Aspects Of Islamic Faith - 77: Taking A Deceased Person
For Burial
Islamic Perspectives - Muslim JournalsArab News
& Information - By Adil Salahi
AS Muslims we believe that every human being will be
resurrected and brought back to life on the Day of
Judgment. People are accountable for what they do in
this life and will be taken either to heaven, if they
are pious believers, or to hell, if their account is
full of evil deeds. God has kept all matters relating
to the life hidden from us, because that life is
totally different from our present one, and our minds
cannot draw a picture of what is totally unfamiliar to
us. However the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)
has given us some glimpses of what happens at the time
of death, so as to emphasize the seriousness of the
hereafter and the need to prepare for it.
Abu Saeed Al-Khudri quotes the Prophet as saying:
"When the body of the deceased has been prepared for
burial, and men carry it on their necks, if the
deceased had been a pious person, the body will say:
‘Take me forward.' Otherwise, it will say: ‘Woe is
his; where are they taking him?' The voice will be
heard by everything except man. Had man been able to
hear it, he would be stunned." (Related by Al-Bukhari).
Let us first clarify a linguistic point: What the body
will say is expressed in the first-person pronoun if
the deceased is pious, and in the third-person pronoun
if otherwise. Several explanations have been given for
the Prophet's choice of pronoun in each case. Perhaps
the best is that when we are about to die and there is
no hope of return, we are shown what lies ahead for
us, and whether we will be in heaven or hell. A pious
person rejoices at what he sees and is eager to make
haste. Hence he tries to tell those around to take him
forward. The one with a different destination laments
what is about to happen to him. He is so horrified
that he does not wish to associate himself with it.
Hence, he uses the third-person, saying, "where are
they taking him," when he means "where are you taking
me?"
Scholars agree that what is being said is certainly
voiced, but they differ on whether it is the body
which says these words or the spirit. This is a minor
point, as man is both body and spirit. How the voice
is made need not trouble us, because once life is gone
from the body, the person belongs to a different
world. Hence what he says is not heard by man because
man's world is limited to his faculties and other
restrictions. The dead person now belongs to another
world. Since what is said is reported to us by Prophet
Muhammad, who always said the truth, we take it as it
is and accept it as correct.
The Prophet says that had we heard what is said by the
deceased we would have been stunned. Hence, God spares
us this experience. What we understand from this is
that what the deceased says is unpleasant for the
living.
A final point is that Al-Bukhari relates this Hadith
under a sub-heading denoting the prohibition of women
carrying the body of the deceased when he is taken for
burial. There is nothing in the Hadith to suggest that
apart from the wording, "and men carrying it on their
necks." There are, however, other Hadiths that
indicate the prohibition more clearly. The reason for
this prohibition is that several men carry the body
and they walk very close to each other. If there were
women among them, there will be much physical contact,
when the situation is one of grief and sorrow. This is
totally unbecoming and contrary to Islamic values.
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