Will there be torment in the grave before the Day of Judgment??

- The other day I was reading Tafsir Ibn Kathir and there was a hadith written there:
Imam Ahmad narrated from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that a Jewish woman used to serve her and whenever Aisha did her a favor, the Jewish woman would say: “May Allah protect you from the torment in the grave.” Aisha said, “Then the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) came and I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, will there be torment in the grave before the Day of Judgment?’ He said, ‘No, who said that?’ I said, ‘This Jewish woman. Whenever I do her a favor she says, “May Allah protect you from the torment of the grave.’” The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: “The Jews lie, and they tell more lies about Allah. There is no torment except on the Day of Judgment.”
- How should we to understand it since the torment in the grave is known definitely from mutawatir hadiths? And we know that abrogation is valid only for fiqh, not for creed and that the Prophet (pbuh) never spoke according to his own opinion or desire, but only based on revelation and never made a mistake in conveying the message.
- A friend of mine told me that he thinks that this hadith is a mistake on the part of the narrator, because it is stated in another hadith about the same incident that the Jewish woman said to Aisha, “May Allah protect you from the torment in the grave,” and then the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) asked Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) and he confirmed that the torment in the grave was real. However, I would like you to explain more, inshallah.

Dear Brother / Sister,

Yes, there will the torment in the grave or blessing in the grave before the Day of Judgment. It is not appropriate to think of only torment when we talk about the grave, or mentioning only the torment in the grave when we talk about the life in the grave because there are also blessings in the life in the grave. Therefore, it should be referred to as “life in the grave”.

To sum up, there is life in the grave, which is either a garden from the gardens of Paradise or a pit from the pits of Hell, depending on the condition of the person.

The expression “a Jewish woman” is mentioned in another narration as “two Jewish women”. The names of those women could not be identified. This woman or these women told her about the torment in the grave. Despite the differences in the narrations, Aisha did not believe what the woman said, but the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) took refuge in Allah from the torment in the grave, according to a narration as a result of a revelation, according to another narration directly confirming what the woman said.

As a matter of fact, according to sound narrations, a Jewish woman came to beg for something from Aisha (ra) and after talking about the torment in the grave, she said, “May Allah protect you from the torment in the grave.” Aisha (ra) asked the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), “Are people tormented in their graves?” The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, “Yes, there is the torment in the grave.” Then Aisha said: “After that, I never saw a prayer of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) at the end of which he did not seek refuge with Allah from the torment in the grave.” (Bukhari, 986, 988; Muslim, 499, 1501, 1502)

As for the first narration mentioned in the question:

It is stated in the place in question that this hadith narration reported by Ibn Kathir is sound. (see Tafsir Ibn Kathir, 7/132-133)

However, the following is stated at the end of the same hadith: “The Messenger of Allah (pbuh), after a period of time as long as Allah wills, said: O people! Seek refuge in Allah from the torment in the grave because the torment in the grave is true.” (Ibn Kathir, ibid)

Since both of those narrations are sound, the following interpretation can be made to reconcile them:

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) knew that the unbelievers and polytheists would be subjected to the torment of the grave, but he did not know that the sinners among the believers would also be subjected to this torment. Immediately after this incident, he was informed by revelation that the sinners of the believers would also be subjected to this torment.

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