The Book of Prayer - Funerals
كتاب الجنائز
Chapter 1: Prompt the Dying person to say La Ilaha Ill-Allah
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.
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?
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).
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).
" 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 3: What is to be said in the presence of the sick and the dying
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
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.
(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 5: The upward gaze of the deceased follows his soul
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.
This hadith is narrated on the authority of 'Ala' with the same chain of transmitters.
Chapter 6: Crying for the deceased
When Abu Salama died I said: I am a stranger in a strange land; I shall weep for him in a manner that would be talked of. I made preparation for weeping for him when a woman from the upper side of the city came there who intended to help me (in weeping). She happened to come across the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and he said: Do you intend to bring the devil into a house from which Allah has twice driven him out? I (Umm Salama), therefore, refrained from weeping and I did not weep.
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.
This hadith has been narrated by another chain of transmitters on the authority of 'Asim al-Ahwal.
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 7: Visiting the sick
While we were sitting with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), a person, one of the Ansar, came to him and greeted him. The Ansari then turned back. Upon this the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: o brother of Ansar, how is my brother Sa'd be 'Ubada? He said: He is better. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Who amongst you would visit him? He (the Holy Prophet) stood up and we also got up along with him, and we were more than ten persons. We had neither shoes with us, nor socks, nor caps, nor shirts. We walked on the barren land till we came to him. The people around him kept away till the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and his Companions with him came near him (Sa'd b. 'Ubada).
Chapter 8: Patience in bearing calamity when it first strikes
Endurance is to be shown at the first blow.
Fear Allah and show endurance. She (not recognising him) said: You have not been afflicted as I have been. When he (the Holy Prophet) had departed, it was said to her that he was the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), she was mortally shocked. She came to his door and she did not find doorkeepers at his door. She said: Messenger of Allah. I did not recognise you. He said: Endurance is to be shown at first blow, or at the first blow.
" The Apostle of Allah (ﷺ) happened to pass by a woman (who was sitting) by the side of a grave."