I am sure most of us have played with the worm as in the above picture as a kid. (If you can't see the picture search for "Millipedes" in Google Image search). They curl when touched and so the fun for a child. So, have a great look at it....
I remember an incident where another kind of worm has creeped in our washing machine. My mother was filling water into the machine using a water pipe. After a while, when it was half-filled, my mom noticed something moving in the water. It was a four inch long, multi legged worm trying to save itself by swimming to the surface. Mom was horrified and tensed. She somehow managed to get rid of the worm but minutes later she started crying. And it was a cry out of horror and fear where the tears never stopped flowing. As a kid I thought my mother was unnecesarily worried, it was a harmless worm afterall. She cried for minutes without stopping. After a while when she stopped she told me, 'yeh sab kal hamaare kabr me milenge, saanp, bhichu, gojar hamaare upar chalenge, iske baare me soch kar hi darr lagta hai, ai Allah hamaari kabron ko inse mehfooz rakh, humey bachale.'
(We will come across these things in our graves. Snakes, scorpions, worms will move over our bodies. I am horrified just to think about it. O Allah! please save our graves from these creatures, save us.)
I understood her feelings today when I attended a funeral after the friday prayers. We said the funeral prayers and I followed the procession till the grave. The body was laid down in the 5 feet deep grave and covered with wooden planks, thus forming a triangular space for the body to rest. I was horrified just to think that I will be sleeping in such a congested place one day. And when it was time to fill the grave with earth, I saw the worms, here and there, moving in the mud. I threw one worm away from the grave but alas! I cannot remove all the creatures from it.
Once the grave was filled and the final supplication was performed, we moved away from it and the only one thing moved in my mind was now the person lying in it has only one thing with it and that is his deeds. If his deeds are good, his grave would be like one of the gardens of Heaven, and if his deeds are bad his grave would be like one of the ditches of Hell and his companions would be the creepy creatures. As narrated in the Hadith.
It is important to remember death more often, as it is the only inevitable truth. Remembering it renews our faith.
So, have a great look at it.... as this is the one of the creepy creatures that will share the space in our graves.
May Allah save us from the torments of the grave.
