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Funeral Prayer (Salat AL-Janaazah)
¨Four things are
required for a dead Muslim:
His washing, enshrouding, praying over him,
and burying him.
Introduction:
The time of death, the exit of spirit from
the body, and leaving this world to the Hereafter are terrible moments and hard
times which are decreed upon humanity.
There is no refuge from them. Neither
prophets nor the wretched have been excluded from them.
God says ﴾Say, “Indeed, the death from which you
flee- indeed, it will meet you. Then you
will be returned to the Knower of the unseen and the witnessed, and He will
inform you about what you used to do﴿
Chapter of
And
He says to His Prophet ﴾Indeed, you are to die, and indeed,
they are to die﴿ Chapter
of the Crowds. Verse NO 30
●It was narrated
from Abi-Hurairah that the Messenger of Allah said, “Remember
more often the destroyer of pleasures-death.”
Reference:
Riyad As-Saaliheen. The Book of Miscellany.
¨Whenever you take account of this moment (moment of
death), your end will be happy.
●It was narrated from Jabir that the Prophet said, “Every servant will be raised
(in the same very state) in which he dies.”
Reference: Sahih Muslim. Book 53, Hadith 101
So, do not be from those whom Allah has said about: ﴾You were certainly in unmindfulness of
this, and We have removed from you your cover, so your sight, this Day, is
sharp﴿
Chapter of Qaaf. Verse NO 22
□The moment of death is the first indicator of happiness or misery of a dead person.
¨As for the believer:
﴾The ones whom the angels take in death, [being] good and pure; [the angels] will say,
“Peace be upon you. Enter Paradise for what you used to do.”﴿
Chapter of Bees. Verse NO 32
¨As for the rebellious and the infidel:
﴾Then how [will it be] when the
angels take them in death, striking their faces and their backs?﴿
Chapter of Muhammad. Verse NO 27
﴾And if you could but see when the wrongdoers are in the
overwhelming pangs of death while the angels extend their hands, [saying], “Discharge your souls! Today you will be awarded the punishment of [extreme] humiliation.”﴿
Chapter of the Cattle.
●It narrated
from ᶦAᶦishah that the Messenger of Allah said, “Whoever
loves to meet Allah, Allah loves to meet him. And whoever hates to meet Allah,
Allah hates to meet him.”
It was said to him: “O Messenger of Allah,
does hating to meet Allah mean hating to meet death? For all of us hate death.”
He said, “No. Rather that is only at the moment
of death.
But if he is given the glad tidings of the mercy and forgiveness of
Allah, he loves to meet Allah and Allah loves to meet him.
And if he is given
the
Reference: Sunan ibn Majah. Book 37, Hadith 4405
¨It is a Sunnah to instruct the dying person to say the
two testimonies, but without urgency in asking him to reply. You just say them
near his ear.
●It was narrated from Abi-Hurairah that the Apostle of
Allah said,
“Instruct your dying ones to
say, ‘There is no god but Allah (Laᶦllaha Illa Allah).’”
Reference: Sahih Muslim. Book 11, Hadith 3
Note that:
The Devil aims at the Muslim at the moment of death and
tempts him to disbelieve in Allah.
God says ﴾[The hypocrites] like the example of the Devil when he says to man,
“Disbelieve.” But when he disbelieves, he says, “Indeed, I am disassociated
from you. Indeed, I fear Allah, Lord of the worlds.”﴿ Chapter of the Gathering. Verse NO 16
-So, we shouldn’t urge the dying person, as he is in a
state of distortion.
*********************************
¨When a Muslim dies, tighten his jaw to his head by a
bandage, put his hands near his sides and not on his belly, close his eyes and
say: “In the name of Allah, and in accordance with the religion of Allah’s
Messenger.”
Washing a dead person
In Shafii and
Malik Schools, two are not washed and not prayed over them: a martyr in a
battle against infidels and an aborted child that did not cry.
●Jabir ibn
Abd-Allah reported: The Prophet collected every two martyrs of ᶦUhud in one
piece of cloth, then he would ask: “Which of
them had (knew) more of the Qurᶦan?”
When one of them was pointed out for him, he would put that one first in
the grave and say, “I will be a witness on these
on the Day of Resurrection.” He
ordered them to be buried with their blood on their bodies and they were
neither washed nor was a funeral prayer offered for them.
Reference:
Sahih AL-Bukhari. Book 23, Hadith 99
-Abu-Hanifah
sees that we should pray over martyrs without washing them.
¨The
dead person is washed three times with keeping his private parts covered.
No
one attends this washing except the washer and his assistants.
It is better to
use incense, apply camphor and perfume on his forehead, hands and feet, and
make him clean by ablution starting from his face.
If the corpse is worn, do
not wash it; instead, apply
sand ablution or pour water on it.
*******************************
¨We
should be patient over the death calamity; real patience is at the first shock.
It is all right to cry for the dead person, but without loud weeping or tearing
the front opening of the clothes.
In
the Messenger of Allah we have a good example to follow, as all of his children
died in his lifetime, except his daughter Fatimah.
●It was narrated
from Abd Allah ibn Masᶦud that Allah’s Apostle said, “He who beats the cheeks, tears the front opening of (his) clothes, or utters the slogans of the pre-Islamic period (Jaahiliyyah) is not one of us (one
among Islamic Ummah).”
Reference:
Sahih Muslim. Book 1, Hadith 191
●Anas (May Allah
be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah came to his son Ibrahim
when he was breathing his last.
The eyes of the Messenger of Allah began
shedding tears. Abdu-Rahman ibn ᶦAuf (May Allah be pleased with him) said, “O
Messenger of Allah, you too weep?”
He said, “O
Ibn ᶦAuf! It is mercy.” Then he began to weep and said, “The eyes are shedding tears, the heart is grieved, and
we will not say except what pleases our God. O Ibrahim! Indeed we are grieved
by your departure.”
Reference:
Riyad As-Saaliheen. The Book of Visiting the Sick. [AL-Bukhari].
●It was narrated
from Ibn ᶦUmar that the Prophet said,
“Allah
does not punish for the shedding of tears or the grief of the heart, but
punishes or bestows mercy for the utterances of this (and he pointed to his tongue).”
Reference:
Riyad As-Saaliheen. The Book of Visiting the Sick. [AL-Bukhari and Muslim].
●Umm Salamah, the
wife of Allah’s Apostle (May Allah be pleased with her), reported:
I heard the
Messenger of Allah saying: “If any servant (of Allah) who suffers a calamity says, ‘We belong to Allah and to
Him we shall return. O Allah! Reward me for my affliction and give me something
better in exchange for it (ᶦInna Lillahi Wa ᶦInna Ilaihi Raajiᶦun.
Allahumma Ujurni fi Museebati Wa Ikhluf li
Khairan Minha)’, Allah will reward
him for affliction and will give him something better than it in exchange.”
Umm Salamah said, “When Abu-Salamah died, I
uttered (these very words) as the Messenger of Allah had commanded me (to do).
So Allah gave me better in exchange than him (I was married to Muhammad, the
Messenger of Allah).”
Reference:
Sahih Muslim. Book 11, Hadith 5
It is known that
the Prophet married Umm Salamah after her husband had been martyred.
¨It
is a Sunnah that the dead person’s relatives make food for his family.
●Abdullah ibn Jaᶦfar
reported: When the news of the death of Jaᶦfar came, the Prophet said, “Prepare some food for the family of Jaᶦfar, for indeed
something has happened to them that will keep them busy.”
Reference:
Jamiᶦ AL-Tirmidhi. Book 10, Hadith 34
Enshrouding a dead person
The least shroud
should be one garment that covers the private parts.
A dead person can be
enshrouded in three white garments.
A dead woman can be enshrouded in a silk
garment, but a dead man cannot. Also enshrouding is not allowed to be in a
shirt or a turban.
●It was narrated
from Ibn ᶦAbbas (May Allah be pleased with them) that the Messenger of Allah
said,
“Put on white clothes because they are the
best, and use them for enshrouding your dead.”
Reference:
Riyad As-Saaliheen. The Book of Dress [AL-Tirmidhi
and Abu-Daoud].
Funeral
prayer provision:
It is an
emphasized Sunnah and a sufficiency duty.
How
to perform it?
It is of four Takbeeraat
without bowing down or prostration.
Shafii sees that
it is a Sunnah to raise the hands at each Takbeerah, but Abu-Hanifah
does not.
-After
the first Takbeerah, the praying person recites Chapter of the Opening.
After the second Takbeerah,
he says prayers for the Prophet using any text or the text of the testification
(Tashahhud).
After the third Takbeerah,
he invokes Allah for the dead person using any invocation.
After the fourth Takbeerah,
he says, “O Allah! Do not deprive us of his reward, do not try us after him,
and forgive us and him.”
Notes
about funeral prayer:
①It is a Sunnah to make the closest one to the dead
person lead the funeral prayer.
②Do not pray over the apostate or the one who has killed
one of his parents. Some jurisprudents see that you do not pray over the one
who has killed himself.
③The Prophet used to ask before praying over a dead person:
“Is he in debt?”
If they said,
“Yes.”, he would refuse to lead the prayer and say, “Lead the prayer over your friend.”
Then upon increase of conquests and money, the Prophet
used to pay the debt on the
④The high number
of praying persons over the dead is recommended.
●It was narrated
from Ibn ᶦAbbas that Allah’s Apostle said,
“If a
Muslim dies and forty men associate nothing with Allah perform funeral prayer
over him, Allah will accept their intercession for him.”
Reference:
Sahih Muslim. Book 11, Hadith 77
⑤Praying over a dead person and attending funerals have
high reward.
●It was narrated from Abi-Hurairah that Allah’s Apostle
said,
“He who offers prayer over the dead, but
does not attend the funeral, the reward for him is one Qiraat. And he
who attends it, the reward for him is two Qiraats.”
It was
asked: “What the Qiraats are?”
He said, “The
smaller amongst the two is equivalent to Uhud.”
Reference: Sahih
Muslim. Book 11, Hadith 70
●It was narrated from Abi-Hurairah (May Allah be
pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah said,
“Whoever
attends the funeral of a Muslim believing and hoping for the reward from Allah
and remains with it until the prayer is offered over it and the burial is
completed, he will return with a reward of two Qiraats; each Qiraat
is equivalent to Mount Uhud.
And whoever offers his prayer over it and returns
before its burial, he will come back with one Qiraat.”
Reference: Riyad
As-Saaliheen. The Book of Visiting the
Sick. [AL-Bukhari].
Some of the Prophet’s invocations in funerals
●ᶦAuf ibn Malik narrated that the Messenger of Allah offered
the funeral prayer, and I memorized his invocation (that he said for the
deceased),
“O Allah! Forgive him and have mercy
on him.
Keep him safe and sound and forgive him.
Honor the place where he
settles and make his entrance wide.
Wash him with water, snow, and hail and
cleanse him of sins as a white garment is cleansed of dirt.
Give him in
exchange a home better than his home (on earth), a
family better than his family, and a spouse better than his spouse. Grant him
entrance to Paradise and protect him from the trials of the grave and the
punishment in the Hell.”
(After
hearing this invocation of the Messenger of Allah),
ᶦAuf ibn Malik said, “I wished I had been
that dead man.”
Reference: Sahih
Muslim. Book 11, Hadith 109
Note:
If the dead person is a woman, you should
change pronouns in this invocation.
●Abu-Hurairah reported: When the Messenger of Allah
offered the funeral prayer he would say:
“O Allah, forgive our living and our dead, those who are present
and those who are absent, our young and our old, our males and our females. O
Allah, whomever of us You cause to live, let him live in Islam, and whomever of
us You cause to die, let him die in (a state of) faith.
O Allah! Do not deprive us of his
reward, and do not cause us to go astray after him.”
Reference: Sunan
Abi-Daoud. Book 21, Hadith 113
Attending funerals
¨It
must be in silence and hurry.
●It was narrated from Abi-Hurairah that the Messenger
of Allah said, “Hasten with the funeral, for if
it was good, you are advancing it to good. And if it was evil, then you are
taking it off your necks (relieving yourselves).”
Reference: Sunan Ibn
Majah. Book 6, Hadith 1544
●AL-Mughirah ibn Shuᶦbah said: I heard the Messenger of Allah say:
“The rider should travel behind the funeral (procession) but the one who is walking may walk wherever he wants.”
Reference: Sunan Ibn
Majah. Book 6, Hadith 1548
●It was narrated from ᶦAmir ibn Rabiᶦa that the Prophet said,
“Whenever
you see a funeral procession, stand up for that until it moves away or is
lowered on the ground.”
Reference: Sahih
Muslim. Book 11, Hadith 95
¨Extravagance
in funerals is disliked. And if one of the heirs is underage, extravagance is
prohibited.
¨Attending
funerals is disliked for women.
●ᶦAli reported: The Messenger of Allah went out and saw
some women sitting, and he said, “What are you
sitting here for?”
They said, “We
are waiting for the funeral.”
He said: “Are you
going to wash the deceased?”
They
said, “No.”
He said: “Are you going to lower him
into the grave?”
They said, “No.”
He said, “Then go back with a burden of sin and not rewarded.”
Reference: Sunan Ibn
Majah. Book 6, Hadith 1645
¨Slaughtering
animals beside the graves is disliked, as it is suspected to be like sacrifice
on stone altars.
¨After
burial, the grave is sprayed with cold water, and green palm branches are put
beside it.
¨The
grave is not raised above the earth more than the length of one arm. Do not
make a roof or a cover for it.
●Abuᶦl-Hayyaj
AL-Asadi told that ᶦAli
ibn Abi Talib said to him:
“Should I not send you to do a task that the
Messenger of Allah had assigned to me?” Do not leave an elevated grave without
leveling it, nor an image without erasing it.”
Reference: Sahih
Muslim. Book 11, Hadith 120
¨It
is prohibited to transmit the dead after burial, exhume his grave, or break his
bones
●It was narrated from ᶦAᶦishah
that the Messenger of Allah said, “Breaking the bones
of the deceased is like breaking his bones when he is alive.”
Reference: Sunan Ibn
Majah. Book 6, Hadith 1684
●Jabir ibn Abd-Allah reported: We went out with the
Messenger of Allah in a funeral and he sat at the edge of the grave and we sat
with him. The digger brought out bones to break them.
The Prophet said, “Do not break them, as your breaking the bones of him (the dead) is like breaking them when he is alive. But put him (his bones) in a corner of the grave.” [Abu-Daoud].
¨It
is a Sunnah that the mourners wait beside the grave to make the dead enjoy
their intimacy.
●ᶦUthman ibn ᶦAffan reported: Whenever the Prophet finished the
burial of the dead, he used to stand by the grave and say,
“Ask Allah to forgive your brother and supplicate for him
for steadfastness because he is now being questioned (about his deeds).”
Reference: Sunan Abi
Daoud. Book 21, Hadith 133
●ᶦAmr ibn Al-ᶦAs said to his children when he was about to die:
“When I die, let neither female mourner nor fire accompany me.
When you bury
me, fill my grave well with earth, then stand around it for the time within
which a camel is slaughtered and its meat is distributed so that I may enjoy
your intimacy and (in your company) ascertain what answer I can give to the
messengers (angels) of Allah.”
Reference: Sahih
Muslim. Book 1, Hadith 228
●Anas reported: The Prophet said,
“When a human being is laid in his grave and his
companions return and he even hears their footsteps, two angels come to him and
make him sit and ask him: ‘What did you use to say about this man, Muhammad?’
He will say, ‘I testify that he is Allah’s servant and His Apostle.’ Then it
will be said to him, ‘Look at your place in the Hell Fire. Allah has given you
a place in Paradise instead of it.’ The dead person will see both his places.
But a disbeliever or a hypocrite will say to the angels, ‘I do not know, but I
used to say what the people used to say!
It will be said to him, ‘Neither did
you know nor did you follow (the
believers).’
Then he will be hit with an iron
hammer between his two ears, and he will cry and that cry will be heard by
whatever approaches him except human beings and Jinns.”
Reference: Sahih
AL-Bukhari. Book 23, Hadith 94
●Haniᶦ
the free slave of ᶦUthman
reported: The Messenger of Allah said, “Indeed
the grave is the first stage of the Hereafter. So if one is saved from it, then
what comes after it is easier than it.
And if one is not saved from it, then
what comes after it is worse than it.”
Reference: Jamiᶦ At-Tirmidhi.
Book 36, Hadith 5
●It was narrated from Ibn ᶦUmar that the Messenger of Allah said,
“When anyone of you dies, he is shown his place both in
the morning and in the evening.
If he is one of the people of Paradise, he is
shown his place in it.
And if he is from the people of the Hell-Fire, he is
shown his place in it. Then it is said to him, ‘This is your place till Allah
resurrect you on the Day of Resurrection.”
Reference: Sahih AL-Bukhari.
Book 23, Hadith 132
●Abu-Saᶦid
AL-Khudri reported: The Prophet said,
“These
people are tried in the graves. If it were not the reason that you would stop burying (your dead) in the
graves on listening to the punishment in the grave which I am listening to, I
would have certainly made you hear that.”
Then turning his face towards us, he said, “Seek refuge with Allah from the punishment of the
grave.”
Reference: Sahih
Muslim. Book 53, Hadith 82
God
says ﴾The Fire, they are exposed to it morning and evening. And
the Day the Hour appears [it will be said], “Make the people of Pharaoh enter the
severest punishment.”﴿
Chapter
of the Forgiver. Verse NO 46
Visiting graves
¨Visiting
graves is advisable for men and women on condition that they keep respecting
them, do not rub themselves with them, and do not ask for anything from people
buried in them.
●Abu-Hurairah reported: The Messenger of Allah went out
to the graveyard and said, “Peace be upon you, O
abode of believing people. If Allah wills we shall join you.”
Reference: Sunan
Abi-Daoud. Book 21, Hadith 149
●It was narrated from Ibn Masᶦud that the Messenger of Allah said,
“I used to forbid you to visit the graves, but now visit
them, for they will draw your attention away from this world and remind you of
the Hereafter.”
Reference: Sunan Ibn
Majah. Book 6, Hadith 1638
●ᶦAᶦishah
reported that whenever it was her turn for Allah’s Messenger to spend the night
with her, he would go out towards the end of the night to AL-Baqiᶦ (graveyard in AL-Madinah) and say:
“Peace be upon you, O abode of believing people. What you
have been promised has come to you. And certainly we shall follow you if Allah
wills. O Allah, forgive the inhabitants of Baqiᶦ
AL-Gharqad.”
Reference:
Sahih Muslim. Book 11, Hadith 131
-And
in another narration the Prophet said, “May
Allah have mercy on those who have gone ahead of us, and those who come later
on. And we shall, if Allah wills, join you.”
Reference:
Sahih Muslim. Book 11, Hadith 132
***************************************
¨It
is prohibited to sit, walk, or sleep on a grave.
●It was narrated from Abi-Hurairah that Allah’s Apostle
said, “If anyone of you were to sit on a live
coal until it burns his garment, that would be better for him than sitting on a
grave.”
Reference:
Sahih Muslim. Book 11, Hadith 124
●It was narrated from ᶦUqbah ibn ᶦAmir that the Messenger of Allah said,
“If I were to walk on a live coal or a sword, that would
be better for me than walking on the grave of a Muslim.”
Reference: Sunan Ibn
Majah. Book 6, Hadith 1634
●It was narrated from Abi-Marthad AL-Ghanawi that the
Messenger of Allah said, “Do not sit on the
graves and do not perform prayer facing them.”
Reference: Sahih
Muslim. Book 11, Hadith 126
Does a dead person benefit from the others’ deeds?
There
are two opinions regarding this issue.
The
more accurate of them is yes.
●It was narrated from Abi-Hurairah that the Messenger
of Allah said,
“When a man dies, his acts come
to an end, but three: ongoing alms (Sadaqah Jaariyah), beneficial knowledge, or a righteous son who
supplicates for him.”
Reference: Sahih
Muslim. Book 25, Hadith 20
●Ikrimah narrated from Ibn ᶦAbbas that a man said,
“O Messenger of Allah! My
mother died, will it benefit her if I give charity on her behalf?”
He said, “Yes.”
He
said, “I have a garden, so bear witness that I have given it in charity on her
behalf.”
Reference: Jamiᶦ At-Tirmidhi.
Book 7, Hadith 53
●It was narrated from Abi-Hurairah that the Messenger
of Allah said,
“A man will be raised in status
in Paradise and will say: ‘Where did this come from?’ And it will be said,
‘From your son’s supplication for forgiveness for you.’”
Reference: Sunan Ibn
Majah. Book 33, Hadith 4
●Abdullah ibn Buraidah narrated from his father who
said, “A woman came to the Prophet and said, ‘My mother died and she did not
perform pilgrimage. Should I perform pilgrimage on her behalf?’
He said, ‘Yes, perform pilgrimage on her behalf.’”
Reference: Jamiᶦ At-Tirmidhi.
Book 9, Hadith 122
¨The
objectors to this opinion adhere to God’s saying ﴾And that there is not for man except
that [good] for which he strives﴿
Chapter of the
Star. Verse NO 39
