Explanation of Riyad al-Salihin-60a

The reciter: “And from Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came to his son Ibrahim (may Allah be pleased with him) while he was on the verge of death, and the eyes of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) began to shed tears. Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf said to him: ‘And you, O Messenger of Allah?’ He said:

Ibn ‘Auf, it is compassion

يا ابن عوف إنها رحمة

Mishkat al-Masabih 1722

Then he followed it with another saying:

The eyes are shedding tears and the heart is grieved, and we will not say except what pleases our Lord, O Ibrahim ! Indeed we are grieved by your separation.

إن العين تدمع والقلب يحزن ولا نقول إلا ما يرضي ربنا وإنا لفراقك يا إبراهيم لمحزونون

Sahih al-Bukhari 1303

Al-Bukhari narrated it, and Muslim narrated part of it”.

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
We have previously spoken about the three past hadiths that al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in Riyad al-Salihin in the chapter on the permissibility of weeping for the dead without wailing or lamentation. Then he mentioned two hadiths from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) that he wept when he saw two children in the throes of death. The first was his daughter’s son; his daughter’s son was brought to him while he was in the process of dying, and the eyes of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) shed tears out of mercy for this boy, because he saw him struggling with death, so he felt compassion for him and showed mercy to him (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and he (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) is the most merciful of creation toward creation. Sa’d ibn Ubadah said to him: “What is this, O Messenger of Allah?” meaning: how are you weeping? He said: meaning that I felt compassion for this boy who is struggling with his own soul, so I was moved by him Therefore, you should accustom yourself to softness and mercy toward children, animals, and others who are worthy of mercy, so that you may be worthy of the mercy of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Allah only shows mercy to those of His servants who are merciful. In this is evidence for the permissibility of weeping for the dead, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) wept and said, “This is mercy.” And in it is evidence that a person should expose himself to the mercy of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) by every means. And in his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): there is an indication that the reward of Allah is of the same kind as the deed. So when this person was merciful to the servants of Allah, Allah the Exalted was merciful to him, because Allah the Exalted is with the servant when the servant is with his brother. Whoever is with his brother, Allah is with him. As for the second hadith: the hadith of Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), it is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was brought his son Ibrahim (may Allah be pleased with him), Ibrahim ibn Muhammad. This child was not from his wife Khadijah, but from his concubine Maryam, whom the King of Egypt had gifted to him. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) kept her as a concubine, meaning he had relations with her by the right of ownership, and she bore him this child. This child remained for sixteen months and died during the lifetime of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He was brought to him while he was on the verge of death. The meaning of “on the verge of death” is that death is struggling with him, and the most precious thing a person has is his soul. This dying person is as if he is handing his soul over to the angels, surrendering it. So he wept; his eyes (peace and blessings be upon him) shed tears. He wept, meaning his eyes (peace and blessings be upon him) shed tears. It was said to him: “What is this, O Messenger of Allah?” He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Then it was repeated to him, and he said it again: Then the child passed away, and he was sixteen months old. This indicates that there is no blame on a person if he weeps out of mercy for the dead and grief over parting with them, for the Messenger here said that he was grieved by the parting from his son. And in it is also evidence for the permissibility of a person informing others that he is grieved by this calamity, because he said, “The heart grieves.” Yes. And in it is evidence that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) loses his child and is pained by it, and that what befalls humans befalls him. He (peace and blessings be upon him) had seven children: three males and four females. Four females and three males. The most famous of the males was Ibrahim (may Allah be pleased with him, and may Allah send blessings and peace upon his father). As for the females, the best of them was Fatimah, who was with Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him). Zaynab was the wife of al-As ibn Abi al-Rabi’. Umm Kulthum and Ruqayyah were with Uthman ibn Affan. When one of them died, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) married the second to him. Therefore, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not marry any of his Companions to his two daughters except Uthman. So Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was distinguished by the fact that the Messenger married him to his two daughters, but after the first one died, he (peace and blessings be upon him) married him to the second. As for his sons, they were: al-Qasim, Abdullah, and Ibrahim. But the one who became famous and remained for a period was Ibrahim. All of these, all of them were from Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her) except Ibrahim, who was from Maryam the Copt. No one of his children (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him), neither males nor females, remained after his death except Fatimah. They all died during his lifetime. And this is from the wisdom of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), for no one can avert death, even if he is the greatest of people in status with Allah, he cannot avert death. If anyone could avert death, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would have averted it from his sons and daughters, and he would have averted it from himself. But Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) holds the matter in His hand, and everything belongs to Him.