your place until Allah awakens you on the Day of Resurrection. '"

Tortures in the grave can be felt by animals, but not by the jinn and humans with the exception of the prophet. According to a tradition from Ibn Mas'ud it says:

"The Prophet - sallallahu aleyhi ua sallam - said: 'The dead are punished in their graves and even the animals can hear their voices (screams).'"

The Prophet Mohammed also said:

“This ummah is being tested in their graves. If I didn't fear that you wouldn't bury your dead any more, I would ask Allah to let you hear what I hear. "

From these traditions it is clear that the tomb has an important function in the Islamic religion.

Sins for which one is tormented in the grave

This section of the article deals with some notions of sin that can lead to punishment in the grave , which are mentioned in the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad .

As mentioned above, the sins of an unbeliever who was not a Muslim during his lifetime and who denied the existence of Allah or "placed other gods at his side" will not be forgiven. According to the Islamic faith, every form of unbelief, both in the grave and in Jahannam, is punished for eternity. Another reason for torture in the grave can be negligent care after urinating, which the Prophet Mohammed cited as the most common reason for punishment in the grave. In a tradition of the Prophet Mohammed it says:

"The most common punishment in the grave is for urinating (without cleaning)."

After urinating and after any form of bowel movement, the Muslim must ensure that the flow of urine has stopped and then wash his buttocks and genitals. This form of purification is known as " Tahara ".

Furthermore, the taking of interest is a grave offense in Islam. The violation of the interest prohibition can also lead to torment in the grave. In the Koran it says:

“Devouring the interest, getting up no differently than someone who Satan has struck insane. This is because they say: “Trading equals interest”, while Allah has allowed trading and forbidden interest. So whoever receives an admonition from his Lord and then renounces, the past should remain for him, and his cause is with Allah. But those who relapse are the inhabitants of the fire, they have to stay there. "

- Sura 2, verse 275

In an excerpt from the tradition of Samura ibn Jundub, in which a man tells his dream to the Prophet Mohammed, it says:

"[...] Then we went on and came to a river - I think he said, 'Red as blood' - and in that river was a man swimming. And another man, who had collected many stones, was on a dam. The swimming man came to the man who had collected the many stones and opened his mouth. And the man on the dam put a stone in his mouth. The man in the river swam away and came back (after a while), and every time he came back he opened his mouth and a stone was placed in his mouth. I asked (my two companions): 'Who are these two?' And they answered me: 'Go on, go on!' [...] And the man whom you saw swimming in the river and whose mouth had stones thrown into his mouth used to eat interest. "

All other sins can also lead to torment in the grave. To sum up, the good and believers face a correspondingly good time, and the bad and unbelievers have a bad time in the grave and in the hereafter . According to Islamic teaching, a bad but believing person will also be tormented if his sins are not forgiven until his debt has been paid.

literature

  • R. Eklund, Life between death and resurrection according to Islam, Uppsala 1941.
  • Joseph van Ess, Theology and Society in the 2nd and 3rd Century Hijra, 6 dln., Berlijn 1991–95, iv, pp. 521–34.
  • DB Macdonald: svMalā'ika. In: AJ Wensinck, JH Kramers (Hrsg.): Short dictionary of Islam . Brill, Leiden 1941.
  • Adel Theodor Khoury: sv angel. In: Adel Theodor Khoury, Ludwig Hagemann and Peter Heine (eds.): Islam-Lexikon. Freiburg 2006.
  • J. Smith and Y. Haddad, The Islamic Understanding of Death and Resurrection, Albany 1981, pp. 31-61.
  • Claudia Venhorst: "Lived Eschatology: Muslim Views on Life and Death Preliminary Practices" in Eric Venbrux u. a .: Changing European Death Ways . Münster 2013. pp. 259–278.
  • AJ Wensinck: sv 'Munkar wa-Nakīr'. In Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition, Leiden 1961-2005.
  • AJ Wensinck and AS Tritton: sv 'ʿAdhāb al-ḳabr'. In Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition, Leiden 1961-2005.

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supporting documents

  1. Narrated and explained by at-Tirmidhi.
  2. Koran, Sura 14, Verse: 27
  3. Narrated by al-Bara 'ibn ʿAzib
  4. See Venhorst 271.
  5. Narrated and explained as Hassan by at-Tirmidhi . By Al-Albani declared (authentic) as Sahih.
  6. Sahih (authentic) - According to Al Albani in Al Taghrib and Al Tarhib
  7. Narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim
  8. Classified as saheeh (authentic) by Al Albani, Saheeh Al Jami, 1961
  9. Sahih (authentic) - Narrated by Muslim and Ahmad
  10. Classified as saheeh (authentic) by al Albani, Saheeh al Jami no.3866
  11. Sahih (authentic) - Narrated in Bukhari

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