Shaykh Abu Ja’far said that our belief regarding the interrogation in the grave was authentic and it had to take place. Anyone, who answered those questions rightly, would receive comfort, happiness and fragrance in his grave and a Paradise full of delights in the hereafter. And, the one who failed to answer correctly would find his grave to be filled with fire and on the Day of Judgement he would be thrown in the Hell.

فَنُزُلٌ مِنْ حَمِيمٍ

“Feast of boiling water” (Qur'an 56:93).

Mostly, punishment of the grave was caused by backbiting, austerity of conduct and considering the urinal filth as a minor thing, and not caring about it. For a believer, maximum punishment of grave would be equivalent to the shivering of an eye or a minor incision and this would be the atonement for his sins that were left after his mundane ailments and pain of the cessation of life.

When ladies had ritually washed the body of Fatimah Bint Asad (the wife of Abu Talib and mother of Hazrat Ali [‘a]), the Prophet shrouded her with his own shirt and then lifted her body on his shoulders before laying her down in the grave to rest. He personally examined the comfort of her grave and then laid her down with his own hands. After this he bent over her body for a long time and after speaking very softly repeated twice the phrase “your son… your son” and then came out of the grave to place earth over the grave and levelled it. He then bowed towards the grave again. People heard that he was addressing God,

“There is no god but God. O! My Lord, I am committing Fatimah to you.”

When he returned from the burial, his companions asked about what they had seen him perform - an act, which they had not observed before. The Prophet replied,

“Today I have lost the blessing and favours of my uncle Abu Talib. Fatimah was so kind to me that she preferred me over herself and her own children. I spoke to her once about the Day of Judgement that people will be raised exposed from the dead on the Day of Judgement. She in a moment of worry said that to be raised in a naked state might be a cause of disgrace and shame. I comforted her and said that God would raise her in full dress.

Once, I mentioned to her about the compression in the grave. She said that she was a weak woman, then I guaranteed her that God would save her from this sentence, that is why I shrouded her in my shirt and physically tested her grave by lying down in it. I bent towards her corpse to tell her a few things that she might be asked in the grave.

Therefore, when she was asked, who her creator was, she replied that God was her creator. When question was asked about her Prophet, she replied that Muhammad (S) was her Prophet, and when it was asked who was her Wali and Imam so she kept quiet for a moment with modesty. I told her to reply to the Angels that her son Ali was her Imam and Wali. When she answered this the Angels left her saying that they had no compulsion on her. She could now sleep just as a bride slept in her wedding suite.” Death then prevailed on her. This was confirmed by the Qur’an,

قَالُوا رَبَّنَا أَمَتَّنَا اثْنَتَيْنِ وَأَحْيَيْتَنَا اثْنَتَيْنِ فَاعْتَرَفْنَا بِذُنُوبِنَا فَهَلْ إِلَىٰ خُرُوجٍ مِّن سَبِيلٍ

“[The residents of Hell will] say: O God! You have given us death twice and revived us twice. We accept our sins. Is there any way to escape [the punishment of the Hell]?” (40:11).