coffin into a large iron chest. Then the chest was suspended in the room by chains or the like, and the room was sealed.

When night came, strange noises began to come from the room. The sons ran there, opened the door, and saw that the chest was shaking. They lowered it, opened it, and were shocked. Inside the chest was the coffin, and sitting upon the king’s face was a terrifying snake, biting him repeatedly. (Apparently, it was a matter of great surprise.  there was no opening or hole in the chest; how the snake entered was beyond imagination…!! Anyway!) The sons removed the snake and killed it, closed the chest again, and hung it back as before. That night passed. The next night, the same noises were heard again. The sons hurried to the room, opened it, and saw the chest shaking once more. When they opened it this time, they saw an even bigger snake sitting upon the king’s chest. Amazed and horrified, they again took the snake out and killed it, then hung the chest again.

Well, the night had to pass, and pass it did; the next night, noises were heard again. The sons opened the room and lowered the chest. Upon opening it, they were so terrified that they lost their senses. The chest was perfectly sealed from the outside, yet inside the coffin, a fierce fire was blazing! Seeing this dreadful scene, they understood that there is no escape from the punishment of the grave. So, they removed the body from the chest and buried their father properly in the grave.^[1]

What Is Barzakh?

The king whose incident we just heard was deceived. He thought that if he did not enter the grave, he could avoid the punishment for his sins. But this is not so, Barzakh is the state from death until the Day of Resurrection.

Allah Almighty says in the Holy Quran:

وَ مِنْ وَّرَآىٕهِمْ بَرْزَخٌ اِلٰى یَوْمِ یُبْعَثُوْنَ(۱۰۰)