Islam critiqued and the 2 offending women of Medina

In answer to the video "Muhammad and Merkabah Mysticism"

 The believers, in their graves, will be questioned as regards their previous faith. While on earth their inner reality was hidden from view, in the grave they will be incapable of lying and their true self will become apparent. Depending on the answer, the grave will then instantly turn into a pleasant or punishing place until the resurrection. 

Muslims in the Quran and the prophetic traditions, are taught to never feel complacent as regards their righteousness and what will be their condition in the Hereafter. So when the prophet informed the public of that notion of being tested in the graves, people were frightened. Some enemies of the Muslims used that occasion to insinuate things that were not intended by the prophet. A Jewess quickly came to Aisha, who was unaware of the prophet's statement, telling her that 

'You will be tested in your graves.' The Messenger of Allah got upset and said: 'Rather the Jews will be tested."' 

The testing maliciously intended here was one of punishment, which will not happen to the righteous believers, rather to those like the Jews contemporaries of a prophet and disbelievers in him. In another version of the hadith, Aisha told the prophet how she understood their statement 

'O Messenger of Allah, two of the old Jewish women of Al-Madinah said that the people of the graves are tormented in their graves.' He said: 'They spoke the truth. They are tormented in a manner that all the animals can hear". 

As a side note, the immediate response of the prophet to Aisha's question shows that the inspiration in regards to the intermediary world of barzakh had occured to him prior to the Jewess coming to Aisha. However the prophet did not confirm the Jewess' generalization 

"A few nights later, the Messenger of Allah said: 'It has been revealed to me that you will be tested in your graves."' 'Aishah said; "Afterward I heard the Messenger of Allah seeking refuge with Allah from the torment of the grave".

Countless verses explain that punishment begins at the moment of death to those burdenned with major worldly sins left unrepented for. But as stated earlier, the Quran teaches both the prophet and all believers, no matter their level of faith and righteousness to never be complacent and secure of God's threats, even if these threats arent necessarily directed at them and, this includes the grave which is a place that could potentially be unpleasant to anyone.

Fear of God, awareness of the seriousness of His threats avoids one from falling into self-complacency, makes one feel obliged at all times to act upon Divine Commands and regard the righteous good deeds as insignificant in the face of divine perfection 7:99,70:24-8. This state of mind further frees one from any tinge of idolatry as it makes one aware that no protector ultimately exists outside of Allah 

6:14,51,70,17:111"Praise to Allah, who has not taken a son and has had no partner in [His] dominion and has no [need of a] protector out of weakness; and glorify Him with [great] glorification" 33:17"Say, "Who is it that can protect you from Allah if He intends for you an ill or intends for you a mercy?" And they will not find for themselves besides Allah any protector or any helper".

Fear however can never be the sole constituent of belief, it must be balanced with 2 other elements; hope 12:87 and love for God

32:16"call upon their Sustainer in fear and in hope"  

21:90"These people exerted their utmost in righteous deeds and called upon Us with love and fear and they remained humble before Us".

From a philosophical viewpoint, fear,  whether in the natural or spiritual world, is an asset without which survival is impossible. But it must be balanced and controlled or else it leads to stagnation and even death. As is taught to us by the Creator, spiritually, fear must be balanced with love and trust.

The correct attitude is to never fall into either extreme, becoming self-complacent or hopeless of God's mercy. This upright perspective leads one to continuously strive to increase safety/iman in Allah. 

This balanced attitude is reflected in the saying of the prophet 

“If the believer knew what was with Allah of punishment, no one would hope for Paradise; and if the disbeliever knew what was with Allah of Mercy, no one would despair of attaining Paradise".

Elsewhere the Quran describes the successful as those who "hope" to meet their Lord and "hope" for His forgiveness 2:218,18:110. This is a sign of humility, when even within the same verse, those people are reassured that Allah is surely forgiving and merciful, they still keep in mind that salvation is ultimately in God's hands

2:218"Surely those who believed and those who fled (their home) and strove hard in the way of Allah these hope for the mercy of Allah and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful".

The believer in those concepts, the one who knows what God demands of Him and what not, what His Sustainer loves in His servant and what not, continuously toils in the path of truth, without pride and self content. Contrary to the scripturally indefensible concept of an unconditionally loving God, which leads to conceit and self-righteousness, the one striving to meet God's explicit criteria of approval, constantly remains God-conscious. He remains humble, never thinking he is beyond reproach, fearing the seriousness of God's threats as well as hoping for His mercy, until he meets his Creator.

39:23"Allah has sent down the best statement: a consistent Book wherein is reiteration. The skins shiver therefrom of those who fear their Lord; then their skins and their hearts relax at the remembrance of Allah. That is the guidance of Allah by which He guides whom He wills".

The Love is evident in the word IMAN that denotes profound and sincere feeling of safety implying that one is in complete trust of a protective entity, that is, God. One cannot feel safe in an entity without having love for that entity, and knowing in turn that the entity is loving. This is where the Quran explains that this love isnt reciprocal, but more intense when coming from God. He is as al-rahman, the intensification of rahma. The root R-H-M means WOMB. Therefore in order to imagine what this word actually means one has to picture the womb and what it does to the fetus. It nurtures, protects, provides warmth, love etc. without even the fetus being aware of it.