The Dead Are Alive in Their Graves | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 1

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Trailer: The Other Side | Barzakh and Beyond | Ramadan Series 2025

Trailer: The Other Side | Barzakh and Beyond | Ramadan Series 2025

The Dead Are Alive in Their Graves | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 1

The Dead Are Alive in Their Graves | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 1

They Know About Your World | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 2

They Know About Your World | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 2

They May Have Another Name For You | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 3

They May Have Another Name For You | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 3

What Do My Dreams Really Mean? | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 4

What Do My Dreams Really Mean? | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 4

How to See the Prophet ﷺ in a Dream | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 5

How to See the Prophet ﷺ in a Dream | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 5

Is Allah Speaking to You ? | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 6

Is Allah Speaking to You ? | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 6

How Many Lives Do You Really Have? | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 7

How Many Lives Do You Really Have? | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 7

What it Feels Like to Die | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 8

What it Feels Like to Die | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 8

When You Meet The Souls of Gaza | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 9

When You Meet The Souls of Gaza | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 9

What About The Innocent Children? | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 10

What About The Innocent Children? | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 10

How to Have a Bigger Grave | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 11

How to Have a Bigger Grave | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 11

Now You Can Fly | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 12

Now You Can Fly | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 12

Did Allah Put You On This List? | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 13

Did Allah Put You On This List? | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 13

Deeds that Save you from Punishment of the Grave | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 14

Deeds that Save you from Punishment of the Grave | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 14

We Will Not Fix What You Have Ruined | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 15

We Will Not Fix What You Have Ruined | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 15

Watch Your Mouth | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 16

Watch Your Mouth | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 16

Was it that big of a deal? Your Wudu is Serious | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 17

Was it that big of a deal? Your Wudu is Serious | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 17

"You Owe Me." Free Yourself from Riba and Debt | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 18

"You Owe Me." Free Yourself from Riba and Debt | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 18

The Many Forms of Zina | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 19

The Many Forms of Zina | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 19

When The Qur’an Arrives in Your Grave | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 20

When The Qur’an Arrives in Your Grave | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 20

The Most Important Prayer of Your Life | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 21

The Most Important Prayer of Your Life | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 21

Why Allah prescribes you Bitter Medicine | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 22

Why Allah prescribes you Bitter Medicine | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 22

Your Loved Ones Never Left You | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 23

Your Loved Ones Never Left You | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 23

Best Friends Forever | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 24

Best Friends Forever | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 24

People From a Past Life | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 25

People From a Past Life | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 25

Your Duas Can Change The Worlds | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 26

Your Duas Can Change The Worlds | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 26

Laylatul Qadr in the Heavens and the Graves | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 27

Laylatul Qadr in the Heavens and the Graves | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 27

Your Tahajjud Just Earned You Jannah | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 28

Your Tahajjud Just Earned You Jannah | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 28

Everyone Will Have Regrets | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 29

Everyone Will Have Regrets | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 29

SERIES FINALE: It’s Not the End | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 30

SERIES FINALE: It’s Not the End | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 30

6,000 Bodies Washed and Buried | Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Ahmad Hraichie, “The Muslim Undertaker”

6,000 Bodies Washed and Buried | Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Ahmad Hraichie, “The Muslim Undertaker”

Series Afterlife Faith

The Other Side | Barzakh and Beyond

The Dead Are Alive in Their Graves | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 1

Dr. Omar Suleiman

What happens when our loved ones die? What will your life in the grave—and in the world that surrounds it—be like? Those we have buried are not actually dead. They have entered the Barzakh, a parallel existence where there are people right now that are just as alive as you. Everything about their lives is determined by their deeds in the dunya. Are they blessed or wretched? Happy or horrified? It's up to the choices that they made, and that we make every day.

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NOTE: All depictions of Barzakh are purely conceptual and only vocals were used in the making of the soundtrack.

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This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.

00:00This video contains references to the Qur'an and Sunnah.

00:30This video contains references to the Qur'an and Sunnah.

01:01See you on the other side. Are you sure? Where are you going? And how do I know I'll make it there? What's it like over there? Is there a way you can tell me about it?

01:16Do people know me there? Have you seen my home? Am I viewed amongst the righteous or the wicked? What's real about what's around me right now?

01:30There's this world you're in and another world that simultaneously exists that you can't see. But it sees you. Allah, the angels, and other elements of the unseen are watching you.

01:43And the things you see around you are deeper than they look and can perhaps even perceive that realm better than you. And you're only one step away from it. It starts with a basic truth.

01:56Those we have buried are not actually dead. They've entered the barzakh, a parallel existence where there are people right now that are just as alive as you.

02:08Some of them are watching green birds that were once in bodies of martyrs soar above them. Others are drowning in rivers of blood. Some are dwelling in beautiful homes among family members that have been dead for decades.

02:20Others are busy being devoured by beasts with many heads. So what is this realm? And what do we know about the people who reside in it? And what would knowing about that world do for us today to make sense of the world we live in right now?

02:34And what does it mean for us in our own individual journeys trying to find our way back to Allah? Centuries ago, there was a soldier that wandered in the desert near Kufa in Iraq. And he was trying to find the city's center.

02:49And as he's wandering around looking for the city, he comes across one of the most famous scholars of his time, Ibrahim ibn Adham, Rahimahullah. But he had no idea who he was. So he went to the city of Kufa.

03:02And as he was walking around looking for the city, he comes across one of the most famous scholars of his time, Ibrahim ibn Adham, Rahimahullah. But he had no idea who he was. So he goes up to him and he asks him, "Are you a slave?" Ibrahim says, "Yes."

03:16He says, "Ayn al-'umran," which linguistically means, "Where are the city dwellings?" Where is everyone at? So Ibrahim ibn Adham, Rahimahullah, said, "Follow me." And then he takes him to a graveyard. And the man said, "I asked you to take me to the city dwellings."

03:29Ibrahim ibn Adham, Rahimahullah, said, "It's right here." And he pointed to the graveyard again. So the man ends up striking him in the head and then dragging him to the actual city while the people come to him rushing saying, "What are you doing?

03:43That's Ibrahim ibn Adham, Rahimahullah." He said, "But I asked him if he was a slave, as if that would have made his action okay." So they said to Ibrahim ibn Adham, Rahimahullah, "Oh, our teacher, why didn't you just tell him who you are?"

03:55He said, "Well, he asked me if I was a slave, but he didn't say to whom, meaning I'm a slave to Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala." They said, "Well, what did you say when he struck you?" He said, "I made du'a for Allah to give him Jannah." They said, "Why would you do that?"

04:08He said, "Because I knew I would be rewarded because of him and I didn't want him to be punished because of me." They said, "Okay, but why did you take him to the graveyard in the first place?" He asked you for al-'umran. He asked you where the city center was.

04:22And Ibrahim ibn Adham, Rahimahullah, said, "I've noticed that when people move to their graves, they settle there. But no one ever comes back here from there. Meaning the graveyard is where the living actually are."

04:35They say that the secret to success is being one step ahead. For the pious predecessors, the secret was being one stop ahead. They were all, for all spiritual and practical purposes, living in the next life.

04:48But what if we could walk up to the graves of our ancestors and just ask them to tell us what it's like for them now? In one narration from Jabir, radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu, the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, said that there was a group from Bani Isra'il in the past that were traveling.

05:01And as they were traveling, they pass a cemetery. And when they get there, they say to each other, "Let's pray two rak'ahs and ask Allah to bring back some of these people so that they can tell us about death and they can tell us about life in the grave." So they all pray two rak'ahs and then they made du'a to Allah.

05:16And right after that, this man rises from the grave, shaking the dust off. And he says, "Oh people, you saw nothing but this. I died a hundred years ago and the heat of the moment of my death has not yet cooled down.

05:29So can you ask Allah to return me to the state that I was in before?" The thing is we don't need the dead to tell us how real death is and how we're all going to end up in the barzakh someday.

05:39And every single soul who has ever walked the face of the earth and passed away is there right now. Think about it. Right now, the global population of earth is nearly 8 billion people.

05:50But in the barzakh, we're talking about estimates of 117 billion human souls. And since it's impossible to know for sure, just think of when Allah says, and so many people and nations in between.

06:05How many years will you live there? Until the Day of Judgment. That means the vast majority of humanity would have had a longer life in barzakh than on this earth. And you might move in there tomorrow and end up living for a thousand years or more there. And it's called

06:20the life of the barzakh for a reason. You have a full life. You have a family. You have friends. You have adults and children. You have a home and you have neighborhoods. You have food and drink. And it even has its own animals in that realm.

06:33All of the features of life are there, but with its own unique set of dimensions and time and space. So it's not like dunya in that you age or like Jannah where we're all the same age.

06:47You can also seemingly be in two places at once or at least transfer between them with remarkable speed. So think of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, leading the prophets in prayer at Masjid al-Aqsa in one moment.

07:00And then almost in an instant talking to each of them throughout the seven heavens. What if you could be in your grave one moment and then right under the throne of Allah the next?

07:11See, the more righteous you are, the more range you have to travel first-class all over that world as you like. And most importantly, the barzakh is happening right now. Think about Musa and Fir'awn alive in that world.

07:25The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, saw Musa, alayhi wa sallam, praying alone in his grave. As people read about the moment, he was alone in the cradle in the Nile River.

07:34Then while we're still reading about Fir'awn throwing people into ditches of fire here, Allah is throwing him into a ditch of fire there. This is all as real as what's in front of us right now.

07:45And while we can't physically perceive it yet, we have these portals into the barzakh to remind us of its rich dimensions. We may enter into it at times in our sleep through our dreams.

07:56And when we're awake, the grave stares at us like a door to a world of new realities made possible by the changes you're willing to make in your current reality.

08:06And we're all just one heartbeat away from entering into this dimension or one bomb. Imam Hasan al-Basri said about us all, Allah said about us all, "O son of Adam, you are nothing but a number of days.

08:21Whenever a day passes, then a part of you has gone." For our oppressors, we also remember that they too are but a set of days. Allah says, "Do not be hasty with them.

08:36Indeed, we are counting down their days." Ibn Abbas said, that means, "We're counting down every single one of their breaths in this life."

08:47And when you awake to that world, do you really know which category you'll belong to? Will you fly with the shuhada' who never feel pain again because they sacrificed a whole life for Allah?

08:58Or will you rot in pain with the tyrants for all the lives you made miserable on earth? Will you gather with the sincere believers, truly resting in peace and joy in anticipation of a greater joy to come?

09:11Or will you be with the disbelievers and hypocrites previewing eternal punishment instead? Or are you somewhere in between, a flawed believer with a mix of good and bad who will pay for your sins there or hope that Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, overlooks them?

09:25It's at this station that everything will be made clear. And that's why when 'Uthman, radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu, would stand by a grave, he would weep until his beard would become wet. And it was said to him, "When paradise and hellfire are mentioned, you don't weep like this.

09:40But when you stand next to a grave, why do you cry so much?" And he said, "The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, said, 'Verily the grave is the first station of the hereafter.

09:53If it is good, then everything after it will be better. And if it is bad, then everything after it will be worse.' And I have never seen anything more harrowing than the grave." But the grave doesn't have to just be a place of the frightening unknown.

10:07It can also be a place of rest and reward. For some people, the grave is rest. Masrooq, Rahimahullah, said,

10:21"He has been relieved from the affairs of this world or from the punishment of Allah." And for those of us who lost someone who was the greatest source of joy in our lives, the grave can be a place where we finally get to reunite with the ones that we love so much.

10:36'Uthman ibn Sawdah, Rahimahullah, said that his mother, Rahiba, Rahimahullah, who was a righteous woman, looked at him and said to him at the time of her death, "My son, do not forsake me in life or in death.

10:49And so he would go and visit her grave as he used to visit her home and make du'a for her. And then he sees her in a dream where his mother is looking beautiful and receiving these endless gifts of silk garments and perfume. And then she turns to him in that dream and says,

11:03"I'm pleased to receive you when you come to visit my grave. So do not stop visiting me." But for now, think about your grave, which you will one day visit and live in for an unspecified period of time. What does that grave look like?

11:18What does it feel like? What does it smell like? When Abdullah ibn Ghalib rahimahullah died, an amazing smell came out of his grave like mist right after he was buried. Then he was seen in a dream and asked about that smell.

11:31And he said, "That was the breath of my recitation and my thirst." So as you start Ramadan, I want you to think about that with your fasting breaths. Your grave is breathing.

11:41It's a home under construction and the door to a reality that most people pay no heed to, though it is absolutely inevitable. So what does your other side look like? What have you built that awaits you?

11:52And what answers will we find beneath the surface that will give us enough clarity to make the cruel world above it make a bit more sense?

12:18In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

12:48Al-Fatihah.

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