The Book of Prayer - Funerals

كتاب الجنائز

Chapter 1: Prompt the Dying person to say La Ilaha Ill-Allah

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying

Exhort to recite" There is no god but Allah" to those of you who are dying.

Chapter 2: What should be said at times of calamity?

Umm Salama reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying

If any Muslim who suffers some calamity says, what Allah has commanded him," We belong to Allah and to Him shall we return; O Allah, reward me for my affliction and give me something better than it in exchange for it," Allah will give him something better than it in exchange. When Abu Salama died she said: What Muslim is better than Abu Salama whose family was the first to emigrate to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). I then said the words, and Allah gave me God's Messenger (ﷺ) in exchange. She said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) sent Hatib b. Abu Balta'a to deliver me the message of marriage with him. I said to him: I have a daughter (as my dependant) and I am of jealous temperament. He (the Holy Prophet) said: So far as her daughter is concerned, we would supplicate Allah, that He may free her (of her responsibility) and I would also supplicate Allah to do away with (her) jealous (temperament).

Chapter 3: What is to be said in the presence of the sick and the dying

Umm Salama reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying

Whenever you visit the sick or the dead, supplicate for good because angels say" Amen" to whatever you say. She added: When Abu Salama died, I went to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and said: Messenger of Allah, Abu Salama has died. He told me to recite:" O Allah! forgive me and him (Abu Salama) and give me a better substitute than he." So I said (this), and Allah gave me in exchange Muhammad, who is better for me than him (Abu Salama).

Chapter 4: Closing the eyes of the deceased and supplicating for him, when he dies

This hadith has been narrated by Khalid al Hadhdha' with the same chain of transmitters but with this alteration that he said

(O Allah! ) let Thee be the caretaker of what is left by him, and he said: Grant him expansion of the grave, but he did not say: Make his grave spacious. Khalid said: He supplicated for the seventh (thing too) which I have forgotten.

Chapter 2: What should be said at times of calamity?

Umm Salama, the wife of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying

If any servant (of Allah) who suffers a calamity says:" We belong to Allah and to Him shall we return; O Allah, reward me for my affliction and give me something better than it in exchange for it," ' Allah will give him reward for affliction, and would give him something better than it in exchange. She (Umm Salama) said: When Abu Salama died. I uttered (these very words) as I was commanded (to do) by the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). So Allah gave me better in exchange than him. i. e. (I was taken as the wife of) the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).

Umm Salama, the wife of the Messenger of Allah (way peace be upon him), reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) saying like the hadith transmitted by Abu Usama, but with this addition that she said

" When Abu Salama died I said: Who is better than Abu Salama, the Companion of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), and Allah decided for me and I said (these words contained in the supplication mentioned above) and I was married to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).

Chapter 5: The upward gaze of the deceased follows his soul

This hadith is narrated on the authority of 'Ala' with the same chain of transmitters.

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Chapter 1: Prompt the Dying person to say La Ilaha Ill-Allah

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying

Exhort to recite" There is no god but Allah" to those of you who are dying.

This hadith has been narrated by Sulaiman b. Bilal with the same chain of transmitters.

Chapter 4: Closing the eyes of the deceased and supplicating for him, when he dies

Umm Salama reported

The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon came to Abu Salama (as he died). His eyes were fixedly open. He closed them, and then said: When the soul is taken away the sight follows it. Some of the people of his family wept and wailed. So he said: Do not supplicate for yourselves anything but good, for angels say" Amen" to what you say. He then said: O Allah, forgive Abu Salama, raise his degree among those who are rightly guided, grant him a successor in his descendants who remain. Forgive us and him, O Lord of the Universe, and make his grave spacious, and grant him light in it.

Chapter 5: The upward gaze of the deceased follows his soul

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying

Did you not see when the man died and his eyes were fixedly open? He (Abu Huraira) said: Yes. He (the Holy Prophet) said: It is due to the fact that when (the soul leaves the body) his eyesight follows the soul.

Chapter 6: Crying for the deceased

Usama b. Zaid reported

While we were with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), one of his daughters sent to him (the Messenger) to call him and inform him that her child or her son was dying. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) told the messenger to go back and tell her that what Allah had taken belonged to Him, and to him belonged what He granted; and He has an appointed time for everything. So you (the messenger) order her to show endurance and seek reward from Allah. The messenger came back and said: She adjures him to come to her. He got up to go accompanied by Sa'd b. 'Ubada, Mu'adh b. Jabal, and I also went along with them. The child was lifted to him and his soul was feeling as restless as if it was in an old (waterskin). His (Prophet's) eyes welled up with tears. Sa'd said: What is this, Messenger of Allah? He replied: This is compassion which Allah has placed in the hearts of His servants, and God shows compassion only to those of His servants who are compassionate.

'Abdullah b. 'Umar said that Sa'd b. Ubada complained of illness. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came to visit him accompanied by 'Abd al-Rahman b. 'Auf, Sa'd b. Abi Waqqas and 'Abdullah b. Mas'ud. As he entered (his room) he found him in a swoon. Upon this he said

Has he died? They said: Messenger of Allah, it is not so. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) wept. When the people saw Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) weeping, they also began to weep. He said. Listen, Allah does not punish for the tears that the eye sheds or the grief the heart feels, but He punishes for this (pointing to his tongue), or He may show mercy.

Chapter 9: The deceased is tormented because of his family's crying for him

Ibn 'Umar reported

When 'Umar was wounded he fainted, and there was a loud lamentation over him. When he regained consciousness he said: Didn't you know that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:" The dead is punished because of the weeping of the living"?

This hadith has been narrated by Ibn 'Urwa with the same chain of transmitters. The hadith narrated by Abu Usama is more complete.

'Amra daughter of 'Abd al Rahman narrated that she heard (from) 'A'isha and made a mention to her about 'Abdullah b. 'Umar as saying

The dead is punished because of the lamentation of the living. Upon this 'A'isha said: May Allah have mercy upon the father of 'Abd al-Rahman (Ibn 'Umar). He did not tell a lie, but he forgot or made a mistake. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) happened to pass by a (dead) Jewess who was being lamented. Upon this he said: They weep over her and she is being punished in the grave.

Chapter 10: Stern warning against wailing

Umm 'Atiyya reported that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) took pledge from us (including this promise) that we would not lament. Only five amongst us fulfilled the promise, and one of them (who fulfilled the promise) was Umm Sulaim.

Chapter 11: Prohibition of women attending funerals

Umm 'Atiyya reported

We were forbidden to follow the bier, but it was not made absolute on us.

Chapter 12: Washing the deceased

A hadith like this has been transmitted by Hafsa on the authority of Umm 'Atiyya with the exception (of these words that the Prophet asked them to wash her dead body)

" three times, five times, seven times, or more than that, if you deem fit:" Hafsa (further) said on the authority of Umm 'Atiyya: We braided (the hair) of her head in three plaits.