A Disbeliever's Death

The Prophet of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Allah accepts the repentance of the servant so long as his ruh has not arrived at his throat.” [Tirmidhi]

Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) says: “If you could see when the wrongdoers taste the pangs of death and the angels stretch their hands out, [saying], 'Deliver up your souls. This day you will be awarded a degrading punishment.'” [Al-Quran 6:93]

“When an unbeliever is about to depart from this world, angels with black faces descend from the heavens carrying rough hair-cloth, and sit around the dying person in throngs stretching as far as the eye can see. Then the Angel of Death comes and sits at the head of the unbeliever and says: 'O foul soul, come out to the wrath and anger of Allah!' The soul inside the disbeliever's body does not want to deliver itself up and divides up in the body of the dying person, whereupon the Angel of Death violently pulls it and it is dragged out like a skewer is pulled out of wet wool.” [Ar-Ruh: The Soul’s Journey after Death, by Imam Ibn Al Qayyim Al Jauziah]

“Then the Angel of Death takes hold of the soul. When he has grasped it, the other angels do not leave it in his hand even for the twinkling of an eye. They take it and wrap it in the rough hair-cloth and a stench emanates from it like that of the most evil smelling corpse on the face of the earth.” [Ar-Ruh: The Soul’s Journey after Death, by Imam Ibn Al Qayyim Al Jauziah]

Then the angels ascend with the depraved soul, and they do not pass with it by any group of angels but the angels ask: "What is this wicked soul?" They are told (he is) "such" the son of "such", choosing the most hated of the names he used to be called by in this life. For instance, Abu Jahl (Father of Ignorance), whose actual name was Umar, would have been called Abu Jahl by the angels. The evil soul is cursed by all the angels between the earth and the sky and by all the angels in the sky.

When the angels reach the lowest heaven, they ask permission to enter, but they are not granted entry because of the evil soul with them. “No opening will there be of the gates of heaven, nor will they enter the Garden, until the camel can pass through the eye of the needle.” [Al-Quran 7:40] Then Allah, Exalted and High, says: "Write the book of my servant in Sijjeen in the lowest earth.” The evil soul is thereafter flung down with a mighty hurl. It is cast back into its body and its trial in the grave then begins. [Ar-Ruh: The Soul’s Journey after Death, by Imam Ibn Al Qayyim Al Jauziah]