Funerals (Kitab Al-Jana'iz)

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.

Narrated Abu Hurairah: The Prophet (ﷺ) as saying: Walk quickly with a funeral, for if the dead person was good it is a good condition to which you are sending him on, but it he was otherwise it is an evil of which you are riding yourselves.

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.

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.

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

Narrated Jabir ibn Samurah: A man fell ill and a cry was raised (for his death). So his neighbour came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and said to him: He has died. He asked: Who told you? He said: I have seen him. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: He has not died. He then returned. A cry was again raised (for his death). He came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and said: He has died. The Prophet (ﷺ) said: He has not died. He then returned. A cry was again raised over him. His wife said: Go to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and inform him. The man said: O Allah, curse him. He said: The man then went and saw that he had killed himself with an arrowhead. So he went to the Prophet (ﷺ) and informed him that he had died. He asked: Who told you? He replied: I myself saw that he had killed himself with arrowheads. He asked: Have you seen him? He replied: Yes. He then said: Then I shall not pray over him.

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.

Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin: Ibrahim, the son of the Prophet (ﷺ), died when he was eighteen months old. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) did not pray over him.

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 some Ibrahim when he was seventeen days old.

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

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.

Narrated AbuHurayrah: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone prays over the dead in the mosque, there is nothing on him.

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.

Yahya ibn Subayh said: Ammar client of al-Harith ibn Nawfal told me that he attended the funeral of Umm Kulthum, and her son. The body of the boy was placed near the imam. I objected to it. Among the people there were Ibn Abbas, AbuSa'id al-Khudri, AbuQatadah and AbuHurayrah. They said: This is the sunnah (established practice of the Prophet).

Nafi' AbuGhalib said: I was in the Sikkat al-Mirbad. A bier passed and a large number of people were accompanying it. 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".

Narrated Samurah bin Jundab: I prayed behing the Prophet (ﷺ) over a woman who died in childbirth, and he stood opposite her waist.

Narrated Al-Sha'bi: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) passed a grave dug freshly. They arranged a row and uttered four takbirs over it. I asked al-Sha'bi: Who told you ? He replied: A reliable person whom 'Abd Allah b. 'Abbas attended.

Narrated Ibn Abi Laila: Zaid b. Arqam used to utter four takbirs (Allah is Most Great) over our dead person (during prayer). He uttered five takbirs on a dead person. So I asked him. He replied: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to utter those.Abu Dawud said: I remember the tradition of Ibn al-Muthanna in a more guarded way.

Narrated Talhah b. 'Abd Allah b. 'Awf: I prayed over a dead person along with Ibn 'Abbas. He recited Surat al-Fatihah and he said: This is the Sunnah.

Narrated AbuHurayrah: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: When you pray over the dead, make a sincere supplication for him.

Ali ibn Shammakh said: I was present with Marwan who asked AbuHurayrah: Did you hear how the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to pray over the dead? He said: Even with the words that you said. (The narrator said: They exchanged hot words between them before that.) Abu Hurairah said: O Allah, Thou art its Lord. Thou didst create it, Thou didst guide it to Islam, Thou hast taken its spirit, and Thou knowest best its inner nature and outer aspect. We have come as intercessors, so forgive him.Abu Dawud said: Shu'bah made a mistake in mentioning the name of 'Ali b. Shammakh. He said in his version: 'Uthman b. Shammas.Abu Dawud said: I heard Ahmad b. Ibrahim al-Mawsili say that Ahmad b. Hanbal said: In every meeting which I attended with Hammad b. Zaid he forbade to narrate this traditions from 'Abd al-Warith and Ja'far b. Sulaiman.

Narrated AbuHurayrah: When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) prayed over a dead person, he said: O Allah, forgive those of us who are living and those of us who are dead, those of us who are present and those of us who are absent, our young and our old, our male and our female. O Allah, to whomsoever of us Thou givest life grant him life as a believer, and whomsoever of us Thou takest in death take him in death as a follower of Islam. O Allah, do not withhold from us the reward (of faith) and do not lead us astray after his death.

Narrated Wathilah ibn al-Asqa': The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) led us in prayer over bier of a Muslim and I heard him say: O Allah, so and so, son of so and so, is in Thy protection, so guard him from the trial in the grave. (AbdurRahman in his version said: "In Thy protection and in Thy nearer presence, so guard him from the trial in the grave) and the punishment in Hell. Thou art faithful and worthy of praise. O Allah, forgive him and show him mercy. Thou art the forgiving and the merciful one." AbdurRahman said: "On the authority of Marwan ibn Janah."

Narrated Abu Hurairah: A negress (or a youth) used to sweep the mosque. The Prophet (ﷺ) missed him, and when he asked about him the people told him that he had died. He said: Why have you not informed me ? He said: Lead me to his grave. So they led him and he prayed over him.

Narrated Abu Hurairah: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) gave the people news of death of Negus on the day on which he died, took them out to the place of prayer, drew them up in rows and said: "Allah is Most Great" four times.

Narrated Abu Burdah: On the authority of his father: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) commanded us to proceed to the land of Negus. Mentioning the rest of the tradition he said that Negus said: I bear witness that he is the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), and it is he about whom Christ son of Mary gave good news. It I were not in the land which I am, I would come to him and carry his shoes.

Narrated Al-Muttalib: When Uthman ibn Maz'un died, he was brought out on his bier and buried. The Prophet (ﷺ) ordered a man to bring him a stone, but he was unable to carry it. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) got up and going over to it rolled up his sleeves. The narrator Kathir told that al-Muttalib remarked: The one who told me about the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: I still seem to see the whiteness of the forearms of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) when he rolled up his sleeves. He then carried it and placed it at his head saying: I am marking my brother's grave with it, and I shall bury beside him those of my family who die.

Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Breaking a dead man's bone is like breaking it when he is alive.

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The niche in the side of the grave is for us and the excavation in the middle is for others.

Narrated Amir: Ali, Fadl and Usamah ibn Zayd washed the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and they put him in his grave. Marhab or Ibn AbuMarhab told me that they also made AbdurRahman ibn Awf join them. When Ali became free, he said: The People of the man serve him.