The Lightness of the Funeral: Does It Reflect the Virtue of the Deceased?
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The second question of Fatwa No. ( 2873 )
Q2: A group of sensible people, those of opinion and soundness, informed me that they witnessed the funeral of a Muslim man that was extremely, extremely light, and another that was extremely, extremely heavy, and a third that when they took it out of the house, this funeral began to float and move above the heads of the men. What is the position of Islam regarding these stories? Knowing that those who witnessed this were trustworthy and upright men, and lying is far from them.
A2: We do not know any causes for the lightness or heaviness of a funeral other than physical causes, which are the thinness of the deceased and the bulk of the body. As for one who claims that this indicates a miracle (karamah) of the deceased if he is light, and his open sinfulness (fisq) if he is heavy, this is something that has no basis in the pure Shari'ah, as far as we know. As for the movement of the funeral on the bier, that indicates his life, and that he has not died. So let him be examined, and let him be presented to a specialist doctor to determine his death or life, and do not hasten to bury him until he is certain that he is dead. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Q2: A group of sensible people, those of opinion and soundness, informed me that they witnessed the funeral of a Muslim man that was extremely, extremely light, and another that was extremely, extremely heavy, and a third that when they took it out of the house, this funeral began to float and move above the heads of the men. What is the position of Islam regarding these stories? Knowing that those who witnessed this were trustworthy and upright men, and lying is far from them.
A2: We do not know any causes for the lightness or heaviness of a funeral other than physical causes, which are the thinness of the deceased and the bulk of the body. As for one who claims that this indicates a miracle (karamah) of the deceased if he is light, and his open sinfulness (fisq) if he is heavy, this is something that has no basis in the pure Shari'ah, as far as we know. As for the movement of the funeral on the bier, that indicates his life, and that he has not died. So let him be examined, and let him be presented to a specialist doctor to determine his death or life, and do not hasten to bury him until he is certain that he is dead. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.