Reciting the shahadah and making dhikr aloud while lifting the janazah

Started by Abu Muhammad, Aug 26, 2023, 08:39 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Print
Go Down Pages1
User actions

Abu Muhammad

Aug 26, 2023, 08:39 PM Last Edit: Oct 01, 2023, 09:36 AM by Abu Muhammad
📌 Reciting the shahādah and making dhikr aloud while lifting the janāzah (funeral bier).

❓ Question: Nowadays, when a funeral procession is carried out, people recite the shahādah loudly (as they walk with it). In some areas, along with the funeral, people recite poems aloud. Is this practice proven by the Qurān and ḥadīth? Please guide us. (A questioner from Lahore, Pakistan)
✍🏻 Answer: There is no authentic ḥadīth that supports performing such actions from the Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) and his companions. Rather, raising the voice aloud during a funeral is not permissible and is disliked, as it has been reported.

It was narrated from Sayyidunah Qays bin 'Abbād: "The companions (may Allāh be pleased with them) of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) would dislike the raising of voices (while walking or being) with the janā'iz (the dead)." [Bayhayqī's Sunan al-Kubrā (7182 (4/124) [4/74]); Muṣannaf ibn Abī Shaybah (35660 (18/460) [12/462])]

Similarly, in a marfū' narration, which has many supporting chains (shawāhid), it is stated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said: "Do not follow (or accompany) the funeral procession with (loud) voices or fire (i.e., lights)." [Sunan Abī Dāwūd  (3171); Musnad Aḥmad (9515 (15/316) [2/427])]

These aḥādīth also make it clear that raising the voice with the funeral procession is prohibited, and the practice that has become common in our region, where they call out 'kalimah shahādah' aloud (and everyone starts reciting the shahādah) while carrying the funeral bier, has no evidence. It doesn't align with the teachings of the Prophet's companions or the Islāmic Sharī'ah. Similarly, there is no mention of reciting poetry (na'at, in Urdu) during a funeral procession.

Imām an-Nawawī (may Allāh have mercy upon him) mentions in his book Kitāb al-Adhkār (1/215): 'And know that – the correct and the chosen way – as what the pious predecessors (may Allāh be pleased with them) were upon, is to remain silent while accompanying the funeral procession, and no voice is to be raised with recitation or dhikr or anything else other than that.'

And he (Imām an-Nawawī) continues: 'As for those who oppose this matter in great numbers, do not be deceived by them. Abū 'Alī al-Fuḍayl ibn 'Iyāḍ (may Allāh have mercy upon him) said: 'Adhere to the path of guidance and you will not be harmed by the few numbers of those who follow it. And beware of the paths of misguidance and do not be deceived by the large numbers of those who are destroyed.' *
 
And we have recorded that report from Sunan al-Kubrā of al-Bayhaqī which supports what we have stated above (i.e., the narration of Qays bin 'Abbād), and in Damascus etc., the ignorant people who join the funeral processions, and recite the Qurān with severity (in voice, intonation and elongating the vowels) and remove the text from its appropriate places (i.e., without following the rules of recitation), the scholars have prohibited it with ijmā' (unanimous agreement).'

By this clarification from Imām an-Nawawī, we also understand that, reciting adhkār, Qurān and other things like that, aloud with the funeral procession, is not proven (has no evidence) from the Qurān And the Sunnah.
 
The action that was neither done by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) or his companions, nor did they consider it permissible nor virtuous, then how can we consider it permissible and virtuous.

📚 Source: Ap ke masa'il – Shaykh Muftī Abul Ḥasan Mubashir Aḥmad Rabbānī (1/226-227) [Majallah ad-Da'wah, September 1996]
*: Refer to al-I'tiṣām (1/135) of al-Shaṭibi. Translation of this quote was taken from: sunnahpublishing.net.
Note: The references have been put by Maktabah Takhrīj al-Ḥadīth, so they may not tally with the numbers given in the original book [Ap ke masa'il]
Translated by Mohammed Manna (India)
Print
Go Up Pages1
User actions