A Familiar Face in a Strange Land

Many commentators, particularly in explaining hadith of a spiritual character, describe how Allah will give shape and form on that Day to things that in this world remain unseen. Several hadith describe entering the grave: a good, practising believer finds a few people waiting there, so beautiful, their faces striking, their scent so pleasant, and familiar in some way that cannot quite be placed — as though known for forty years, or fifty, without a name to put to them. Asked directly whether they are known, the answer comes back that they are indeed known to one another; only patience is needed, for the angels are still to come with their questions, and these companions are there to help. The believer asks who they are.

One of the things human beings look for, above all in a strange land, alone and far from home, is a familiar face — finding one feels like finding a hidden treasure. At ḥajj, amid the crowds moving up and down the escalators, the sight of a fellow countryman produces exactly this reaction: greetings exchanged, embraces given, simply because the face is familiar. There is a hadith describing a believer who travels to a strange place where no one knows him and he knows no one, hungry and in need, with no one to turn to; looking left and right, finding nothing before him or behind him, he lifts his face to the heavens and says only, O my Lord, You know that I am here. At that, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) states, Allah forgives every sin, entirely, because there was nowhere else to turn but to the Lord of all creation, recognised even in that strange land.