When any body is placed in the tomb, then two angels of a frightful appearance ask him: “Who was thy God, thy prophet, what thy creed?” If he give a right answer, then they keep his grave open, and make a window from heaven to it, that he may behold his future dwelling. But if his answer does not prove satisfactory, they beat his face soft with a club, and close the grave so tight upon him, that a noise issues from the compression of his sides; they also open a window from hell to him, so that he may there see his fate and his habitation. When the period of the world shall be terminated, the name of God shall not be pronounced by any tongue; then, by God’s orders, shall Israfíl sound the trumpet, and extinguish all like lamps; afterwards, during ages, there shall be no motion upon the face of the earth, until Israfíl shall again, at God’s order, by a blast of the trumpet blow the souls into the dispersed parts of their bodies, so that all shall revive. Afterwards, at the last judgment, the angels shall place the journal of actions recorded at the right hand of the virtuous, and at the left of the iniquitous. If the balance is weighed down by the good actions of a person, he goes to heaven; but if the scale, heavy with sins weighs down the other, hell awaits the sinner. This being brought to a close, an invisible bridge is thrown over hell; this bridge is sharper than the edge of a sword and thinner than a hair, and the believers and unbelievers are to be driven over it.
“When any unbeliever puts his foot upon it, The abyss of hell shall be his habitation.”
The believer also shall, according to his knowledge and his actions, sooner or later pass over it; a weak faith shall not easily cross it.
“But he shall find salvation at the end of the business, Although he may see many difficulties.”
There are fifty stations in the space on which the obedient and the rebels shall stop: upon each station another question is asked:
“He who gives a right answer Crosses each station with rapidity. But if not, in each, from a distressing condition, He suffers pain and grief during one thousand years.”
The unbeliever shall suffer the torment of hell eternally; and the iniquitous believer shall remain in it, according to the estimation of his crimes.