Hadith About Seeing People In Punishment During Meraj
1 ) This is not found in books of Saha-Sitta but it is narrated in Seerah Ibn-e-Hisham , while narrating the whole incident of Meraj: قال: “ثم رأيت رجالا بين أيديهم لحم سمين طيب، إلى جنبه لحم غث منتن، يأكلون من الغث المنتن، ويتركون السمين الطيب”. قال: “قلت: من هؤلاء يا جبريل؟ قال: هؤلاء الذين يتركون ما أحل الله لهم من النساء، ويذهبون إلى ما حرم الله عليهم منهن” … “ Then I saw men with good fat meat before them side by side with lean stinking meat, eating of the latter and leaving the former. I asked Gabriel who are these people to which he replied: ‘ These are those who forsake the women which God has permitted and go after those he has forbidden ‘ “ … (Seerah Ibn-e-Hisham (d:213H), 2/38, Shirkatul Tabaa Al-Finyatul Mutahida) 2 ) Bayhaqi has used a different wording, he narrates: ثم مضت هنية فإذا أنا بأخونة- يعني الخوان المائدة التي يؤكل عليها لحم مشرح- ليس يقربها أحد وإذا أنا بأخونة أخرى عليها لحم قد أروح ونتن عندها أناس يأكلون منها، قلت: يا جبريل! من هؤلاء؟ قال: هؤلاء من أمتك يتركون الحلال ويأتون الحرام …” Then I saw a tablespread in which there were pieces of good meat which no one approached, and another tablespread in which were pieces of rotten meat which stank, surrounded by people who were eating it. He asked: O Gabriel, who are these? He replied: These are those of your Community who abandon what is lawful and proceed to what is unlawful “… (Dalail-ul-Nabuwah by Bayhaqi – 2/392) (الناشر: دار الكتب العلمية، دار الريان للتراث) Ibn-e-Kathir has also narrated the second narration in his Tafsir despite mentioning weaknesses in it but has over all accepted it based on other evidence. (Tafsir ibn-e-Kathir – 5/19-23) (الناشر: دار الكتب العلمية، منشورات محمد علي بيضون – بيروت) __ Although the chains of both these variants are questionable but it is a known fact that whatever both these narrations are portraying, it is in line with basic Islamic teachings. i.e. 1 ) adultery is a major sin as condemned in the first narration 2 ) making lawful what God has made unlawful in the context of eating / dietary matters and in general as well, as condemned in the second narration. Assuming that these reports have been correctly narrated from the Prophet (sws) and considering the fact that these allegorical representation of punishments were shown to the prophet in the form of a dream requiring some interpretation, then the second narration makes more sense because the allegory used in the first narration does not have any apparent mutual relationship between adultery and eating rotten meat while the second narration makes more sense and mutual relationship between eating unlawful ( or committing unlawful in general sense ) and eating rotten meat can be easily understood. It needs to be kept in mind that these are not the actual punishments but rather they convey the despicable nature of a sin in the form of such allegorical punishments. Please refer to the video below to understand these narrations and punishments described therein . And what is reported in comparatively stronger narrations in the context of adultery is what we find in Sahih Bukhari: …” So we proceeded and came across something like a Tannur (a kind of baking oven, a pit usually clay-lined for baking bread).” I think the Prophet (ﷺ) said, “In that oven there was much noise and voices.” The Prophet (ﷺ) added, “We looked into it and found naked men and women, and behold, a flame of fire was reaching to them from underneath, and when it reached them, they cried loudly. I asked them, ‘Who are these?’ They said to me, ‘Proceed! … I said to them, ‘I have seen many wonders tonight. What does all that mean which I have seen?’ They replied, ‘We will inform you:… And those naked men and women whom you saw in a construction resembling an oven, they are the adulterers and the adulteresses “. ( Sources : https://sunnah.com/bukhari:7047 AND https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1386 ) __ Ghamidi Sahab has taught this narration of Sahih Bukhari and explained some important points. Part 1 – From 47:01 to 56:44 ( 54:00 onward tells us the reality and nature of these punishments shown this way ) https://www.youtube.com/live/qvENdK1lZ_8?si=sIoh1uw6gF8tGU6P&t=2821
Part 4 – From 45:28 to 56:29 https://www.youtube.com/live/r2PKnTu_Ud0?si=QW1JLLciGrVfD4VC&t=2728
Part 5 – From 46:11 to 55:39 https://www.youtube.com/live/R_3xe-SpHhE?si=Z15zUBrreTfK8-C0&t=2771