Said by: Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (as)
Status: ✅ Verified reference
Reference: Al-Kafi (Shaykh al-Kulayni), Volume 3, Kitab al-Jana'iz (Book of Funerals), Chapter 89 (The Statements that Graves Make Every Day), Hadith 1.
Arabic — core saying (excerpt):
مَا مِنْ مَوْضِعِ قَبْرٍ إِلَّا وَهُوَ يَنْطِقُ كُلَّ يَوْمٍ ثَلَاثَ مَرَّاتٍ: أَنَا بَيْتُ التُّرَابِ، أَنَا بَيْتُ الْبَلَاءِ، أَنَا بَيْتُ الدُّودِ
English translation:
"There is no gravesite except that it speaks three times every day: 'I am the house of soil, I am the house of trial, I am the house of worms.'" The Hadith goes on to say that when a believer enters the grave, it welcomes him, opens wide for him, and a door to Paradise is opened for him; and when a wrongdoer enters, it is hard upon him and a door to the Fire is opened for him.
Explanation: The grave speaks to remind us, every day, what it really is — a plain house of soil, not a palace. But the same house treats people differently: for a believer it becomes welcoming and wide, because his faith and good deeds go with him. What we send ahead is what meets us there.
The grave speaks to remind us, every day, what it really is — a plain house of soil, not a palace.