What is the ruling on placing a cloth with some verses of the Qur'an written on it on the bier of the deceased?
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The questioner : May Allah reward you. The questioner asks: What is the ruling on placing a cloth on the bier of the deceased?
The Shaykh : What?
The questioner : What is the ruling on placing a cloth with some verses of the Qur'an written on it on the bier of the deceased?
The Shaykh : First: As for the bier, if the deceased is a woman, the best thing to do is what many people do today, which is to place a cover over the bier so that the woman's body is concealed. This is known from the time of the righteous Salaf.
And if the deceased is a man, he is covered with a garment. But should we cover this bier and cover the deceased with a cloth containing the words of Allah?
The answer is: No, we do not cover it, for two reasons:
The first reason is that this covering is not free from a belief, and that belief is that the deceased benefits from it. We say that the deceased will never benefit from it, because for the deceased to benefit from something, there must be evidence from the Book and the Sunnah. There is no evidence from the Book or the Sunnah that this deceased benefits from a cloth placed on him.
Second: Placing this cloth, which contains the greatest verse in the Book of Allah, or a surah that equals a third of the Qur'an, over the deceased so that it becomes the covering for his feet, is undoubtedly a desecration of the words of Allah. Those who do so are sinful and desecrate the Book of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). How is it fitting for a Muslim to see the Verse of the Throne wrapped around a person's feet? If a living person, and the living is more honorable than the deceased, wrapped his foot with the Verse of the Throne, everyone would criticize him. How much more so when he is dead? I tell you that the sanctity of the living is greater than the sanctity of the deceased. I say this because the scholars said that if a living person is forced to eat the flesh of a deceased person—and this may happen, for example, if two travelers are overtaken by hunger and one dies before the other, and the other will die if he does not eat from his companion—does he eat or not? He eats, because the sanctity of the living is greater than the sanctity of the deceased.
So I say, how is it fitting for a person, how can he be at peace, to see the words of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) wrapped around a dead man? This is not fitting and is not permissible. Glory be to Allah! Or "Say, He is Allah, the One" wrapped around the deceased? This is based on a defective belief. What is the belief? The belief that the deceased benefits, whereas he will not benefit. Second, it is a desecration of the words of Allah to wrap the foot with the Noble Qur'an. We seek help from Allah. Yes.
The Shaykh : What?
The questioner : What is the ruling on placing a cloth with some verses of the Qur'an written on it on the bier of the deceased?
The Shaykh : First: As for the bier, if the deceased is a woman, the best thing to do is what many people do today, which is to place a cover over the bier so that the woman's body is concealed. This is known from the time of the righteous Salaf.
And if the deceased is a man, he is covered with a garment. But should we cover this bier and cover the deceased with a cloth containing the words of Allah?
The answer is: No, we do not cover it, for two reasons:
The first reason is that this covering is not free from a belief, and that belief is that the deceased benefits from it. We say that the deceased will never benefit from it, because for the deceased to benefit from something, there must be evidence from the Book and the Sunnah. There is no evidence from the Book or the Sunnah that this deceased benefits from a cloth placed on him.
Second: Placing this cloth, which contains the greatest verse in the Book of Allah, or a surah that equals a third of the Qur'an, over the deceased so that it becomes the covering for his feet, is undoubtedly a desecration of the words of Allah. Those who do so are sinful and desecrate the Book of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). How is it fitting for a Muslim to see the Verse of the Throne wrapped around a person's feet? If a living person, and the living is more honorable than the deceased, wrapped his foot with the Verse of the Throne, everyone would criticize him. How much more so when he is dead? I tell you that the sanctity of the living is greater than the sanctity of the deceased. I say this because the scholars said that if a living person is forced to eat the flesh of a deceased person—and this may happen, for example, if two travelers are overtaken by hunger and one dies before the other, and the other will die if he does not eat from his companion—does he eat or not? He eats, because the sanctity of the living is greater than the sanctity of the deceased.
So I say, how is it fitting for a person, how can he be at peace, to see the words of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) wrapped around a dead man? This is not fitting and is not permissible. Glory be to Allah! Or "Say, He is Allah, the One" wrapped around the deceased? This is based on a defective belief. What is the belief? The belief that the deceased benefits, whereas he will not benefit. Second, it is a desecration of the words of Allah to wrap the foot with the Noble Qur'an. We seek help from Allah. Yes.