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#11
Issues for Women / Growing long nails
Last post by Abu Muhammad - Sep 26, 2023, 01:18 PM
📌 Growing long nails

❓ Question: It is a fashion for women to grow long nails of at least one finger. According to sharī'ah, is this allowed? (Sr. Jabeen Akhtar, Sheffield)
✍🏻 Answer: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) has mentioned 10 things that are human nature, according to a ḥadīth record by al-Bukhārī (5889, 5890, 5891, & 6297), Muslim (257, & 261), and others. Among them is the cutting of the nails. So, growing long nails is against the sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him), as well as the sunnah of all other Prophets and is also against human nature. Muslim women, before adopting a trend or fashion, should check it according to the Islāmic sharī'ah and not blindly follow the non-Muslims.

📚 Source: Islāmic Verdicts (Fatāwā Ṣirāṭ-e-Mustaqīm) – Shaykh Mahmood Ahmed Mirpuri (1/261)
Translated by Mohammed Abdul Hadi al-Oomeri for Dārussalām
#12
Funerals / Reciting the shahadah and maki...
Last post by Abu Muhammad - Aug 26, 2023, 08:39 PM
📌 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)
#13
Funerals / Raising one's hands and doing ...
Last post by Abu Muhammad - Aug 17, 2023, 06:27 PM
📌 Raising one's hands and doing 'Fātiḥah' during the supplication while offering condolences to the dead:

❓ Question: Is it permissible to go to the relatives of the deceased and recite 'Fātiḥah' while raising your hands? (Shaykh Abdul Wahid, from the state of Bahawalpur)
✍🏻 Answer: Supplicating for the dead (Muslim) is beneficial, but there is no evidence for the du'ā' mentioned above (called Fātiḥah), (that is read as a) the specific three-day ritual. This matter has no evidence in the ḥadīth or in the madhhabs (schools of thought) of the imāms. May Allāh be pleased with them all.

📚 Source: Fatāwā wa-Maqālāt (1/97) - Shaykhul ḥadīth Muḥammad Ismā'īl Salafī [al-'Itiṣām, Lahore, 21st September 1951]
Translator's note: 'Fātiḥah' or 'Fātiḥah khwānī', refers to the custom of the Muslims of the Indian Subcontinent where, after a person dies, they prepare food for the deceased (departed) soul, gather together, and recite Sūratul-Fātiḥah and some additional du'ā's over the food. Some of them believe that the rewards of the Sūratul-Fātiḥah and the additional du'ā's recited, goes to the dead. Some also believe that the soul of the deceased person, is pleased with the food being prepared and recited upon in such a way. Some even believe that the deceased soul comes back to eat from the food on the 3rd, 10th and/or 40th day. These beliefs may vary from region to region, but the basic idea is to recite Sūratul-Fātiḥah and some additional du'ā's and transfer the rewards to the dead. And Allāh knows best.
Translated by Mohammed Manna (India)
#14
Creed / Beliefs / Writing ‘radiyallahu 'anhu’ af...
Last post by Abu Muhammad - Aug 17, 2023, 06:24 PM
📌 Writing 'raḍiyallāhu 'anhu' after the name of any elders.

❓ Question: Respected Muftīs, is it allowed to write 'raḍiyallāhu ta'ālā 'anhu' after the names of religious dignitaries other than the companions (may Allāh be pleased with them) of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him)? Please provide a detailed answer.
✍🏻 Answer: "All praises and thanks be to Allāh Alone, and prayers and salutations be upon the one after whom there are no Prophets."

Some terms are used as Islāmic terminologies, while others become specific to certain people. In such cases, the consideration and recognition of customary usage becomes necessary, otherwise misunderstandings may arise.

Writing 'raḍiyallāhu 'anhu' (may Allāh be pleased with him) after the names of the companions of the Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) has become an accepted 'urf (common customary practice and terminology). To the extent that if this is said with someone else, in general usage, it would also be assumed that they are a companion, just as the term 'raḥimahullāh' (may Allāh have mercy upon him) has become specific for the deceased.

If you were to use 'raḥimahullāh' or 'raḥmatullāh 'alayh' with the name of a living person, the listener might immediately understand that the person has passed away. It could even lead to the question: "When did the person become 'raḥimahullāh' from 'ḥafiẓahullāh'!"

Therefore, those phrases which have become specific for certain people (according to the context of customs), they must be used in the same context.

This is our answer, and Allāh knows the best.

📚 Source: Fatāwā Lajnā al-'Ulamā' (1/91)
Translated by Mohammed Manna (India)
#15
Funerals / Is it correct that the husband...
Last post by Abu Muhammad - Aug 16, 2023, 03:38 PM
📌 Is it correct that the husband washes the (dead body) of his wife?

❓ Question: Is it correct that the husband washes (the dead body of) his wife?
✍🏻 Answer: "All praises and thanks be to Allāh Alone, and prayers and salutations be upon the one after whom there are no Prophets."

If either husband or wife dies, they can give ghusl (i.e., wash the dead body) to one another. There is nothing wrong with that. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said to 'Ā'ishah (may Allāh be pleased with her): "...Were you to die before me, I would wash you, cloth you with the kafan, prayed the janāzah prayer over you and buried you (myself)." [Sunan ibn Mājah (1465)]*

It is narrated from Fāṭimah (may Allāh be pleased with her) that she entrusted her husband, 'Alī (may Allāh be pleased with him), with the responsibility of performing her ghusl. [Sunan ad-Dāraquṭnī (1851 (2/447)), and Bayhayqī's Sunan al-Kubrā (6660 (3/556))] Imām ash-Shawkānī declared this narration to be ḥasan and said: 'In it is evidence that a woman can be washed by her husband after she dies.' [Nayl al-Awṭār (1377 (4/30-31))]**

Some people mistakenly think that the relationship between a husband and wife ends after death, and due to this [misinterpretation] one cannot touch the other, nor perform their post-mortem purification (ghusl), and other matters; however, this is in opposition to the Sunnah, as the clear evidences have mentioned.
And the last of our call is: All praise is due to Allah, Rabb of the 'Ālamīn.

📚 Source: Fatāwā Lajnā al-'Ulamā' (1/117-118)

Footnotes by Maktabah Takhrīj al-Ḥadīth

*: Grade:
• Ḥasan by Shaykh al-Albānī: Sunan ibn Majah (1465 (1/260)), and Irwā' al-Ghalīl (700 (3/160-162)))
• Ḥadīth ḥasan by Shaykh Shu'ayb al-Arna'ūṭ: Sunan ibn Majah (1465 (2/449-450)), and Musnad Aḥmad (25908 (43/81-83))
• Ḍa'īf isnād by Ḥāfiẓ Zubayr 'Alī Za'ī: Sunan ibn Majah (1465 (1/259-260)), and Anwāruṣ Ṣaḥīfah (1465 (1/430))
• Isnād ṣaḥīḥ by Shaykh Dr. Ḥamzah Zayn: Musnad Aḥmad (25784 (18/87))

**: Sharḥ Musnad ash-Shāfī'ī (1620 (4/230-231)): "And in it is evidence that it is permissible for the husband to perform the ghusl of his wife, and it is narrated that ibn Mas'ūd (may Allāh be pleased with him) performed the ghusl of his wife, and [it is narrated] on the authority of ibn 'Abbās (may Allāh be pleased with them both) that he said: 'A man has more right to performing the ghusl of his wife...'" [Muṣannaf ibn Abī Shaybah (12323 (7/183) [there is kalām on the authenticity of this narration]). Refer to Irwā' al-Ghalīl (701 (3/162))]

Note: The references have been put by Maktabah Takhrīj al-Ḥadīth, so they may not tally with the numbers given in the original book [Fatāwā Lajnā al-'Ulamā'].
Translated by 'Imrān (Germany), and Abū Sinān (UK)
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