Continuation of the chapter: "Encouraging the digging of graves, washing the dead, and shrouding them" — Explanation of the hadith of Rafi' (may Allah be pleased with him), who said

The Shaykh : And here is something worth noting, which is a comment on his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), as we have mentioned to you repeatedly, established principles and rules for the Muslims, commanding them to adhere to them so that, if they maintain them, they preserve their Muslim identity and distinguish themselves not only by their beliefs and morals, but also by their appearances and actions. Among these is that he made the grave of a Muslim different, which is an internal matter, unlike the external matter, because we are speaking about digging the grave. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) made it necessary that the digging of the Muslim's grave should also differ in form from the grave of a disbeliever. He said (peace and blessings be upon him): or in another narration: .
So what is the *lafd* and what is the *shiqq*?
The hole that is dug in the shape of a rectangle, or what do we call it? Yes.
The student: A parallelogram.

The Shaykh : A parallelogram.
The student: A rectangle.

The Shaykh : A rectangle. This hole that is dug like this is a *shiqq* for us, the Muslims. As for the *lafd* that is for us in the hadith we mentioned earlier, it is this hole that is necessary first, and then a hole is dug in the wall of that first hole, specifically the front wall. This is the *qiblah*, our direction of prayer, and this rectangular hole, as we mentioned, and this facade, and this wall is the wall facing the *qiblah*. A hole is dug from the inside, the size of the body of the deceased, whether large or small, such that this second hole accommodates the body of this deceased. He is placed in it with his face toward the *qiblah* and his back toward the large hole. The wisdom behind this is that when the earth is thrown over him, the earth comes from behind him and does not fall on his face, as is the case with the hole in the *shiqq* which is for others.
So when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says in this hadith: , he means the hole prescribed for us, not any hole, even if that is the custom of others from the People of the Book. And unfortunately, this *sunnah*, which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) called the *lafd*, has become a forgotten matter in many, I do not say all, Islamic countries. I have seen in some countries that are still closer to the *sunnah* than our country, people who maintain the *lafd*.
And I personally, may Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) bless me, participated, and I do not say I dug, because I am not able to do so, unfortunately, but I participated first by directing them to dig the *lafd*, and then I participated by cooperating with them in digging this *lafd* in some Arab countries. Therefore, the Muslim must also pay attention to this issue and not neglect it. And there is no doubt that this is within the limits of , because, unfortunately, today the Muslim is not able to secure for himself the grave that will be his destination, but rather that is left to those who have made it a profession and have dominated people by taking the price of the grave at exorbitant amounts. Many people may be unable to afford this price except by borrowing or asking, whereas the matter was natural and self-evident: whoever died would soon find someone to prepare the grave for him without any price and without any favor, because it was one of the matters by which they sought nearness to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He).
So if we are unable, unfortunately, to realize such matters practically due to the circumstances surrounding us, unfortunately, at least it must remain in our minds so that we do not forget our Shari'ah as days and years pass, and our affairs return to the misguidance in which the Christians fell.
And those who were described in Surat al-Fatihah by His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He): , meaning those upon whom the anger of Allah is, are every type of human who knew the truth and deviated from it. As for those who are astray, they are those who were ignorant of the truth and deviated from it naturally. For example, the first group, those upon whom the anger of Allah is, are the Jews, and the example of the other group, those who are astray, are the Christians. And this is the most correct of what has been said in the interpretation of this verse: . Let no one think that the hadith that came in the interpretation of this verse saying: the Jews the Christians, let no one think that this interpretation is by way of restriction, meaning that those upon whom the anger of Allah is are only the Jews and those who are astray are only the Christians. It is not so; rather, the hadith came by way of example, not by way of specification.
Therefore, Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Many of the scholars of the Muslims have similarities with those upon whom the anger of Allah is and those who are astray. Those who knew the truth and deviated from it are like the Jews, and those who were ignorant of the truth and deviated from it naturally are like the Christians.
So it is upon us to know our Shari'ah and not forget it, so that we may act upon it when the way of action and application becomes easy for us. This is what I wanted to draw attention to on the occasion of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): .