Fri, 29th Mar, 2024 / 19 Ramadan 1445
الجمعة ٢٩ , مارس , ٢٠٢٤ / 19 رَمَضَان 1445
Fri, 29th Mar, 2024 /
19 Ramadan, 1445
الجمعة ٢٩ , مارس , ٢٠٢٤ / 19 رَمَضَان , 1445

Ayah 30 of Surat Az-Zumar means:

[Surely you (O Muhammad) shall die and they (too) shall surely die].

Al-Hakim in his book Al-Mustadrak said that Jibril came to the Messenger of Allah and said: “No matter how long you live- you will inevitably die, and no matter how much you love someone and become attached to that person– you will inevitably depart them”.

Allah the Exalted did not create us to remain eternally in this life and not die; and He did not create us to eat, drink, and immerse our self in the temptations and perishable enjoyments of this life. Instead, Allah created us to order us to worship Him, as is mentioned in the Qur’an, in the ayah that means: [I (Allah) created the jinn and the humans only to order them to worship Me].

Do not allow yourself to become conceited by the abundance of your wealth or the large family you may have. Malek Ibn Anas said, the Prophet of Allah said: “Three things follow the dead to his grave for burial, two of them come back and one stays with the dead: his family, his money and his deeds. His family and money come back while his deeds remain with him”.

Furthermore, when the dead is in the coffin and being carried on the shoulders to be buried, his soul hovers over the coffin. The soul of the upright believer will be so happy and anxious to finally experience the enjoyment of the grave that it had believed in and worked for, it will say, ‘hurry me forward, hurry me forward”. On the other hand, the soul of the non-believer will say, ‘take me back, take me back’.

My beloveds, the funeral process is a time to ponder and take heed. Hence, it is disliked to chatter about worldly matters at a funeral. It is preferred for one to escort a funeral silently and to reflect on death, to recite from the Qur’an, and to say dhikr with quiet utterance, because this allows one to think deeply and be mindful of the matters surrounding the funeral.

The scholars mentioned that it is permissible to raise one’s voice in dhikr when one is escorting a funeral, especially if the raised voice stops the gossipers from gossiping about the deceased and his inheritors, and stops the abhorrent chatter that some people in this day and age cannot hold back.

Among what benefits the believer on his death bed is what was narrated by Ibn Hibban in his sahih that the Prophet said: “Help those among you who are dying to say- no one is God except Allahfor whoever’s last word before death is – no one is God except Allah – shall enter Paradise, irrespective of what he may be inflicted with before that”. 

Dear Brothers in Islam, the Sunnah method to perform talqin for the dying person is as follows: the one who is most beloved to the dying person should sit close to him/her and repeatedly say:la ilaha illallah” (no one is God except Allah). As soon as the dying person says it, the one doing talqin (Mulaqqin) should remain silent and not speak to the dying person concerning any matter after that, so that his last word remains the shahadah. The Mulaqqin should not order the dying person to say:la ilaha illallah, rather, he should only say the actual shahadah repeatedly, as mentioned.

Also, my beloveds, know that it is recommended-sunnah to also perform talqin on the dead believer after he/she is placed in the grave, to equip the dead believer with the response to the questions of the Angels.

The Messenger of Allah said what means:

“If a believer among you dies and you bury him, let one stand at the head of his grave and say: ‘O slave of Allah, the son of a female slave of Allah. The dead believer will hear this call but cannot reply. Repeat the call a second time. The dead believer will then sit up. Repeat the call a third time. The dead believer will then say: ‘Guide us, may Allah have mercy on you’. Then one says: ‘Remember the belief that you have died upon which is the testification that no one is God except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah and that you have accepted Allah as your Lord, Islam as your Religion, Muhammad as your Prophet and the Qur’an as your book’”.

It is also recommended – Sunnah to recite Surat Yasin upon the deceased believer, as narrated by atTabaraniy that the Messenger of Allah  said what means:

“Recite Yasin upon your dead believers”.

It is recited on both, the dying person and the dead believer, because the word mawtakum in Arabic refers to both.

Remember the verse that means: [Surely you (O Muhammad) shall die and they (too) shall surely die]. So, let the oblivious awake from his state of unconsciousness, for you are indeed unaware of what awaits you in the Hereafter. Today you carry a coffin but perhaps tomorrow you will be carried in a coffin. Today you bury a deceased but tomorrow perhaps you will be the deceased that others will bury. Be mindful and look at what you have prepared for the Hereafter.

We ask Allah the Exalted to end our life on Islam and let the words ‘No one is God except Allah’ be the last words we utter.

We ask Allah , Who Is clear of imperfection, to end our lives as pious Muslims and to let our last words be la ilaha illallah, Muhammadun Rasulullah .

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