What is the Islamic ruling after the death of a loved one?
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's
Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)
One of our brothers/sisters has asked
this question:
What is the Islamic ruling after the dead of a loved one and
other sort of rasms?
(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above
statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and
statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)
Answer:
In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and who-ever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
Again,
the first question before we do any act should be: What did the Prophet (saws)
do during his lifetime regarding this issue?
The
Prophet (saws) prayed the funeral prayer, buried the person and told the family
to mourn for 3-days for the deceased. During this period, he did not read or
finish the Quran to transfer the reward to the deceased, he did not feed the
people who came to mourn, nor did he serve the fateha (food) on the
corresponding 3rd, 10th, month, 40th, or yearly dates.
So
we know from the Prophet (saws) traditions that he (saws) did not do the above
things himself, nor did he recommend anybody else to do it. In fact, he told
the neighbors and other muslims to provide food to the family of the deceased
for three days during their period of mourning. So if we start doing anything,
especially in religion, which the Prophet (saws) did not do, it is an
innovation (bidah) and the Prophet (saws) said in one his famous narrations: Every innovation is a sin, and sins lead to the Hell-Fire.
The
Prophet (saws) said in one of his famous narrations:
When a person dies, his book of accounts is closed except for
three things:
1. Sadaqa Jaariya. ie. a person who did or spent something in the
way of Allah and people are still benefiting from it. Things like mosques,
orphanages, wells, planting of trees and the like, which outlive the person who
died and benefiting the ummah.
2. Ilm un Naafe'ah. ie. a person who spread knowledge of Islam
and people are still benefiting from it after his death. Things like lectures,
writing books, good advice he gave to people, or any other knowledge of Islam
that the person helped in spreading the word of Allah.
3. Ibn us Saleh. ie. his children who regularly pray to Allah to
forgive their father/mother who died.
Other
than the above three, no act will be recorded in the book of deeds of the
deceased, and Allah Messenger (saws) only spoke nothing but the truth.
Now
lets apply logic, as everything in Islam is according to fitrah (nature) and
thus logical.
Lets
take the example of a good muslim. All his life the person feared Allah and the
Last Day and tried to follow the guidance of the Quran and the Sunnah. He spent
in the way of Allah and spread the noor of Islam wherever he went. He tried to
raise his children in the best Islamic manner and was always guiding them
towards Allah and His Messenger (saws). Now whatever effect his actions have
after his death, will add on to his good deeds after his death, and Allah will
reward him on the Day of Resurrection. He built mosques and orphanages and
hospitals, etc. to win Allah's pleasure as Sadaqa Jaariya and everytime a
person benefits from this act of his, even after his death, Allah will give him
the full reward of his good deeds, even if it is till the Day of Qiyamah.
He
spread the knowledge of Islam and gave talks to his congregation, his family,
his friends, strangers, or anybody else and if by his example and talk and
knowledge, he was able to bring about a good deed in that person, even after
his death, Allah will reward him for his actions.
He
raised his children to be good muslims and worship none but Allah alone, and
commanded them to pray and do good deeds and told them always to fear Allah and
the Last Day. If the children to turn out to be good muslims and do good deeds,
the deceased parent will get a reward from Allah Subhanah. And if his children
pray to Allah to forgive the sins of their parent, Allah will accept their
supplication.
Thus
the key here is to lead a wholesome Islamic life and do good deeds all your
life for the pleasure of Allah Subhanah Alone. And if the children or the
family of the deceased read the Quran in the days after his death or feed the
whole world on the 3rd, 10th, month, 40th, and yearly dates, it will not add to
the good deeds of the deceased.
Now
lets take the example of a bad person. He did not fear Allah and the Last Day
and lived his life arrogantly without the guidance from the Quran and Sunnah.
He never prayed regularly, never himself did the tilaawah of Quran, never paid
his zakat dues regularly, never urged to feed the poor, and basically lived a
life without a care. Now his children somehow are pious and they get the whole
world to pray the Quran for him and feed the whole world.... Do you think Allah
will accept these as good deeds for the deceased. I think not!!!
The
Prophet (saws) in one of his narrations explains the basic guideline of Islamic
deeds....
All your deeds will be judged by your intentions.
Now
a person who never prayed or read the Quran, and after his death his children
and the whole world together read 100s of Qurans for him.... how could it
possibly help him? The deceased never urged to feed the poor, and now after
this death his children feed the whole world.... how could it possibly be added
to his good deeds?
The
test is only until one is alive... That is when he has to do good deeds that
will benefit him on the Day of Judgement. The person lives a dis-obedient life
to Allah and His Messenger (saws), and suddenly after his death, all these
things are done to benefit him.... Do you seriously think that Allah will
accept it? I think not. It just does not make logical sense.
All
these reading of Qurans after the death of the deceased and the feeding of
congregations on the 3rd, 10th, etc. have no basis in Islam. The Prophet (saws)
did not do it, nor did he recommend doing it. Thus it is clearly an innovation
and we have to really really stay away from any innovations in the deen. Are we
more knowledgeable than the Prophet (saws)? Are we more pious than the Prophet
(saws)? Are we more God-fearing than the Prophet (saws)? If the Prophet (saws)
did not do it, stay far far away from it. If the Prophet (saws) did it, do it
without any hesitation.
Innovations
are always added by the priestly class to improve their balances and their
positions in society. They come up with new things every day to burden the
people, and the people just follow them blindly without referring to the Quran
and the traditions of the Prophet (saws). And they will keep on adding and
adding and adding things which are not part of the deen, until one day they
become rasams and customs and in time, these rasams and customs are the most
difficult things to break. In due time people then leave the real deen and just
follow the rasams and customs, spending money and time and think they are
getting the pleasure of Allah, whereas in fact, they are actually committing
sins, due to innovation and dis-obedience of Allah and His Messenger
(saws). Allah has made the deen of
Islam very simple and very easy .... but people who have their own interests at
stake, innovate and make the deen a burden. This results in the people going
away from deen and if they cant do all the rasams, they just leave the deen and
stay on the sidelines thinking Islam is a very difficult religion to follow.
Then in the worst case of jaahiliya, people only follow rasams and customs and
just lead the rest of their lives in their own way without guidance from the
Quran and Sunnah (saws). Rasams overtake the deen to be the real deen .......
and ultimately they will have to face Allah on the Day of Judgement in a very
sorry state.
Islam
is a system of life, and not a name for some rasams and customs. Every act of a
muslim should start with the intention to please Allah ... if he is able to do
that, he will live a wholesome Islamic life. And the best example to follow is
that of our beloved Prophet (saws) as Allah states in the Holy Quran. If the Prophet (saws) did something or
approved of something, do it without hesitation, for that will bring the
pleasure of Allah. If the Prophet (saws) did not do something or abstained from
it, stay far far away from it, for that will again bring the pleasure of Allah.
Brother,
just look at the amount of rasams, and milaads and urs and jamans and matams
and salaams and qadam bosis and wajebaats and khums and what not we follow in
our sect!!!! The rasams have actually become the deen!!! Where is the fear of
meeting Allah Subhanah on the Last Day? Where is the love of the Prophet
(saws)? Where is the love and effort of following the commandments of the very
words of Allah in the Quran? Where is the love of following the sunnah or
tradition of the Prophet (saws)? When is the last time somebody said that we do
this rasam of reading Quran at the deceased or feeding congregations on these
particular dates is from the Quran and/or the Sunnah? When is the last time you
asked somebody to give you a reason why we do this or that rasam? When is the
last time you asked somebody if this act was actually a part of the deen of
Islam or not?
We
just do it because it has now become a custom and a rasam and we found our
fore-fathers and the community doing the same!!! Even though it might have no basis
and no weight in the Quran and Sunnah. And this is exactly what innovations
do!!! There is no end to innovations and by the time we are done with
innovations in Islam, there will be no light of Islam left in our lives!!!!! (
I take refuge in Allah from saying this!!)
It
will take a mountain of courage for us today to fight and avoid all the
innovations that have entered our deen of Islam today.... you stop praying,
nobody will say anything to you!!! but if you stop Khatm-ul-Quran or feeding
the congregation for the deceased, just see how the vultures from amongst the
priests will attack you!!!!!!!!!
May
Allah guide you and us all to the Straight Path of Islam.
Whatever
written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance,
and whatever of error is of me. Allah
Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.
Your
Brother in Islam,
