Funerals (Kitab Al-Jana'iz)

كتاب الجنائز

Chapter 48: Riding During A Funeral

Narrated Thawban

An animal was brought to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) while he was going with a funeral. He refused to ride on it. When the funeral was away, the animal was brought to him and he rode on it. He was asked about it. He said: The angels were on their feet. I was not to ride while they were walking. When they went away, I rode.

Chapter 49: Walking In Front Of The Janazah

Narrated Al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah

(I think that the people of Ziyad informed me that he reported on the authority of the Prophet (ﷺ): A rider should go behind the bier, and those on foot should walk behind it, in front of it, on its right and on its left keeping near it. Prayer should be offered over an abortion and forgiveness and mercy supplicated for its parents.

Chapter 50: Hastening With The Janazah

Uyaynah also reported the aforementioned tradition (No. 3176) through a different chain of transmitters. This version goes

We attended the funeral of AbdurRahman ibn Samurah and he said: He (AbuBakrah) made his mule run quickly and pointed with the flog.

Chapter 54: Offering The Funeral Prayer In The Masjid

Narrated 'Aishah

I swear by Allah, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) prayed over Suhail b. al-Baida' in the mosque.

Chapter 57: Where Should The Imam Stand In Relation To The Deceased When Offering The Funeral Prayer ?

Nafi' AbuGhalib said

They said: Bier of Abdullah ibn Umayr. So I followed it. Suddenly I saw a man, who had a thin garment on riding his small mule. He had a piece of cloth on his head to protect himself from the sun. I asked: Who is this important man? People said: This is Anas ibn Malik.

When the bier was placed, Anas stood and led the funeral prayer over him while I was just behind him, and there was no obstruction between me and him. He stood near his head, and uttered four takbirs (Allah is Most Great). He neither lengthened the prayer nor hurried it. He then went to sit down. They said: AbuHamzah, (here is the bier of) an Ansari woman. They brought her near him and there was a green cupola-shaped structure over her bier. He stood opposite her hips and led the funeral prayer over her as he had led it over the man. He then sat down.

Al-Ala' ibn Ziyad asked: AbuHamzah, did the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say the funeral prayer over the dead as you have done, uttering four takbirs (Allah is Most Great) over her, and standing opposite the head of a man and the hips of a woman?

He replied: Yes. He asked: AbuHamzah, did you fight with the Messenger of Allah? He replied: Yes. I fought with him in the battle of Hunayn. The polytheists came out and invaded us so severely that we saw our horses behind our backs. Among the people (i.e. the unbelievers) there was a man who was attacking us, and striking and wounding us (with his sword). Allah then defeated them. They were then brought and began to take the oath of allegiance to him for Islam.

A man from among the companions of the Prophet (ﷺ) said: I make a vow to myself that if Allah brings the man who was striking us (with his sword) that day, I shall behead him. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) kept silent and the man was brought (as a captive).

When he saw the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), he said: Messenger of Allah, I have repented to Allah. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) stopped (for a while) receiving his oath of allegiance, so that the other man might fulfil his vow. But the man began to wait for the order of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) for his murder. He was afraid of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) to kill him. When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) saw that he did not do anything, he received his oath of allegiance. The man said: Messenger of Allah, what about my vow? He said: I stopped (receiving his oath of allegiance) today so that you might fulfil your vow. He said: Messenger of Allah, why did you not give any signal to me? The Prophet (ﷺ) said: It is not worthy of a Prophet to give a signal.

AbuGhalib said: I asked (the people) about Anas standing opposite the hips of a woman. They told me that this practice was due to the fact that (in the days of the Prophet) there were no cupola-shaped structures over the biers of women. So the imam used to stand opposite the hips of a woman to hide her from the people.

Abu Dawud said: The saying of the Prophet (ﷺ) "I have been commanded to fight against the people until they say: There is no god bu Allah" abrogated this tradition of fulfilling the vow by his remark: "I have repented".

Chapter 33: How The Deceased Is To Be Washed

The tradition mentioned above has also been transmitted by Umm 'Atiyyah through a different chain of narrators to the same effect. This version adds

We braided her hair in three plaits.

Chapter 34: About Shrouding

A similar tradition has been transmitted by 'Aishah through a different chain of narrators. This version adds

The narrator said: Aisha was told that the people said that he was shrouded in two garments and one cloak. She replied: A cloak was brought but they returned it and did not shroud him in it.

Chapter 35: It Is Disliked To Be Extravagant In Shrouding

Narrated Ubadah ibn as-Samit

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The best shroud is a lower garment and one which covers the whole body, and the best sacrifice is a horned ram.

Chapter 37: Musk For The Deceased

Narrated Abu Sa’id Al Khudri

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: The best of your perfumes is musk.

Chapter 40: Kissing The Deceased

Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin

I saw the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) that he kissed Uthman ibn Maz'un while he was dead, and I saw that tears were flowing (from his eyes).

Chapter 47: Standing Up For A Funeral

Narrated Jabir

We were with the Prophet (ﷺ) when a funeral passed hi and he stood up for it. When we went to carry it, we found that it was a funeral of a Jew. We, therefore said: Messenger of Allah, this is the funeral of a Jew. He said: Death is fearful event, so when you see a funeral, stand up.

Chapter 48: Riding During A Funeral

Narrated Jabir b. Samurah

The Prophet (ﷺ) offered funeral prayer over Ibn al-Dahdah while we were present. He was then brought a horse, and it was tied until he rode it. It then began to gallop and we were running around it.

Chapter 50: Hastening With The Janazah

Uyaynah ibn AbdurRahman reported on the authority of his father that he attended the funeral of Uthman ibn Abul'As. He said

We were walking slowly. AbuBakrah then joined us and he raised his flog at us and said: You have seen us when we were with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). We were walking quickly.

Narrated Abdullah ibn Mas'ud

We asked the Prophet (ﷺ) about walking with the funeral. He replied: Not running (but walking quickly). If he (the dead person) was good, send him to it quickly; if he was otherwise, keep away the people of Hell. The bier should be followed and should not follow. Those who go in front of it are not accompanying it.

Abu Dawud said: The narrator Yahya b. 'Abd Allah is weak. He is Yahya al-Jabir

Abu Dawud said: This is from Kufah, and Abu Majidah is from Basrah.

Abu Dawud said: Abu Majidah is obscure.

Chapter 52: Funeral Prayer For The One Who Was Executed As A Legal Punishment

Narrated AbuBarzah al-Aslami

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) did not pray over Ma'iz ibn Malik, and he did not prohibit to pray over him.

Chapter 53: Funeral Prayer For A Child

Narrated Al-Bahiyy

When Ibrahim, the son of the Prophet (ﷺ) died, he prayed over him at the place where he used to sit.

Abu Dawud said: I recited to Sa'id b. Ya'qub al-Taliqani saying: Ibn al-Mubarak transmitted to you from Ya'qub b. al-Qa'qa' on the authority of 'Ata that the Prophet (ﷺ) prayed over his son Ibrahim when he was seventeen days old.

Chapter 54: Offering The Funeral Prayer In The Masjid

Narrated 'Aishah

I swear by Allah, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) prayed in the mosque over the two sons of al-Baida': Suhail and his brother.

Chapter 55: Burial At Sunrise And Sunset

Narrated 'Uqbah bin 'Amir

There were three times at which the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to forbid us to pray or bury our dead - when the sun begins to rise till it is fully up, when the sun is at its height midway till it passes the meridian, and when the sun draws near to setting till it sets, or as he said.

Chapter 31: Should The Martyr Be Washed

Narrated Jabir b. 'Abd Allah

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) combined two persons from among the martyrs of Uhud (in one garment), and said: Which of the two has learnt the Qur'an more ? When one of them was pointed to him, he advanced him in the grave, saying: I shall be witness to all these (martyrs) on the Day of Judgement. He then ordered them to be buried without being washed.

Chapter 32: Covering The Deceased When Washing Him

Narrated Ali ibn AbuTalib

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Do not unveil your thigh, and do not look at the thigh of the living and the dead.