Lesson 44 Announcing the Death of someone, Janazaah for the Absent one, and some details of Janaazah by Alhuda Bolton

Saturday 11 NOV 2017

Chapter of Prayer: Funeral Prayer

Lesson 44 Announcing the Death of someone, Janȃzah for the Absent one, and some details of the Janȃzah

• Issue regarding making an announcement when someone dies:
o There are 3 hadith we will discuss insha Allah regarding this issue:
 The first is the hadith at the end of last lesson about the woman who used to sweep the Prophet’s mosque and who had died (see Lesson 43)
o 2nd is the Narration from Hudhaifah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) used to prohibit the announcement of anyone’s death [Related by Ahmed and At-Tirmidhi who rendered it hasan]
o 3rd is the Narration from Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him): “The Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) informed the people about the death of An-Najȃshi (The Negus) the day he died. He took them out to the place of prayer, to offer funeral prayer for him. He arranged them in rows and made Takbir four times” [Agreed upon]
o Overall: Making the announcement of the death of someone is of 3 types.
 The first one is to inform and announce to the relatives of the deceased so that they may know and pray the funeral prayer upon them. This is permissible and mustahab (desirable). An example of this is the Prophet’s announcing the death of An-Najȃshi so the believers could pray the funeral prayer for him
 The second type is when the announcement is made in a public platform, especially in a prideful way, e.g. to gather the people in large numbers and make it a source of pride for the family of the deceased (that lots of people came). This is impressible.
 The third type is the way of the jȃhiliyyah (days of ignorance) when the family or close relatives of the deceased would wail and scream, thereby others would be informed of their death. This is not permissible
 NOTE: when An-Najȃshi (this was the title of the King of Habasha, East Africa, his actual name as mentioned by the scholars was As-Hamar) died the prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) made the announcement regarding his death. He was a Christian but a just man, when he heard the Qur’an from the immigrants from Makkah he became Muslim. He never met the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). When he passed away Jibreel (Gabriel) may Allah be pleased with him informed the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) about this and the Muslims prayed the funeral prayer for him. This is one of the miracles of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), that he was made aware of the death of An-Najȃshi the same day he passed away, a distance that would take a great many days of travel for a messenger..
 NOTE: in regards to praying the funeral prayer upon a deceased who is not present there are 4 opinions among the scholars.
• 1. That praying the funeral prayer upon someone who is absent (body is not there), is permissible. The scholars who take this opinion say it is permissible as the
• 2. That this is not permissible at all, scholars who take this position give the reason that many companions died away from the main group of Muslims and there isn’t a narration of them all having funeral prayers in absentia
• 3. It is permissible only if the deceased is in a land where no one will pray the funeral prayer over him/her. Evidence for this would be the story of An-Najȃshi as he was in a Christian land and no one would pray over him. Shaikh ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah takes this position.
• 4. It is permissible to pray the funeral prayer in abstentia if the deceased is a person of stature/respect such as the scholars and Muslim rulers (e.g. An-Najȃshi) regardless if he had the funeral prayer in his area already.
• NOTE: Shaikh Salih Al-fawzȃn says the strongest opinions are the 3rd and the 4th above.

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