Our worlds are connected. Du’as and deeds flow through. And the transmission of news, while sometimes a bit fuzzy, doesn’t mean that we’re not deeply impacting one another across that barrier. When you’re making du’a, you are invoking Rabb al-‘Alamin, the Lord of the worlds. So your du’a isn’t limited in impact to this world. It can change someone else’s in the Barzakh.

How often do you make du’a for your parents or your loved ones? Once a day, once a week, once a year? Just it like it may only seem like we increase our du’as in Ramadan, it may feel like that on the other side, too. What does a du’a drought look like in the Barzakh? And how much impact does your du’a really have for someone in that world? There’s a narration that states that “The du’a is the weapon of the believer.” And we often think about it exclusively in this dunya. But what if your du’a could be a weapon for the people in their graves? What if it’s a shield that’s given to someone just when the punishment is about to reach them? Ahmed Ibn Yahya says that “One of my companions said to me, ‘My brother died.’ And then I saw him in a dream where I asked him, ‘In what condition were you in the moment that we placed you in your grave?’ And he said to me, ‘Someone came to me carrying a torch. And had it not been for that du’a of one of you, he was about to set me fire.’” Amr Ibn Jareer Rahimahullah said, “When one supplicates for his deceased brother, an angel comes to his grave with that du’a and says, ya sahibul kabir al gareeb. Hadiyatun min ahkin alayka shaqeeq. “Oh, accupant of the grave. This is a gift from a brother who cares about you.”

Ata Ibn asaar RA said that when the deed wakes up in his grave, the first thing that will come to him are his deeds. So the deeds will strike his thigh, and wake him up and say, ‘ana ‘amaluk, “I am your deeds.” So then the man will say, “Where’s my family? Where are my kids? Where are my people? Where is what Allah has given me?” And the deeds will say, “You have left your family, you’ve left your children, you’ve left your people, and all that Allah has granted you behind you and you’re not going to live in his grave except with me.”

The Prophet SAW famously said three things follow you to your grave: your wealth, your family, and your deeds. Your wealth and your family turn back, but your deeds stay with you.

Our deeds are the most important thing we’re going to send forward into the Barzakh. They protect you, they accompany you, they live with you and in some cases they save you.

“The most beloved deeds to Allah are the consistent ones, even if they’re small.” You don’t realize, but every time you’re making wudu for the sole purpose of pleasing Allah, those could be washing your future self from sins that would’ve otherwise incurred the punishment of the grave.

Also, remember that the grave is a place for purification for some of the believers so they don’t have to be purified in the hereafter.

In the Jannah, the Prophet SAW said, “Whoever drinks wine in this world will be forbidden from it in the hereafter. But you forbade yourself from wine here, so you get to drink it in Jannah.” Now, likewise in Barzakh, you forbade yourself from water here during your fasting, so Allah lets you have it there instead.

“I saw a man from my ummah and he was lost in darkness. Then his Hajj and his Umrah came, and they pulled him into the light.” Now, I want you to think about Hajj and Umrah. Is there any experience in Islam that’s more immersive than Hajj and Umrah? In Hajj and Umrah you are literally surrounded by light. In every direction you look, you see something that reminds you of Allah SWT. You see the Kaaba, you see Zamzam, you see Safa, you see Marwa, you see Arafah. You see the other Hajjaj that are dressed in white, that reminds you of your death. So it’s only fitting that Hajj and Umrah would give you light in a space of darkness. Then the Prophet SAW said, “And I saw a man from my ummah, who was trying to avoid the fire, and then his sadaqah came. His voluntary charity came. And it shielded him from the fire.”