The Book on Jana''iz (Funerals)

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

The Messenger of Allah said: ‘No fatigue, illness, anxiety, sorrow, harm, or distress befalls a believer—even a thorn that pricks him—without Allah raising him a degree and removing one of his sins.’ This report from ʿĀʾishah is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ. It is also reported from Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ, Abū Hurayrah, Abū Umāmah, Abū Saʿīd, Anas, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, Asad ibn Kurz, Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Azhar, and Abū Mūsā.

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

The Messenger of Allah said: ‘No fatigue, illness, or distress befalls a believer—not even a worry that troubles him—without Allah thereby expiating some of his sins.’ The report is ḥasan in this chapter. Wakīʿ said that he knew of no report stating that worry serves as expiation except this one. Some narrated it through Abū Hurayrah instead of Abū Saʿīd.

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

The Prophet said: ‘When a Muslim visits his Muslim brother, he remains among the fruits of Paradise.’ This report from Thawbān is ḥasan. Abū Ghifār and ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal narrated a similar version through Abū Qilābah, Abū al-Ashʿath, Abū Asmāʾ, and Thawbān. Muḥammad considered the chain through Abū al-Ashʿath more authentic, since Abū Qilābah’s reports usually come from Abū Asmāʾ, except this report, which he considered to come through Abū al-Ashʿath from Abū Asmāʾ.

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

A similar report was transmitted by ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal from Abū Qilābah, from Abū al-Ashʿath, from Abū Asmāʾ, from Thawbān. It adds that when asked, ‘What are the fruits of Paradise?’ the Prophet replied, ‘Its harvest.’ Another version through Ḥammād ibn Zayd from Ayyūb omits Abū al-Ashʿath from the chain. Abū ʿĪsā said that some transmitted the report through Ḥammād without attributing it to the Prophet.

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ʿAlī took my hand and said, ‘Let us visit al-Ḥasan.’ We found Abū Mūsā there. ʿAlī asked him, ‘Have you come to visit him because he is ill, or just to see him?’ He replied, ‘I have come to visit him because he is ill.’ ʿAlī said, ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah say: “Whenever a Muslim visits another Muslim in the morning, seventy thousand angels invoke blessings upon him until evening; and if he visits him in the evening, seventy thousand angels invoke blessings upon him until morning, and he will have a garden harvest in Paradise.”’ This report is ḥasan gharīb. It is narrated from ʿAlī through several routes, some of them stopping at ʿAlī rather than attributing it to the Prophet. Abū Fākhitah was Saʿīd ibn ʿAlāqah.

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Khabbāb was cauterized on his abdomen. He said: ‘I know of no Companion of the Prophet who suffered what I have suffered. During the Prophet’s time I could not find even a dirham, yet now I have forty thousand in a corner of my house. Were it not that the Messenger of Allah forbade—or, as another wording has it, discouraged—us from wishing for death, I would wish for it.’ This report is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ. Similar reports are narrated from Anas, Abū Hurayrah, and Jābir. Anas also reported that the Prophet said: ‘Let none of you wish for death because of a hardship that has befallen him. Instead, let him say: “O Allah, keep me alive as long as life is better for me, and take me when death is better for me.”’

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

A similar report was transmitted by Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm from ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Ṣuhayb from Anas. This report is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.

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Gabriel came to the Prophet and asked, ‘Muḥammad, are you ill?’ He said yes. Gabriel then recited: ‘In the name of Allah, I perform ruqyah for you against everything that harms you, against the evil of every soul and the envious eye. In the name of Allah, I perform ruqyah for you, and Allah heals you.’

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ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Ṣuhayb and Thābit al-Bunānī visited Anas ibn Mālik. Thābit said, ‘Abū Ḥamzah, I am ill.’ Anas asked, ‘Shall I recite for you the ruqyah of the Messenger of Allah?’ Thābit said yes. Anas then said: ‘O Allah, Lord of mankind, remover of harm, heal him, for You are the Healer. There is no healer but You; grant a healing that leaves no illness behind.’ This report is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ. Abū Zurʿah said that both the transmission through Abū Naḍrah from Abū Saʿīd and the one through Anas are sound.

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The Messenger of Allah said: ‘A Muslim who has something to bequeath should not let two nights pass without having his will written and kept with him.’ This report from Ibn ʿUmar is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.

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The Messenger of Allah visited Saʿd ibn Mālik while he was ill and asked, ‘Have you made a bequest?’ Saʿd said he had bequeathed all his wealth in Allah’s cause. The Prophet asked what he had left for his children. Saʿd replied that they were well off. The Prophet told him to bequeath one tenth. Saʿd kept asking to increase it until the Prophet said, ‘Bequeath one third, and one third is a lot.’ Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān said they preferred bequeathing less than one third. Scholars act upon this report and do not allow bequeathing more than one third. Sufyān al-Thawrī said they preferred one fifth over one quarter, and one quarter over one third. Whoever bequeaths one third leaves nothing further to bequeath; only one third is permitted.

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

The Messenger of Allah said: ‘Prompt your dying to say, “There is no deity but Allah.”’ This report from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī is ḥasan gharīb. It is also reported from Abū Hurayrah, Umm Salamah, ʿĀʾishah, Jābir, and Saʿdā al-Murriyyah, the wife of Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbayd Allāh.

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Umm Salamah said that the Messenger of Allah told them: ‘When you visit a sick person or are present with the dying, say what is good, for the angels affirm what you say.’ When Abū Salamah died, she went to the Prophet and told him. He said: ‘Say, “O Allah, forgive me and him, and grant me a good replacement for him.”’ Umm Salamah said that Allah granted her someone better in his place: the Messenger of Allah. The report is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ. Scholars recommended prompting the dying to say, ‘There is no deity but Allah.’ Some held that once the person says it, they should not be prompted again unless they speak afterward. Ibn al-Mubārak reportedly said, when someone prompted him repeatedly as he was dying, ‘Once I have said it, I remain upon it unless I speak.’ This reflects the report: ‘Whoever’s final words are “There is no deity but Allah” will enter Paradise.’

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ʿĀʾishah said: ‘I saw the Messenger of Allah in his final illness with a cup of water beside him. He put his hand into it, wiped his face with the water, and said, “O Allah, help me through the agonies of death”—or “the throes of death.”’ This report is gharīb.

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

ʿĀʾishah said: ‘After what I witnessed of the severity of the Messenger of Allah’s final illness, I no longer envy anyone an easy death.’ Abū Zurʿah identified ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-ʿAlāʾ as the son of al-ʿAlāʾ ibn al-Lajlāj; this report is known through this route.

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

The Messenger of Allah said: ‘A believer’s soul leaves through perspiration, and I do not like a death like that of a donkey.’ They asked, ‘What is a donkey’s death?’ He replied, ‘Sudden death.’

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The Prophet said: ‘Whenever the two recording angels raise to Allah what they have recorded during the night or day, and He finds good at both the beginning and end of the record, Allah says: “I make you witnesses that I have forgiven My servant for what lies between the two ends of this record.”’

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

The Prophet said: ‘A believer dies with perspiration on his forehead.’ This report is ḥasan. Some scholars noted that Qatādah did not hear it from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Buraydah.

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

The Prophet visited a young man who was dying and asked him, ‘How are you feeling?’ He replied, ‘By Allah, Messenger of Allah, I hope in Allah and fear my sins.’ The Messenger of Allah said: ‘These two feelings do not come together in a servant’s heart in such a moment except that Allah grants him what he hopes for and gives him safety from what he fears.’ This report is gharīb. Some narrators transmitted it from Thābit as a disconnected report from the Prophet.

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

The Prophet said: ‘Beware of publicly announcing a death, for that is a practice of the pre-Islamic era.’ ʿAbd Allāh explained that announcing a death means proclaiming it so people will attend the funeral. This report is ḥasan gharīb. Another version from ʿAbd Allāh, not attributed to the Prophet, is more authentic; it omits the explanation that announcing a death means informing people. Abū Ḥamzah was Maymūn al-Aʿwar, who was not considered strong in hadith. Some scholars disliked publicly calling people to a funeral, while others saw no harm in informing relatives and close companions. Ibrāhīm also permitted informing one’s relatives.