The Four Categories who Cross the Sirat

The Messenger - ﷺ - said in a Hadeeth about [the Sirat¹] that was narrated by Abu Sa'eed al-Khudri:

...So there would be the safe and successful, the bruised, the imprisoned, and those who are piled into it upside down [the Fire].Collected by ibn Majah #3472, Ahmad: 3/11 #11096, Ibn Hibban: 16/377 #7377, al-Hakim: 4/628 - who authenticated it with the conditions of Muslim, and authenticated by al-Albani in Saheeh Sunan ibn Majah.

Ibn Abi Hamza commented:

It is understood from the Hadeeth that those who pass over the Sirat are of three categories:

1. A successful one who passes without any bruises.
2. An unsuccessful one from the start.
3. The middle ground, one who is afflicted but is then successful.

   Each one of these categories consists of subcategories that are known by the phrase:

   According to their deeds [i.e they will be of varying speeds according to their past actions]

   I say, there is another fourth category, and they are:

4. Those who are stuck there² as was mentioned in the Hadeeth of Abu Sa'eed al-Khudri that has preceded, and Allah knows best.

…

Therefore, in general, there are two main groups:

1. The successful, the saved from falling into the Fire by crossing the Sirat.
2. Those who are thrown and fall into Jahannam, who are unable to cross the Sirat. After they have been punished for their sins, they are removed from the fire and placed into Jannah.

These two categories have been mentioned in general by the Prophet - ﷺ - in a narration where he says:

...so amongst them are those who are destroyed by their sins, and those who are injured but are eventually successful.Collected by Al-Bukhari: #806

Furthermore, the successful, in general, are two groups:

1. Those who pass free of injury by the thorny hooks/clamps3 on the Sirat
2. Those who are injured/scratched by the thorny hooks/clamps which snatch them on the Sirat.

Those who cross successfully vary in how successfully they cross the Sirat, amongst them are:

1. Those who cross in a blink of an eye.
2. Those who cross with the speed of lightning.
3. Those who cross with the speed of wind.
4. Those who cross like swift horses,
5. Those who crawl.

The Messeenger - ﷺ - informed us of all this.

The most virtuous of those who cross the Sirat and whose passage is easiest are the Messengers, may Allah's Salat and Salam be upon thim. The Messenger - ﷺ - said:

No one will speak on that day except the Messengers, and the only thing they would say is; O Allah safety, safety!Collected by Bukhari #806 and Muslim #182

The most virtous to pass of the followers of the Messengers is the Ummah of Muhammad - ﷺ. They will be the first of the nations to pass, he - ﷺ - said:

I will be the first to pass the Sirat with my Ummah.Collected by Bukhari #806

He - ﷺ - was asked:

Who will be the first to cross? He said:

The poor from amongst the Muhajiroon.Collected by Muslim #315

And this is a virtue for the poor amongst the Muhajiroon.

Also see:

Upwards Lightning

Do you not see how it (lightning) strikes then returns in a blink of an eye?

- Saheeh Muslim Read on

1. The well known long Hadeeth of Shafa'ah on the Day of Ressurection
2. Shaykh Muhammad Saleh al-Munajid said: It was also mentioned in a naration in Ibn Majah: "One who is stuck there." Meaning he will be stuck there until he/she is let go.

3. 

   The Messenger of Allah - ﷺ - described the 'Kalaleeb' that will snatch people from the Sirat as:

   They are like the Thorn of al-Sa'dan, have you not seen the Thorn of al-Sa'dan?

   They said ofcourse O Messenger of Allah.

   He said: Indeed they are like the Thorn of al-Sa'dan?

   Collected by al-Bukhari

   He - ﷺ - made a resemblance to the Thorn of al-Sa'dan, a plant which the people knew, except that the size of the Kalaeeb is unknown.