Fiqh

The deceased should be remembered in good words, His or her merits should be mentioned and weaknesses and demerits ignored.


Visiting the Sick Person

1. Visiting the sick with a view to inquiring about their health and welfare is a highly commendable act in the sight of Allah. The Muslims of a habitation have been enjoined to inquire and look after a patient who has nobody else to look after him. The holy Prophet (Pbuh) himself was very particular about this. Not to speak of the Muslims, he would even visit the non-Muslim patients to inquire about their health and welfare. In this connection, he has given specific instructions exhorting his followers to visit the sick people in their habitations. For instance, he has said:


“On the Day of Judgement, Allah will say: ‘Son of Adam! why did you not attend on me when I fell ill ?’ Man will say: ‘Lord! Thou art the Sustainer of the whole universe: How could I attend on Thee? Allah will say: ‘So and so of My servants fell ill, and you did not care or him. Had you paid him a visit, you would have found Me, too!” (Muslim)



2. The sick person should be consoled and counseled to bear up his affliction with patience, he should be reminded that the illness is also a blessing of Allah for the believer: it becomes an expiation for his past errors. When the Prophet visited a patient, he would ask him: “How are you?” and then would console him, saying: “There should be no cause for you to worry. If Allah wills, this ailment will help purify you of sins.”


According to Hazarath Abu Sa’id, the Prophet has said: “Whenever a Muslim suffers from an affliction, disease, grief or anguish, or even a thorn-prick, he is forgiven his sins by Allah on that account.” (Bukhari, Muslim).



3. One should also pray for the well-being of the patient. According to Hazarath Aisha, whenever the Prophet visited a sick person, he would pass his right hand over his body and would pray: “Lord of mankind! Remove the affliction of this patient and heal him, for Thou alone art the Healer: none can be healed unless healed by Thee; heal him so completely that the disease leaves him altogether.” (Bukhari, Muslim).



4. The patient may be asked to pray for the visitor himself, for during the illness the patient is naturally inclined towards Allah. A tradition says: “When you go to see a sick person, you should request him to pray for you, for the sick person’s prayer is just like an angel’s prayer.” (Ibn Majah.



5. One should not prolong one’s stay with the patient unless so desired by the patient himself.



6. When a Muslim visits a non-Muslim patient, he should invite him towards Islam with wisdom and prudence, because the patient is better disposed and inclined to accept the truth during illness. According to Hazarath Anas, when a Jewish boy who used to serve the Prophet fell ill, the Prophet went to see him. He sat by his head and said: “Accept the true faith.” The boy looked up to his father who was also present. The father said to the boy, “Accept the proposal of Abul Qasim,” whereupon the boy embraced Islam. The Prophet felt pleased and while leaving the house, said: “Thank God Who has saved this boy from the Hell fire.” (Bukhari).



Concerning the One Who is Dying

1. When symptoms of death appear on a patient, he should be turned on his side so as to make him face the Qiblah and his head should be raised a little. However, if he experiences hardship in this position, he should be left to himself.


2. The persons attending on the patient should go on pronouncing the Kalimah: La Ilaha ill-Allah Muhanmad-ur-Rasulullah, gently, but should avoid urging the patient to recite it, for in his critical condition he may refuse to do so, or may utter something derogatory to his faith senselessly. Then when the patient has uttered the Kalimah once, the attendants should stop reciting it; however, if the patient after that talks of a worldly matter, he may again be induced to recite the Kalimah as his last words before death. The holy Prophet has said: Induce your dying ones to recite the Kalimah: La Ilaha ill-Allah.” (Muslim. And he has also said: “The one, who utters La Illaha ill-Allah as his last words before death, will enter Paradise.” (Abu Da’ud)


3. After a person has breathed his last, his eyes should be gently shut and his mouth closed with a bandage running under the chin and tied over the head, and his arms and legs straightened. While closing the eyes of the deceased, one should make the following supplication:


Allahumma yassir ‘alaihi amrahu wa sahhil ‘alaihi ma ba’dahu ‘, wa as’idhu bi-liqa’ika waj’al ma kharaja ilaihi khair-am mimma kharaja ‘an-hu:


“O Allah! Make his affair light for him, and render easy what he is going to face after this, and bless him with Thy vision, and make his new abode better for him than the one he has left behind.”



4. It is natural for a person to grieve over the death of a near and dear one, and shed tears, but it is forbidden to wail for the dead, beat the breast, slap the face and tear one’s hair and garments.



5. It is also forbidden to cry and complain over one’s misfortunes at the death of a relative and curse oneself. The Prophet has said: ‘’You should pray for your good under all circumstances, because whenever you pray for your good, the angels say, ‘Ameen’ “ (Muslim).



6. The deceased should be remembered in good words, His merits should be mentioned and his weaknesses and demerits ignored. The Prophet has said: “Remember your dead ones by their merits and refrain from pointing out their demerits.” (Abu Da’ud)



Washing of the Dead Body

1. No delay is allowed to be made in washing the dead body, its shrouding and burial. The Prophet has said: “Make haste in the funeral and burial: it is not desirable that the dead body of a Muslim should be held back by the people of the house for long.” (Abu Da’ud)


2. It is an obligation to wash the dead body of a Muslim. If there is nobody to own a corpse, it is the collective responsibility of the Muslims to wash it. If it is buried without having been washed, all the Muslims concerned will become involved in sin.


3. If a corpse is placed down in the grave without having been washed, but has not yet been covered with earth, it should be taken out and washed. However, if it has been covered with earth, it need not be taken out of the grave.


4. If a limb of the dead body remains dry and this is remembered after it has been shrouded, it should be un-shrouded and the dry limb washed. However, if a little portion, e.g. a finger, or a portion equal to it, remains dry, it need not be un-shrouded to be washed.


5. The dead body of a minor boy or girl can be washed by either a man or a woman.


6. The dead body should preferably be washed by a relative, but if the relative does not know the prescribed procedure, any virtuous person may wash it.


7. It is obligatory to wash the body of a baby who dies soon after birth, but if it is still born, even then it may be washed though it is not obligatory to do so.


Prescribed Way of Washing the Dead Body

The body should be placed straight on the washing plank and stripped of the garments; the parts from the navel to the knees should be covered with a cloth to conceal the private parts; the washer then, with hands wrapped in cloth, should first clean and wash the private parts of the body, then its face and hands upto the elbows, then wipe the head and wash the feet as in Wudu, with disinfected lukewarm water. It is not necessary to put water in the mouth and nose ; however, if a man has died in the state of impurity due to sexual intercourse, or a woman in the state of menstruation or Nifas, the teeth and gums and nose must be cleansed with wet cotton. Then the mouth and nose and ears should be stuffed up with cotton so that water does not enter them on washing. Then the head should be washed with soap or some other disinfectant, then the whole body, first the right side, then the left. Then the body may be brought up in the sitting position and the belly massaged gently and the excretion if any, cleaned, but there is no need to perform the washing (Wudu etc.) any more. Last of all the body should be turned on the left side and camphor mixed water run over it thrice, and then dried with the towel.


Regulations Relating to Shrouding

1. After the body has been dried, it should be shrouded.

2. It is obligatory to shroud the body well.

3. The expenditure on shrouding is to be incurred by those who supported the deceased person during lifetime, but if there was no supporter and the deceased has left no property either, it becomes the collective responsibility of the Muslims to bear the shrouding expenses.

4. The minor and the major, the one who has put on the pilgrim’s garments and the one who has put them aside have to be shrouded in the same way.

5. It is preferable to shroud the body in white sheets, cloth, whether old or new.


(Everyday Fiqh by Mohammad Yusuf Islahi- Hanafite Viewpoint)