Volume 9, Book 87, Number 171:
Narrated Samura bin Jundub:
Allah’s Apostle very often used to ask his companions, “Did anyone of you see a dream?” So dreams
would be narrated to him by those whom Allah wished to tell. One morning the Prophet said, “Last
night two persons came to me (in a dream) and woke me up and said to me, ‘Proceed!’ I set out with
them and we came across a man Lying down, and behold, another man was standing over his head,
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holding a big rock. Behold, he was throwing the rock at the man’s head, injuring it. The rock rolled
away and the thrower followed it and took it back. By the time he reached the man, his head re –
turned to the normal state. The thrower then did the same as he had done before. I said to my two
companions, ‘Subhan Allah! Who are these two persons?’ They said, ‘Proceed!’ So we proceeded and
came to a man Lying flat on his back and another man standing over his head with an iron hook,
and behold, he would put the hook in one side of the man’s mouth and tear off that side of his face to
the back (of the neck) and similarly tear his nose from front to back and his eye from front to back.
Then he turned to the other side of the man’s face and did just as he had done with the other side. He
hardly completed this side when the other side returned to its normal state. Then he returned to it to
repeat what he had done before. I said to my two companions, ‘Subhan Allah! Who are these two
persons?’ They said to me, ‘Proceed!’ 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 said, “In that
oven t here was much noise and voices.” The Prophet 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!’ And so we pro –
ceeded and came across a river.” I think he said, “…. red like blood.” The Prophet added, “And behold,
in the river there was a man swimming, and on the bank there was a man who had collected many
stones. Behold. while the other man was swimming, he went near him. The former opened his mouth
and the latter (on the bank) threw a stone into his mouth whereupon he went swimming again. He
returned and every time the performance was repeated, I asked my two companions, ‘Who are these
(two) persons?’ They replied, ‘Proceed! Proceed!’ And we proceeded till we came to a man with a re –
pulsive appearance, the most repulsive appearance, you ever saw a man having! Beside him there
was a fire and he was kindling it and running around it. I asked my companions, ‘Who is this
(man)?’ They said to me, ‘Proceed! Proceed!’ So we proceeded till we reached a garden of deep green
dense vegetation, having all sorts of spring colors. In the midst of the garden there was a very tall
man and I could hardly see his head because of his great height, and around him there were chil –
dren in such a large number as I have never seen. I said to my companions, ‘Who is this?’ They
replied, ‘Proceed! Proceed!’ So we proceeded till we came to a majestic huge garden, greater and bet –
ter than I have ever seen! My two companions said to me, ‘Go up and I went up’ The Prophet added,
“So we ascended till we reached a city built of gold and silver bricks and we went to its gate and
asked (the gatekeeper) to open the gate, and it was opened and we entered the city and found in it,
men with one side of their bodies as handsome as the handsomest person you have ever seen, and
the other side as ugly as the ugliest person you have ever seen. My two companions ordered those
men to throw themselves into the river. Behold, there was a river flowing across (the city), and its
water was like milk in whiteness. Those men went and threw themselves in it and then returned to
us after the ugliness (of their bodies) had disappeared and they became in the best shape.” The
Prophet further added, “My two companions (angels) said to me, ‘This place is the Eden Paradise, and
that is your place.’ I raised up my sight, and behold, there I saw a palace like a white cloud! My two
companions said to me, ‘That (palace) is your place.’ I said to them, ‘May Allah bless you both! Let me
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enter it.’ They replied, ‘As for now, you will not enter it, but you shall enter it (one day) 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: As for the first man you came upon whose head was being injured with the rock, he
is the symbol of the one who studies the Quran and then neither recites it nor acts on its orders, and
sleeps, neglecting the enjoined prayers. As for the man you came upon whose sides of mouth, nostrils
and eyes were torn off from front to back, he is the symbol of the man who goes out of his house in
the morning and tells so many lies that it spreads all over the world. And those naked men and wo –
men whom you saw in a construction resembling an oven, they are the adulterers and the adul –
teresses;, and the man whom you saw swimming in the river and given a stone to swallow, is the eat –
er of usury (Riba) and the bad looking man whom you saw near the fire kindling it and going round
it, is Malik, the gatekeeper of Hell and the tall man whom you saw in the garden, is Abraham and the
children around him are those children who die with Al-Fitra (the Islamic Faith).” The narrator ad –
ded: Some Muslims asked the Prophet, “O Allah’s Apostle! What about the children of pagans?” The
Prophet replied, “And also the children of pagans.” The Prophet added, “My two companions added,
‘The men you saw half handsome and half ugly were those persons who had mixed an act that was
good with another that was bad, but Allah forgave them.'”
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Book 88: Afflictions and the End of the World