What is the Sunnah regarding placing the deceased in the grave?

The questioner : In the question, when you put the deceased in the grave, there is a specific way they direct them to turn the whole body and the face; is this correct?

The Shaykh : Yes, but this—no offense—was not what you asked me. This is a third question we will record for you. We do not... [The Shaykh laughs!]
Yes, directing the deceased has a system in Islam. First, when we want to put the deceased in his grave, we lower his head from the direction of his feet, not the other way around, his feet from the direction of his head; that is the Sunnah. Then we direct him toward the qiblah, because the qiblah is for the living and the dead, and we do nothing more than that.

The questioner : Directing the face or directing the body?

The Shaykh : No. The whole body.

The questioner : Does the whole thing have to be tilted?

The Shaykh : Because it is not hidden from you that when a person dies, he stiffens.

The questioner : Understood.

The Shaykh : Correct?

The questioner : Understood.

The Shaykh : So if you try to direct only his face, it means you want to break his neck. So he has to be directed in his entirety, properly, and supported with a support. This question of yours reminds me of a Sunnah that has been abandoned in this land. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . What is the lahd? What is the shiqq? Our graves today are all shiqq; it is a rectangle dug in the ground and the deceased is placed only at the bottom of this hole. This is the shiqq. This is not for Muslims, but for Muslims is the lahd. What is the lahd? This same shiqq is dug on the qiblah side. It is not four sides, four walls? The qiblah side with the floor of this hole opens a space the size of the deceased's body, whether large, short, tall, etc., so that he can be lowered comfortably, his face toward the qiblah, and his whole body toward the qiblah. Then he is supported with a stone behind his back. When the earth comes, the body of the deceased and the hole become one piece. The earth does not come on his face as they do today with slabs and try to block the openings between the slab and the slab. All of this disappears when we follow the Sunnah, which is burying the deceased in the lahd and not in the shiqq, .

The questioner : The lahd from the direction of the qiblah?

The Shaykh : Yes, from the direction of the qiblah, yes; and that is why we say: he is supported with a stone behind his back. When the earth comes, which comes behind his back, it becomes one piece with the earth in which he is, following the Sunnah. So this is also one of the abandoned Sunnahs. And the truth is that this is a very broad field; meaning the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us about what would happen, and it is of course not from himself, but from the Lord of the Worlds. He said: . Why? Do you know the number of Muslims? No history has passed for the Muslims with their number being this large, 900 million.

The questioner : One billion.

The Shaykh : Oh?

The questioner : One billion.

The Shaykh : One billion. These are, as the Shaykh "Jamal al-Din al-Afghani" (may Allah have mercy on him) said—he was an Islamic philosopher with his good points and his bad points, he had a word; he was the only enemy of the English with his pen and his tongue and... He used to say: If the Muslims were one hand, and they directed their spittle at the English, they would have killed them with spittle without weapons, in such a huge number!
The Shaykh: The point is: How is the number huge and they are the most humiliated, and they were humiliated by the most humble of people? That is due to his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) = -- ... -- = as he said (peace and blessings be upon him), Allahu Akbar! We complete the previous hadith: . They said: Who are they, O Messenger of Allah? He gave two different answers... Sometimes he said: . This is our reality today, right?

Another questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : What did he define? , so Allah informed the Messenger, or the Messenger is a human as he said: to the end of the verse. He said: , and this is observed, tangible, within reach of the hand. You do not hear anything but the truth, even if someone else said it? But perhaps you said it to someone else.

The questioner : The last phrase: .

The Shaykh : I do not have a last one, this is one hadith. I am mentioning one hadith. There is a second hadith that follows this: . They said: Who are they, O Messenger of Allah? He said: . The second narration, which is more important for our direction in da'wah, he said (peace and blessings be upon him): . And jihad in this time is this jihad; because when you tell women: it is forbidden for you to display your adornment; everyone will blame you, even if you see a woman displaying her adornment entering the mosque to pray, she knows her state, but she is just going with the flow. But the problem is that today someone prays at night while people are sleeping and he is in a state of intoxication as if he is a noble person while he is in misguidance. This is the greatest problem, as He (Glorified and Exalted is He) said in the Noble Qur'an regarding the disbelievers: . A person who does not pray is not as easy to admonish and have him respond to you; because he understands that leaving prayer is disbelief. But a real example, a person wants Allah to grant him a child, he is sterile or his wife is sterile or both are sterile together. He goes to our Master Shu'ayb, like this, he asks our Master Shu'ayb to send him a child. He thinks this is tawassul (seeking nearness to Allah through a means), they call it tawassul, and this is major shirk (associating partners with Allah).
We have in Aleppo a grave—Allahu Akbar!—they call it "Qadi al-Hajaat" (The Fulfiller of Needs) so that we know the abyss in which many Muslims have fallen. This grave is called Qadi al-Hajaat, and not only that; how does this fulfill the need? The woman who has been married for years and no child comes to her, she comes and rides on the grave and does this; there is no power nor strength except with Allah, Qadi al-Hajaat!! This is more dangerous than the one who does not pray. I seek refuge in Allah. And therefore he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the second description of the strangers: . So I mentioned the known thing today, the large number of Muslims; what is the secret of this largeness with the smallness? He said (peace and blessings be upon him): . They said: Are we few at that time, O Messenger of Allah? He said: ; what is the value of the scum of the flood? It is light, light!! . They said: And what is the weakness, O Messenger of Allah? He said: This is the disease of the Muslims. In addition to their deviation in creed, and we gave an example earlier with Qadi al-Hajaat, and also love of this world and hatred of death have settled upon their hearts; therefore we became the most humiliated despite our largeness, and they were the most noble despite their smallness; why? Because they fulfilled the divine condition: .