Encouraging a large number of people to pray over the deceased, and offering condolences.

The Shaykh : Encouraging a large number of people to pray over the deceased, and offering condolences.
The first hadith is authentic. He (may Allah have mercy on him) 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. In al-Tirmidhi's version, it says: , meaning instead of the phrase in Muslim's version: . So al-Tirmidhi said: .
This hadith explains the virtue of a large number of people praying over the funeral of a Muslim. It states that if this number reaches one hundred or more, and they pray for this deceased person, intercede for him with his Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He), and are sincere in doing so, then Allah (Mighty and Majestic) will respond to their supplication and forgive this deceased person of theirs.
The first thing I want to clarify regarding this hadith is His (peace be upon him) statement in it: . The word "intercession," although a short word 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 intercession as if it is specific to some people and not others. In reality, it means nothing but supplication from one person for another. If a person supplicates for himself, it is not called intercession, but if he supplicates for someone else, he has interceded for him. Then either Allah (Mighty and Majestic) responds to him and accepts his intercession, in which case it is said that he was interceded for, or they were interceded for. This is the phrase that appears in this hadith, and as you heard, it is specific to those who pray over the deceased, whose number reached one hundred, and they interceded for him, so he was interceded for. We say their intercession for him means they supplicated and their supplication was accepted for him. This same phrase appears in the hadith of the blind man, whose matter is confused for many Muslims today, and they do not understand it well. They use it as evidence for a matter that has no basis in Islam, but is rather an innovation in matters. That is seeking nearness to Allah through the awliya (close friends of Allah) and the righteous.
You probably all know this hadith of the blind man, or at least most of you. It is one of the authentic hadiths that has passed through this same book, narrated by al-Tirmidhi and others. A man who was blind came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: O Messenger of Allah, supplicate to Allah to cure me. Here, we must understand that the word "supplicate" is synonymous with "intercede." Intercede for me so that He may cure me. The meaning is the same, but I am pointing this out beforehand and as a preamble so that you pay attention to the rest of the hadith and understand it correctly. He said: O Messenger of Allah, supplicate to Allah to cure me. He said: . He said: So supplicate; intercede, O Messenger of Allah, for I have no patience. He (may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him) said to him: .
The point, meaning the repeated phrase, is: . If we remember that the meaning of intercession 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: . This means that he is saying, through supplication, asking Allah to accept the Prophet's supplication for him, this blind man, and to accept the blind man's supplication for the Prophet. How does He accept the blind man's supplication for the Prophet? That is, that He accepts the Prophet's supplication for the blind man so that he may return with sight, and that He accepts the blind man's supplication that Allah accept the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) supplication for the blind man. So the word intercession means supplication, and there is absolutely no difference. The difference is that intercession is between two people: one 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 intercession.
So here, when the Messenger (peace be upon him) supplicated for the blind man, it was intercession. Similarly, when the blind man supplicated that Allah accept the Prophet's supplication for him, he also interceded for him. Therefore, He (peace be upon him) taught us to say: ; Accept his supplication for me; 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 returns to himself. So this is a confirmation of the response of Allah's (Blessed and Exalted is He) acceptance of the supplication of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to this blind man who came seeking nearness to Allah through the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The general public... understand the issue in a non-Arab way, having no connection whatsoever to the understanding of an Arab. Seeking nearness through him means saying in his supplication: O Allah, by the right of Muhammad, or by the status of Muhammad. The Arabs do not know this meaning at all. If an Arab says so-and-so sought nearness through so-and-so, no one ever understands, whether he is Muslim or non-Muslim, the important thing is that he is Arab, and that his Arabness has not been affected by a foreign accent or non-Arabness. Every Arab understands that when one of them says so-and-so sought nearness through Prince So-and-so to Minister So-and-so, for example, it does not mean that he placed an intermediary between him and his Lord. Rather, this concise statement means that this person who sought nearness through the Prince to the Minister went to the Prince and spoke to him about a need he had with the Minister, so the Prince interceded (i.e., sought nearness) with whom? The Minister. Of course, the intended meaning of this example is to understand the meaning of the phrase "means," and it is of course not intended as a comparison. Because this comparison is what we reject from those who deviated in understanding this hadith, and deviated in their belief and in their estimation of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) with His due right. They deviated from that completely and likened Him to His creation! And their likening Him to His creation was in the form of His creation. Because if you deny them this kind of seeking nearness (seeking nearness through a person to Allah, not through his supplication), if you say: Why do you say in your supplication: O Allah, I ask You by the right of so-and-so; by the right of al-Baz, 'Abd al-Qadir, al-Jilani, al-Badawi, and the like? He says: If you have a need with a Prince or Minister, do you ask him directly or do you place an intermediary between you and him?!
Look at the low level to which the understanding of these Muslims has fallen... They liken Him to a Prince, saying if you have a need with him, you must have an intermediary!! They ask as if the matter is self-evident: If you have a need with a Prince or Minister, do you ask for it directly or do you place an intermediary? We often used to, and still do, debate with these people, responding to them to lead them to the danger they have fallen into. We say: Yes, we cannot but place an intermediary with this Minister. He remains silent and thinks that the argument has been established against us, because we agreed with them on this bad reality. But we quickly return and remind him: But what do you think if this Minister is like 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, who does not need an intermediary or a gatekeeper? Which is better: this one who is like 'Umar, from whom we ask our need without any intermediary, or that Prince whom you say we can address without an intermediary? He cannot, because the matter is clear, but say: By Allah, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab is more deserving than that Prince. Then we say: Look at what you did to yourself? You have likened your Lord to the unjust Prince, and you refuse to liken Him to the just Prince. If you had done that, you would have committed disbelief. Because Allah (Mighty and Majestic), as He said: ; there is nothing among humans or angels like Him. He is above what a human imagines of perfection. At that point, it falls from their hands and the truth becomes clear to them. But, unfortunately, .
Therefore, we say: This hadith (the hadith of the blind man) contains the fact that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) taught him this supplication. And what came in it is: . So the seeking nearness of this blind man to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is not in this ignorant meaning. I do not say... because the people of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance themselves do not know this meaning that is an innovation introduced into the Arabic language.
I say: Understanding this interpretation in this sense is a deviant understanding of the style of the Arabic language, let alone the objectives of the Islamic Shari'ah. We find in this hadith—the hadith of the blind man—first, that he came to him saying, “Call upon Allah to heal me.” So he did not come to seek nearness to Allah through the person of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Otherwise, the majority of Muslims today seek nearness to Allah through the person of the Messenger (peace be upon him), and they are the furthest from him, especially since he is in his grave (peace be upon him). So he came to seek nearness to Allah through his supplication (peace be upon him). For this reason, he said to him, “Call upon Allah to heal me.” So the Messenger (may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him) gave him a clear choice and said to him: He said, “So make the supplication.” He taught him (peace be upon him) what to say. And you know that the meaning of is: Accept his intercession; that is, his supplication for me. And means: Accept my intercession; that is, my supplication to accept his supplication for me.
So intercession in language, in the hadiths, and in the Qur'an this intercession does not go beyond this meaning. Therefore, the intercession on the Day of Resurrection—as you know—has types, and the most important of them is the Praiseworthy Station, for which the Messenger (peace be upon him) was promised by His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He): The Praiseworthy Station is the greatest intercession, and it is when... the people of the gathering place go, and a delegation from them goes to the father of mankind, Adam (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and they ask him for supplication to Allah, they ask him for intercession. He says, “Myself, myself! I was forbidden from eating from the tree, but I ate from it.” The hadith is well known that they came to Ibrahim, to Nuh, to Musa, to 'Isa (peace be upon him), and each of them excused himself for a mistake he had made, except 'Isa (peace be upon him), but even so he referred the matter to the one who was promised this true promise, Muhammad (may Allah’s prayers and blessings be upon him), where he says, “Go to Muhammad (may Allah’s prayers and blessings be upon him), for Allah has forgiven him what came before of his sin and what came after.” So they go to him (may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him), and he says: He said (peace be upon him)—and here is the point: This intercession is, in fact, a supplication—also—in this urging of all mankind from the day our Lord created Adam until the Hour stands. They gather on one plain... and the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s prayers and blessings be upon him) intercedes for them to hasten their reckoning. This is the greatest intercession, and it is the Praiseworthy Station.
The conclusion: In this hadith, the Messenger (may Allah’s prayers and blessings be upon him) says: meaning: a group of Muslims, in the other narration: , they intercede for him, meaning: they supplicate for him, This is the first matter I wanted to point out; and that is understanding the meaning of intercession in the Arabic language in this hadith and in other texts of the Shari'ah, both Book and Sunnah.
The other thing is: Not every supplication is answered, and I am explaining this for two reasons: first, to clarify the truth, and second, to prevent the reliance on others (tawakkul) that some people may fall into. Especially those who go to the trouble of increasing the number of people praying over the funeral. They go to such trouble that it may lead them to contradict the Shari'ah, which commands hastening in preparing the deceased, shrouding him, and placing him in his final resting place, as they say today. I say: Not every supplication is accepted, but rather the supplication that is accepted is that which is sincere, coming from the heart of a believer who is confident in Allah (Mighty and Majestic), along with other conditions that I will mention soon, if Allah wills. And so it came in some hadiths that those who pray over the funeral should make their supplication for him sincere, in accordance with the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and his Companions, that they supplicate for the deceased in the funeral prayer and make their supplication for him sincere. So here, when he (peace be upon him) says: we must note that this intercession, which means supplication, must be accompanied by reform. It is never from this generalization that a supplication coming from a tongue, from a heedless, negligent heart, is acceptable; this is not of sincerity in any way. So do not be deceived by the number, because the important thing is the quality, then the number. How many are there of a supplicant whose supplication is not answered? Why? The explanation of that came in one hadith narrated by Imam Muslim in his *Sahih*... ... وإن الله أمر المؤمنين بما أمر به المرسلين ، فقال : يا أيُّها الرُّسُلُ كُلُوا مِنَ الطَّيِّباتِ واعْمَلُوا صالِحًا إنِّي بما تَعْمَلُونَ عَلِيمٌ ... and Allah commanded the believers with what He commanded the messengers, saying: O messengers, eat from the good things and do righteous deeds. Indeed, I am Knowing of what you do Then Abu Hurayrah said: Far from it, far from it!
Therefore, the important thing in these one hundred who intercede and supplicate for the deceased so that he may be granted intercession is that their supplication be accompanied by sincerity. And not only that, but their bodies have been purified from what is forbidden in food, drink, clothing, and sustenance. This is the important thing that we must note in such hadiths, so that no one is deceived and we say, “By Allah, the matter is easy!” One of them does the ninety-nine (good deeds) and says, “My brother, tomorrow a hundred people will pray over me.” And if they are not available, he will go to the trouble of doing what? What they call the *na'ah* (funeral announcement), and what we call the announcement of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance, which the Messenger (peace be upon him) forbade, and the noble Salaf warned against it. Some of them went so far as Hudhayfah, who said to his family, “If I die, do not announce my death to anyone.” Do not inform anyone of my death, for fear that those who announce it will fall into what the people of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance did before the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s prayers and blessings be upon him) was sent among them, of the announcement that is hardly denied regarding the refined announcement today—they claim!—because their announcement was in the manner of... the one known until recently in these lands, or if a person loses something, a man will stand at the crossroads or in the public squares and call out; likewise, they used to announce the death of their dead in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance by having their announcer call out in such gatherings. But now, take whatever means you wish, for the announcement is on the pages of newspapers, and the announcement is on private flyers, and even on the minarets, and this is the worst of announcements, that the mosques, which were built for the worship of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) alone, with no partner for Him, are used for the announcement of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance. It is authentically reported from the Prophet (may Allah’s prayers and blessings be upon him) that he heard from a man in the mosque something less serious than the announcement of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance; he heard a man calling out for his lost property, so he said to him: He cursed him; He was saying, “Whoever finds such-and-such lost property...” perhaps... by saying such-and-such, so the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) cursed him and said: And in another hadith: So our mosques today are used to announce the announcement of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance, even the Green Mosque, the Mosque of Banu Umayyah, despite the shouting and clamor there that is not befitting the remembrance of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and the call to prayer of the mu'adhdhin, “Allahu Akbar.” Despite that, it is announced from there that so-and-so has passed away. I wish the announcement were just a simple announcement not accompanied by any words praising this person who announced his death. I wish the matter were so, for the evil would be lighter and less. But they have followed a phrase, and let us call it a “cliché,” and by Allah, I did not memorize it, but I remember the word that fits our situation: they say, “The remnant of the righteous Salaf, so-and-so ibn so-and-so!” So this person has become the remnant of the righteous Salaf, and he may be one of the most wretched of the wretched. That is because the matter is traditions, ceremonies, and rituals, and perhaps something of money and cash is associated with it. And at that time, it does not matter to the speaker whether so-and-so is the remnant of the Salaf or the Khalaf.
All of this is caused by not following the guidance of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and holding fast to his Sunnah, which he constantly and forever called people to and reminded them of in the beginnings and openings of his sermons, such as what you hear us say here when we say:
So, the intercession of the interceders who pray over the deceased is accepted with conditions. Some are apparent, such as the number being one hundred or more, and some are internal, such as sincerity, and that the supplicant be pure in body from violating Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in his food, drink, and clothing. Of course, this does not mean only from this angle; for example, this person might be stealing, committing unlawful sexual intercourse, or drinking intoxicants, or so on. All these sins become a reason for the supplication of this supplicant not to be answered for the deceased, if we consider divine justice. As for divine grace, we do not speak of it here; because, first, it is not expected, and second, it is not customary or known to us. For example, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said regarding the one who prays and the one who abandons prayer: This is "muskir" but there is... in it, ; so the one who maintains prayer is guaranteed Paradise, without doubt or hesitation; because Allah (Mighty and Majestic) does not break His promise. As for the one who abandons prayer, he is as you heard in this hadith, and as indicated by the generality of His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He): Among these are those who abandon prayer, and these are also included in the will (of Allah), but this returns to the grace of Allah. If we believe in the justice of our Lord regarding the one who abandons prayer, he is in the Fire. But if He treats the one who abandons prayer with grace, He forgives him at that time. But this, as I said earlier, is not guaranteed. Therefore, do not think that the matter is easy just because... a funeral has many people praying over it, and that is it, this person went to Paradise "transit"; because the number reached one hundred or more!! No, the matter has precision, and perhaps I have clarified some of it.
The remaining hadiths in this chapter all follow this direction. After this explanation, I do not think we need much commentary.
The second hadith, which is also authentic, says: It was narrated from Kuraib that Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) had a son who died in Qudayd or 'Usfan. He said: "O Kuraib, look at how many people have gathered for him?" He said: "So I went out, and there were people who had gathered, so I informed him." He said: "Do you say they are forty?" I said: "Yes." He said: "Take him out; for I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) say: It was narrated by Muslim, Abu Dawud, and Ibn Majah.
This hadith contains something similar to the previous hadith, but with something that differs from it in appearance. The first is the number; there the number was one hundred, and here the number is forty. Is there a difference? The answer is: No. There is such a difference in number in many hadiths that encourage a certain matter. The reason for the difference in number is that the greater number has more of the grace of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and the one with the smaller number is what was in the beginning. In other words, Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) legislated for His servants in the beginning that whoever prays over the deceased, one hundred of them, these are the ones who intercede for him. As for the forty, it is a restriction, and the number here is many, but for the benefit of the deceased, there is a restriction; because one hundred people may not be available. So Allah (Mighty and Majestic) increased His grace upon His servants and lowered the number to forty, and did not condition that the number be one hundred. This is the reconciliation between the two numbers that appear contradictory at first glance. But in this hadith, there is a warning about an important matter. I warned earlier about taqwa in some hadiths, as I mentioned, for the necessity of sincerity in supplication for the deceased. But you are now facing a very important condition, and it is appropriate to the condition of Muslims today in terms of their distance from understanding the reality of tawhid (the oneness of Allah). Here, it is conditioned that the number be forty who do not associate anything with Allah. And do we guarantee that forty or more of these Muslims whom we know today will meet this condition? I hope so! But not everything a person wishes for is attained. How so, when we are still today arguing with each other about many existing matters of shirk (associating partners with Allah), not only in Damascus or Aleppo or Syria, but in the entire Islamic world.
We have read in some magazines recently some surveys of... some people today in some Islamic countries, and they speak about the countries that the Soviets currently control a large part of, from the Islamic countries, which had Islamic states, some of them Mongol. And this surveyor speaks that the graves there are standing on their feet and legs in terms of their exaltation and vows to them, and so on. So we say, why do people today be surprised that Muslims return as the most humble, while they do not make tawhid (the oneness of Allah) for Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) with true tawhid? We complain here and there!
, so who among us does not hear the general people in their conversation swearing by their father, and that one swearing by his son because... and some people who had a special name for "zakarit" or "abduziyat" swear by their mustaches!! Even if the mustaches have now become, meaning, there are none left; these are all oaths for which Allah has not sent down any authority. But do people remember that all this is shirk (associating partners with Allah)?
I believe that few have not heard something like the saying of the Messenger (peace be upon him): , but it enters from here and exits from there!! It does not leave an effect in the hearts of these listeners. Why? Because the disbelievers of Quraysh... they were hearing, but they were not hearing; therefore, they were likened to the dead; , The intention here, and the speech leads to speech; the intention in the verse directly is the living among the polytheists, but they were likened to the truly dead in their graves; because these dead do not hear, so these living dead were likened to the dead in their graves in that they do not benefit from what they hear from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) of admonitions, they were likened to the dead in their graves.
We are, unfortunately, in many aspects like those dead; we hear the speech and are not affected by it at all. And this is the example; a hadith that I do not think is very, very rare among the ignorant of Muslims who have not heard this hadith. But nevertheless, the ignorant of Muslims and the educated among them, and some shaykhs we know in some Islamic countries, swear by other than Allah!! And they tell you this is a slip of the tongue with no value!! But it was said: "What is in the heart appears on the tongue," as we have established for you always and forever, "The apparent is the title of the hidden," and "Every vessel emits what is in it"; so if this person who swears by other than Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) has his heart filled with love for Allah and exaltation of Him, how can it occur to him or run on his tongue to swear by other than Him (Blessed and Exalted is He)?! This is absolutely impossible, but... they do not understand and they do not know.
So here is a very important condition for... us, except whom Allah wills, and they are few. He (peace be upon him) said: , .
Then he said: It was narrated from Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) that he said: It was narrated by al-Tabarani in "al-Kabir," and in it is Mubashir ibn Abi al-Layth, whose status I do not recall. We will speak about the status of this man from the hadithical perspective in the next lesson - if Allah wills.
And now we suffice with this amount, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.