The Shaykh’s remarks on the innovations and deviations occurring in funerals in this age.
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh: Yes, you are a man who does not care for his father.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh: We will see how he feels, yes, that is right.
So Abu al-Darda’ wrote to his brother Salman in Sham, inviting him to come; saying, “Come to the Holy Land.” The reply came as if it were revelation from the sky; he said: “As for what follows: The Holy Land does not sanctify anyone; rather, it is a person’s deeds that sanctify him.”
Another questioner: Allahu Akbar, what Allah willed!
The questioner: Allah is the Greatest!
The Shaykh: So I imagine that you are a wretched man among the wretched, buried beside the Messenger of Allah.
The questioner : (peace and blessings be upon him).
The Shaykh: What did he gain?
The questioner : ... .
Another questioner: Nothing at all.
The Shaykh: And one of the most pious of the pious died in an accident—for example, a plane crash—and was buried in America, in the land of disbelief; nothing harms him; do you understand how it is? Therefore, among the deviations of Muslims in creed is their negligence of the true, legislated causes and their neglect of them on one hand, and their clinging to imaginary causes that they invented, imagined, and latched onto, which benefit them in no way whatsoever. This is all a reversal of the arrangements of the religion; so if the martyrs came, the command was that they be buried in their places of death, where they died, so bury them there.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh: What do you say about the common Muslims who die in Europe, and they are transported, where to, to Madinah or Makkah, if it is made possible for them? When the deceased dies, they hasten with him. There is a hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari:, these meanings are not noticed by Muslims; they keep the deceased in their house, and it may be that he is surrounded by Hellfire.
The questioner : I seek refuge in Allah!
The Shaykh: Ah, why? Hasten with him; if he is good, you are bringing good to him, and if he is bad, you are getting rid of him. Muslims never notice these legislated meanings. “Holy Land, bury me there.”
The questioner: This is what I understood: it is not permissible if... a calamity occurs that they make a coffin for him to bury the deceased in Jerusalem, for such and such.
The Shaykh: Never, never, it is not permissible.
The questioner : ... .
Another questioner : Just now...
The Shaykh : It is not permissible.
The questioner: They come... and so on, for the sake of Allah, and Allah entered such and such.
The Shaykh: If you want to do good, spread the correct information that you have.
The questioner: In the two shops.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner: One in the industrial zone and...
The Shaykh: Spread it and call people to it; and therefore we say: among the innovations of this age is that Muslims have divided into two groups: da'is (callers) and non-da'is.
The questioner: The da'i only has to call, and the non-da'i...
The Shaykh: And the greatest of calamities is that women have become da'iyat (female callers) too!!
The questioner: It is supposed that everyone be a da'i.
The Shaykh: Every Muslim must be a da'i wherever he is, in his workshop, in his profession, in his craft, in his sitting, in his leisure; he seizes it as an opportunity to enjoin good and forbid evil. So you are a carpenter, and someone comes and says to you: “Make me this toy for my son.” You tell him: “No, this is not permissible.” For example, meaning, and so on.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh: This man of coffins comes, tell him: this is not permissible. The deceased, may Allah be pleased with Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, when he died or when death approached him, said to them: “Bury me in my old garment,” meaning the old one, for the living are more deserving of the new than the dead; because this will decay, it will decay. If it were not for the Sunnah, there would be no need at all to shroud the deceased in three what? Shrouds. Why? It all becomes what? Dust. The deceased himself, with the shroud, becomes what? Dust. Why do we lose even a single mill to buy what? Three shrouds. A shroud to cover his 'awrah (nakedness) and that is enough. But this is how the Messenger...
The questioner : The Sunnah.
The Shaykh: established this Sunnah for us; and therefore, as Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “If the religion were by opinion, I would have seen wiping the bottom of the leather sock rather than the top, but I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) wiping over the leather socks.” So we follow the Sunnah; we do not use our intellect at all toward the Sunnah. We use our intellect to understand the text from the Book and the Sunnah, not to rule with our intellect over the Book and the Sunnah. So here, regarding the shroud, if it were not for the Sunnah, we would say: why three shrouds? Why do we say with full boldness: why a coffin? What will the coffin preserve? Will it preserve the deceased?
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh: It will decay, he and the deceased alike. This is with what? Wasting of wealth.
The questioner: What do you say about the Muslim who wears a priest’s robe on Christmas and... the bell at his shop makes discounts?!
The Shaykh: Allah is the Greatest!
The questioner: ... Muslim.
The Shaykh : I seek refuge in Allah!
The questioner: So that people come and buy from him.
The Shaykh: How... Muslims?
Another questioner: ... my lord, the Sunnah? ...
The questioner: The Sunnah... the police gathered them.
The Shaykh : How?
The questioner: The police gathered them from the streets, so that they do not cause a commotion between Muslims and Christians; because they became what? All Christians, and among them are Muslims... on the street, also waiting... and... the greatest calamity is that you find these Muslims... and sometimes... he becomes greeting... they said give him something sweet, not sweet, meaning anything.
The Shaykh: I seek refuge in Allah, I seek refuge in Allah!
The questioner: Truly, one’s heart breaks inside at the sight, by Allah, Muslims... in their belief that it is necessary to mean, dig up, dig in his head, this matter, that this matter is correct, and this matter my father and my mother taught me and stopped me at it, I must stop my son too at...
Another questioner: Plan for yourself... four or five days before the 'Id, on a Friday, that he warned about these things... the Christians.
The questioner: Therefore, they gathered them with this or a disagreement between them, let me go out in the car, I saw them with my own eyes... at... rights.
...
The questioner: ... Muhammad about the television tanks, what do they do with them...?
Another questioner: They do not do anything with them.
The questioner: That is a television and a video, perhaps.
The Shaykh : It is not permissible.
The questioner: A specific private one that does this work.
The Shaykh: Everything—my brother—everything, take it as a rule: everything in it that aids in a munkar (evil) is a munkar.
The questioner: ... I want to do... and I want... and you do what, I told him: okay, I found... but as long as you...
Another questioner: This is a toilet...
The Shaykh: You understood, so stick to it.
The questioner: ... perhaps Abu Ahmad told you.
Another questioner: Yes, I told him about the matter...
The Shaykh: Yes, he told me.
...
The questioner: ... got married.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh: We will see how he feels, yes, that is right.
So Abu al-Darda’ wrote to his brother Salman in Sham, inviting him to come; saying, “Come to the Holy Land.” The reply came as if it were revelation from the sky; he said: “As for what follows: The Holy Land does not sanctify anyone; rather, it is a person’s deeds that sanctify him.”
Another questioner: Allahu Akbar, what Allah willed!
The questioner: Allah is the Greatest!
The Shaykh: So I imagine that you are a wretched man among the wretched, buried beside the Messenger of Allah.
The questioner : (peace and blessings be upon him).
The Shaykh: What did he gain?
The questioner : ... .
Another questioner: Nothing at all.
The Shaykh: And one of the most pious of the pious died in an accident—for example, a plane crash—and was buried in America, in the land of disbelief; nothing harms him; do you understand how it is? Therefore, among the deviations of Muslims in creed is their negligence of the true, legislated causes and their neglect of them on one hand, and their clinging to imaginary causes that they invented, imagined, and latched onto, which benefit them in no way whatsoever. This is all a reversal of the arrangements of the religion; so if the martyrs came, the command was that they be buried in their places of death, where they died, so bury them there.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh: What do you say about the common Muslims who die in Europe, and they are transported, where to, to Madinah or Makkah, if it is made possible for them? When the deceased dies, they hasten with him. There is a hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari:
When you carry the deceased, hasten with him; for if he is righteous, it is a good that you are bringing to him, and if he is not righteous, it is an evil that you are removing from their necks.
إذا حملتم الميت فأسرعوا به ؛ فإما صالحة فخيرٌ تقدِّمونه إليه ، وإما غير صالحة فشرٌّ تضعونه عن رقابهمThe questioner : I seek refuge in Allah!
The Shaykh: Ah, why? Hasten with him; if he is good, you are bringing good to him, and if he is bad, you are getting rid of him. Muslims never notice these legislated meanings. “Holy Land, bury me there.”
The questioner: This is what I understood: it is not permissible if... a calamity occurs that they make a coffin for him to bury the deceased in Jerusalem, for such and such.
The Shaykh: Never, never, it is not permissible.
The questioner : ... .
Another questioner : Just now...
The Shaykh : It is not permissible.
The questioner: They come... and so on, for the sake of Allah, and Allah entered such and such.
The Shaykh: If you want to do good, spread the correct information that you have.
The questioner: In the two shops.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner: One in the industrial zone and...
The Shaykh: Spread it and call people to it; and therefore we say: among the innovations of this age is that Muslims have divided into two groups: da'is (callers) and non-da'is.
The questioner: The da'i only has to call, and the non-da'i...
The Shaykh: And the greatest of calamities is that women have become da'iyat (female callers) too!!
The questioner: It is supposed that everyone be a da'i.
The Shaykh: Every Muslim must be a da'i wherever he is, in his workshop, in his profession, in his craft, in his sitting, in his leisure; he seizes it as an opportunity to enjoin good and forbid evil. So you are a carpenter, and someone comes and says to you: “Make me this toy for my son.” You tell him: “No, this is not permissible.” For example, meaning, and so on.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh: This man of coffins comes, tell him: this is not permissible. The deceased, may Allah be pleased with Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, when he died or when death approached him, said to them: “Bury me in my old garment,” meaning the old one, for the living are more deserving of the new than the dead; because this will decay, it will decay. If it were not for the Sunnah, there would be no need at all to shroud the deceased in three what? Shrouds. Why? It all becomes what? Dust. The deceased himself, with the shroud, becomes what? Dust. Why do we lose even a single mill to buy what? Three shrouds. A shroud to cover his 'awrah (nakedness) and that is enough. But this is how the Messenger...
The questioner : The Sunnah.
The Shaykh: established this Sunnah for us; and therefore, as Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “If the religion were by opinion, I would have seen wiping the bottom of the leather sock rather than the top, but I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) wiping over the leather socks.” So we follow the Sunnah; we do not use our intellect at all toward the Sunnah. We use our intellect to understand the text from the Book and the Sunnah, not to rule with our intellect over the Book and the Sunnah. So here, regarding the shroud, if it were not for the Sunnah, we would say: why three shrouds? Why do we say with full boldness: why a coffin? What will the coffin preserve? Will it preserve the deceased?
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh: It will decay, he and the deceased alike. This is with what? Wasting of wealth.
The questioner: What do you say about the Muslim who wears a priest’s robe on Christmas and... the bell at his shop makes discounts?!
The Shaykh: Allah is the Greatest!
The questioner: ... Muslim.
The Shaykh : I seek refuge in Allah!
The questioner: So that people come and buy from him.
The Shaykh: How... Muslims?
Another questioner: ... my lord, the Sunnah? ...
The questioner: The Sunnah... the police gathered them.
The Shaykh : How?
The questioner: The police gathered them from the streets, so that they do not cause a commotion between Muslims and Christians; because they became what? All Christians, and among them are Muslims... on the street, also waiting... and... the greatest calamity is that you find these Muslims... and sometimes... he becomes greeting... they said give him something sweet, not sweet, meaning anything.
The Shaykh: I seek refuge in Allah, I seek refuge in Allah!
The questioner: Truly, one’s heart breaks inside at the sight, by Allah, Muslims... in their belief that it is necessary to mean, dig up, dig in his head, this matter, that this matter is correct, and this matter my father and my mother taught me and stopped me at it, I must stop my son too at...
Another questioner: Plan for yourself... four or five days before the 'Id, on a Friday, that he warned about these things... the Christians.
The questioner: Therefore, they gathered them with this or a disagreement between them, let me go out in the car, I saw them with my own eyes... at... rights.
...
The questioner: ... Muhammad about the television tanks, what do they do with them...?
Another questioner: They do not do anything with them.
The questioner: That is a television and a video, perhaps.
The Shaykh : It is not permissible.
The questioner: A specific private one that does this work.
The Shaykh: Everything—my brother—everything, take it as a rule: everything in it that aids in a munkar (evil) is a munkar.
The questioner: ... I want to do... and I want... and you do what, I told him: okay, I found... but as long as you...
Another questioner: This is a toilet...
The Shaykh: You understood, so stick to it.
The questioner: ... perhaps Abu Ahmad told you.
Another questioner: Yes, I told him about the matter...
The Shaykh: Yes, he told me.
...
The questioner: ... got married.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.