Chapter: "Encouraging a Large Number of People to Pray over a Funeral and to Offer Condolences" — Explanation of the Hadith of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), who said:

The Shaykh : The author, al-Hafiz al-Mundhiri (may Allah have mercy on him), says in his book *al-Targhib*:
"Encouraging a Large Number of People to Pray over a Funeral and to Offer Condolences".
And as we have always done, consistently and forever, since we began benefiting from this book, we only recite for you what is authentic and established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), following the methodology of the scholars of hadith.
So the first hadith is authentic, as he (may Allah have mercy on him) said.
It was narrated from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that she said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: It was narrated by Muslim, al-Nasa'i, and al-Tirmidhi, and with him is: .
This means that instead of the phrase in Muslim's narration "reaching one hundred," al-Tirmidhi said: .
So in this hadith, there is an explanation of the virtue of a large number of people praying over the funeral of a Muslim, and that if this number reaches one hundred or more, and they supplicate for this deceased person over whom they are praying, and they intercede for him before his Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He), and they are sincere in that, then Allah (Mighty and Majestic) will respond to their supplication and forgive their deceased one.
The first thing I want to clarify regarding this hadith is His (peace be upon him) saying in it: . The word *shafa'ah* (intercession), although it is an authentic term in the Arabic language, has become distant from the minds of Muslims. I do not mean the non-Arabs among them, but rather the Arabs, because they understand *shafa'ah* as if it is specific to some people and not others. In reality, it means nothing but supplication from one person to another. If one supplicates for himself, it is not called *shafa'ah*, but if he supplicates for another, he has interceded for him. Either Allah (Mighty and Majestic) responds to him and accepts his intercession, and at that time it is said that he interceded or they interceded for him. This is the term that appears in this hadith, and as you heard, it is specific to those who pray over the deceased and whose number reaches one hundred, and they interceded for him. "Except that they interceded for him" means their intercession for him was accepted, i.e., they supplicated and their supplication for him was accepted. This same term appears in the hadith of the blind man, whose matter is confused for many Muslims today, and they do not understand it well, so they use it as evidence for a matter that has no basis in Islam, which is nothing but an innovation in matters, namely seeking nearness to Allah through the awliya (close friends of Allah) and the righteous.
This hadith of the blind man, perhaps all of you know it, or at least most of you. It is one of the authentic hadiths that has passed here in this same book, narrated by al-Tirmidhi and others: . So now, we should understand that the word "supplicate" (*ud'u*) is synonymous with "intercede" (*shaf'i*). "Supplicate to Allah to heal me" is the same as "Intercede for me to heal me." The meaning is one. But I am pointing this out beforehand and in advance so that you pay attention to the rest of the hadith and understand it correctly.
I have no patience . The point in this repeated phrase is: "O Allah, so intercede for him in my case, and intercede for me in his case." If we remember that the meaning of *shafa'ah* is supplication, then it becomes clear to us that the meaning of this noble Prophetic instruction to this blind man is to say in his supplication: . So the meaning is that he says in the supplication, asking Allah to accept the Prophet's supplication for him, i.e., for this blind man, and to accept the blind man's supplication for the Prophet. How is the blind man's supplication for the Prophet accepted? It means that the Prophet's supplication for the blind man is accepted so that he returns to being sighted, and that the blind man's supplication is accepted in that Allah accepts the supplication of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for the blind man.
So the word *shafa'ah* means supplication, and there is absolutely no difference. The difference is that *shafa'ah* is between two people, one of whom is the intercessor and the other is the one for whom intercession is made. As for supplication, one supplicates for himself and it is not called *shafa'ah*. So here, when the Messenger (peace be upon him) supplicated for the blind man, it was *shafa'ah*. Similarly, when the blind man asked Allah to accept the Prophet's supplication for him, he also interceded for him. Therefore, he (peace be upon him) taught him to say: .
"Intercede for him in my case" means accept his supplication for me. "Intercede for me in his case" means accept my supplication for him. Of course, the Messenger of Allah does not need the blind man's supplication for him, but the reality is that this blind man is not supplicating for the Messenger himself, as the Messenger supplicated for the blind man himself. Rather, this supplication from the blind man to the Messenger (peace be upon him) returns to himself. So this is a confirmation of the response of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) to the supplication of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for this blind man who came seeking nearness to Allah. He came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) seeking nearness to Allah through him.