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The Bridge (Sirat) الصِّرَاط

In review — pending scholar verification

The bridge stretched over Hellfire on the Day of Judgement, which all souls must traverse — believers crossing at speeds proportional to their deeds, while disbelievers fall into the Fire.

Overview

The Sirat (Arabic: الصِّرَاط) is the bridge stretched over Jahannam on the Day of Judgement, which all souls — believers and disbelievers — must traverse. Authentic hadith describe it as "thinner than a hair, sharper than a sword", with hooks at its sides that snatch those whom Allah wills (Sahih Muslim 195). The speed of crossing varies according to deeds: from those who cross "as fast as lightning" or "as fast as the wind" to those who crawl, while disbelievers fall into the Fire below.

Quranic references

  • Surah Maryam 19:71–72 — "And there is none of you except he will pass over it. This is upon your Lord an inevitability decreed. Then We will save those who feared Allah and leave the wrongdoers within it, on their knees." Classical commentators link this passage to the Sirat.
  • Surah As-Saffat 37:23–24 — "And lead them to the path of Hellfire. And stop them; indeed they are to be questioned."
  • Surah Al-Fatihah 1:6 — "Guide us to the straight path" — the daily prayer for guidance to the path that is, in another sense, traversed on the Day.

Hadith

Abu Saʿīd al-Khudri reported the Prophet ﷺ said: "It will be said: Where are those who used to wait until the call to prayer? Where are those who used to compete in good deeds? Then they will rise on the Day, faces shining like the moon. Then the Sirat will be set up over Hell. I and my nation will be the first to cross. None will speak that Day except the messengers, and the messengers' supplication that Day will be: O Allah, save them, save them. There are hooks on the Sirat like the thorns of the Saʿdān tree — have you seen the Saʿdān thorn? They are like that, but only Allah knows their size. They snatch people according to their deeds. Among them is one who is overcome and falls in; among them is one who is lacerated and then released; among them is one who crosses and is saved." — Sahih al-Bukhari 7437; Sahih Muslim 183
Abu Hurayra reported the Prophet ﷺ said: "The Sirat is established between the two sides of Hell, and I and my nation will be the first to cross. None will speak that Day except the messengers." — Sahih al-Bukhari 7437; Sahih Muslim 195

Significance

The Sirat is the final filter between the gathering and the abodes. Crossing it is the believer's definitive deliverance from Hell and entry into Paradise. The Quranic prayer ihdinā aṣ-ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm ("guide us to the straight path") in Surah Al-Fatihah, recited at least seventeen times daily in the obligatory prayers, parallels the eschatological Sirat: those who walked the straight path in this life cross the eschatological Sirat in the next.

See also

References

  1. The Quran (Sahih International translation): Surahs Al-Fatihah 1:6; Maryam 19:71–72; As-Saffat 37:23–24.
  2. Sahih al-Bukhari 7437; Sahih Muslim 183, 195.
  3. Ibn Kathir, Tafsīr, on Surah Maryam.
  4. al-Qurṭubī, at-Tadhkirah, sections on the Sirat.
  5. Umar Sulayman al-Ashqar, al-Qiyāmah al-Kubrā, sections on the Sirat.