Praise be to Allah.
Allah says (interpretation of the
meaning):
“Whatsoever is on it (the earth) will
perish.
And the Face of your Lord full of Majesty
and Honour will remain forever.” [55:26-27]
Ibn
Kathir
(may Allah have mercy on him) said: Here Allah tells us that all the
inhabitants of the earth will perish and die, as will all the inhabitants of
heaven, except for whomsoever Allah wills, and nothing will be left except
His Noble Face, for the Lord does not die, rather He is the Ever-Living who
will never die. [Tafsir al-Quran il-‘Azeem]
Al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated from Ibn
‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allah be upon him) used to say, “Allahumma inni a’oodhu bi ‘izzatika la
ilaha illa anta an tadillani, anta al-hayyu alladhi la yamoot wa’l-jinn wa’l-ins
yamootoon (O Allah, I seek refuge in Your glory, there is no god but You,
against being led astray, for You are the Ever-Living Who does not die, but
the jinn and mankind will die).”
With regard to your questions about where
they are buried, whether the funeral prayer is offered for them and how long
they live, these are matters which are concealed from us. Allah says
(interpretation of the meaning):
“And of knowledge, you (mankind) have been
given only a little.” [17:85]
The
Muslim should strive to learn more about that which has an impact on his own
behaviour, such as knowledge of Allah, His names and attributes, what he is
obliged to believe in and knowledge of the rulings of sharee’ah
(Islamic law). He should avoid
delving deeply into matters which he is not required to know and in which
there is no benefit. I ask Allah to grant us beneficial knowledge and
righteous deeds.
And Allah knows best.