The Maidan-il-Hashr: The Place of Resurrection
Imam Muhammad Al-Baqir (as) narrates that when the Verse:
﴿æóÌöíÁó íóæúãóÆöÐò ÈöÌóåóäøóã.﴾ 
\"And hell is made to appear on that day.” (89:23)
was revealed, the companions asked the Prophet (S) it’s meaning. The Prophet (S) said, “Jibrael has told me that on the Doomsday Allah will order the people to be assembled for interrogation. He will also order the Jehannam, The Hell, to be there too. The Jehannam will have a thousand nose-strings, each in the hands of one angel. The Jehannam would angrily attempt to attack the infidels and the sinners. It would produce such a sound that if Allah chose not to intervene, everyone would perish! Then flames would rise forth from the Jehannam and the oppressive heat will be felt by the gathering, and the prophets (S) too would become uncomfortable.
At that time everyone would cry, “Nafsi (myself), nafsi (myself)! that is, they would plead with Allah to be kind on them and prevent them from the torture! The Prophet of Islam (S) will then call, “Ummati (my community), Ummati!” and the Sirat, the Bridge of Sirat, would be brought. The path of this bridge will be sharper than the sword and thinner than the hair, The Sirat will have three bridges. One will be the bridge of Silato-Rahm or kindness towards ones relatives. On this bridge those will not be allowed to pass who had deprived the rights of their relations. Some others will be stopped from crossing the bridge by Salat (the Mandatory Prayers) as a penalty for not regularly offering these prayers. Another group will be denied entry to the Sirat for not giving the rights of the people, the Huqooq-ul-Ibad! Therefore Allah says:
﴿Åöäøó ÑóÈøóßó áóÈöÇáúãöÑúóÇÏö.﴾
\"And passing through the Bridge of Sirat Allah will question you.” (89:14)
The Bridge Of Sirat
The pious person will go across the Bridge of Sirat without any difficulty whatsoever. Some others will be hanging on the sides of the bridge. The feet of some people will falter and others will hang on to one another to avoid falling down from the Bridge. They will all be praying to Allah to Help them safely cross the Bridge. They will plead Him to Pardon their faults and misdeeds!
Those who get across the Bridge safely, they will say, “We are thankful to Allah! He had been kind in giving us help.” They were otherwise losing all hope of successfully negotiating across the Bridge!”
Imam Ja’far As-Sadiq said, “The Bridge of Sirat is sharper than the sword and thinner than the hair! Some will go across it at the speed of lightning! Some will go at a trot like the horse, some like the men on foot and there will be others who will falter like a baby learning to walk! Some will go precariously hanging on the Bridge feeling the heat of the Hellfire on one side.”
Amir’ul-Mu’mineen ‘Ali says, “When a person is made to stand at the station for accounting of the deeds, Allah will tell, “Strike a balance between My Bounties and the person’s actions!”
When the angels strike the balance and they find the actions commensurate or more than the Kindness endowed on him, then Allah will say, ‘I have gifted to him the Blessings enjoyed by the person. Now, make a balance between his good deeds and bad ones! If the good deeds and bad deeds are found equal to one other, even then the person will be permitted entry to the Heaven! If the person’s good deeds measure more than his bad deeds, he will be endowed with more Blessings in the Heaven. If the person’s bad deeds are more than the good deeds, he will get Allah’s pardon provided he was not an infidel or hypocrite!
Imam Muhammad Al-Baqir was asked by someone, “What is the meaning of the Verse of the Holy Qur’an that says, ‘The sins of that group of people will be swapped by Allah with good deeds, and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.’”
The Imam said, A mu’min who has sinned during his life would be called for rendering account of his deeds on the Day of Judgment. When the person will confess of his mistakes in front of Allah, Allah, in His Kindness, will order the angels to erase the person’s sins from his inventory of his acts good and bad. He will ask the angels to enter good deeds in favor of the person for the bad ones deleted from the list. When the people of the Day of Resurrection look at the statement of the person’s deeds, they may wonder that he has not committed any misdeeds in his life! Then Allah will order the person to be admitted to the Heaven. The Imam said, “This verse is specially for our Shi’as!”
The Accounting of Deeds on the Day of Judgment
Imam Ja’far As-Sadiq (as) says, “Two persons, on The Day of Judgment, will be such that one of them was rich and the other lived in absolute penury. The person who lived in poverty would say, ‘O Allah! Why did you make me to stand here for accounting! I spent my life in abject poverty! I have nothing to account for whatsoever! I had no wealth that would make me deprive anyone of his rights or to be unkind to anyone! From You I received just enough for my sustenance!”
Allah will say, “The man is right! Take him to the Heaven and keep the rich person in the Grounds of Resurrection (Maidan-il-Mahshar) so long for accounting that with his sweat, in the extreme heat of the place, forty camels are able to quench their thirst! The man should be directed to the Heaven after he gives the account of the use of his wealth during his life!” When he entered the Heaven, his poor companion will ask him about the delay in his arrival there. The man will tell him that he was accounting for the wealth and riches he had possessed in the world!”
Then the rich person will ask the poor man who he was. He will say that he is the same person who was standing with him on the Day of Accounting. The good life in the Heaven had changed him so much that the other person was not able to recognize him.”
Imam Ja’far As-Sadiq (as) narrates that when Allah will order people to be assembled for accounting on the Day of Resurrection, each person will have his inventory of acts in his hand. Some hypocrites will complain that those were not their own inventory of acts that were in their hands. At that moment the Keraman Katebeen (The writers of the Deeds) will bear witness that the inventory of acts were definitely of those persons who had them in their hands. Then they will tell to Allah, “O Allah! They are your angels and, to please you, they are bearing witness against us!” Then they will take an oath that the inventory of their work were not theirs. Allah tells about this in the Holy Qur’an thus:
﴿íóæúãó íóÈúÚóËõåõãú Çááøóåõ ÌóãöíÚðÇ ÝóíóÍúáöÝõæäó áóåõ ßóãóÇ íóÍúáöÝõæäó áóßõãú.﴾
“That day Allah will bring forth everyone, they will take oaths like they used to take false oaths” (58:18)
The Imam (as) said, “These are the people who had usurped the rights of Amir’ul-Mu’mineen (as). At that time Allah will put seal on their lips. Their senses will bear witness. Their ears would say, ‘O Allah! They used us for hearing wrong things!’ Their eyes would say, ‘They used us for seeing taboo (Haram) things.’ Thus, every sense of the persons will bear witness to their deeds Then Allah will order the seal to be taken off their tongues. Then the tongues would say to the senses, ‘Why did you bear witness against us?’ The senses would reply, ‘The Allah who gave everyone the faculty of speech, gave us courage to speak the truth!’”
Intercession
Imam Muhammad Al-Baqir (as) narrates that on the Day of Resurrection, all the creations, in naked condition, will be assembled at the Maidan al-Hashr. They will be made to stay there by Allah in extreme heat and discomfort for so long that they would sweat profusely and become impatient. Then Allah’s Herald will call, “Where is the Last Prophet, Muhammad bin Abd Allah (S)?” At that moment the Prophet (S) would come forward and stand near the Cistern of Kawthar. The length of the Cistern is about the same as the distance between the hamlet of Eela? in Syria and Sanaa in Yemen.
Then Amir’ul-Mu’mineen ‘Ali (as) will come and stand on the side of the Prophet (S). He will quench his friends’ thirst from the same cistern. Some persons will be asked by the angels to keep away from the cistern. They will prevent them from drinking the water. At that time the Prophet (S) will submit to Allah, “O Allah! These people are the friends of my Ahl-ul-Bayt! Why are they prevented from partaking of the water? O Allah! Pardon them with Your Munificence!”
The sound will come, “O Muhammad (S)! We have accepted your recommendation and pardoned them! They are permitted to drink the Water of Kawthar.
Then the Imam (as) said, “At that time lots of people will cry over their misfortune, while our Shi’as will get Pardon of their sins by Allah on account of their love for us!”
The Cistern Of Kawthar
Abu Turab Ansari narrates that someone asked the Prophet (S) about the Cistern of Kawthar. The Prophet (S) said: It is a cistern that Allah has gifted to me. This is one of the privileges that make me superior to the other prophets (as). The length of the cistern is almost the distance from the Hamlet of Eela to Sanaa. The goblets placed on its banks for drinking the water are like the stars in the sky. Two big canals from Arsh replenish its water. The water of the cistern is sweeter than honey and whiter than milk. Its soil smells better than musk. The pebbles on its banks are of rubies and emerald. Its grass is saffron. Allah has promised to me that only those persons will get to drink this water whose hearts are free of hypocrisy and polytheism.
They should also have clear conscience and be the followers of my Vicegerent, ‘Ali (as), to be eligible for using the water of the cistern. The enemies of ‘Ali (as) will be sent away from the cistern. The way a camel with scabies is removed from its flock. Whoever drinks the water of Kawthar once, his thirst will be quenched forever.
There are several traditions of the Prophet (S) that one who believes in Allah and knows that the Day of Judgment is a certainty shall also have to believe in the existence of the Cistern. Otherwise, on the Day of Judgment he will not be quenched with Kawthar’s water. The Prophet (S) also said, “One who doesn’t believe in our intercession, we shall not be able to intercede on his behalf on the Day of Resurrection. My intercession will be required only for those who will carry heavy load of sins. The pious and the virtuous would not need intercession!”
Reliable sources narrate from Imam Ja’far As-Sadiq (as) that the Doomsday will be so tough for the people that the sweat would flow into their mouths. They will talk to each other and then go to prophet Adam (as) to ask him to intercede on their behalf for relief from the extreme conditions of heat. Prophet Adam (as) will express his inability and refer them to Prophet Nooh (as) who, in turn, will send them to the other prophets (as). Thus they will go to prophet ‘Isa (as) and he will direct them to Prophet Muhammad bin Abdillah (S) in the end. The Prophet (S) will then say, “Come with me! I shall recommend you to Allah!” The Prophet (S) would take them to the gate of the Heaven. After prostrating to Allah he will pray to Him to relieve the hardship of those persons. Then the sound will come, “O Muhammad (S)! We have accepted your intercession!” This is the interpretation of the Verse of the Holy Qur’an:
﴿ÚóÓóì Ãóäú íóÈúÚóËóßó ÑóÈøõßó ãóÞóÇãðÇ ãóÍúãõæÏðÇ.﴾
“Be hopeful that your Allah will send you to your preferred?” (17:79)
It is said that a person came to Imam Muhammad Al-Baqir (as) and said, “O Imam (as)! When you talk of intercession, you make people, your followers, proud!” The Imam (as) said, “Do you think that you can control your carnal desire to sin during your life and that you will not need the intercession of our Ancestor (as), The Prophet Muhammad (S) on the Day of Judgment. By Allah! If you witness the hardships of the Doomsday, you will certainly crave for the intercession. The Prophet (S)’s Intercession will be needed only by those who were sinners in their lives.”