Shrouding & Burial Sunnahs

We went with Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) to the blacksmith Abu Saif, and he was the husband of the wet-nurse of Ibrahim (the son of the Prophet). Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) took Ibrahim and kissed him and smelled him and later we entered Abu Saif's house and at that time Ibrahim was in his last breaths, and the eyes of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) started shedding tears. `Abdur Rahman bin `Auf said, "O Allah's Apostle, even you are weeping!" He said, "O Ibn `Auf, this is mercy." Then he wept more and said, "The eyes are shedding tears and the heart is grieved, and we will not say except what pleases our Lord, O Ibrahim ! Indeed we are grieved by your separation."

At the time of giving the pledge of allegiance to the Prophet (ﷺ) one of the conditions was that we would not wail, but it was not fulfilled except by five women and they are Um Sulaim, Um Al-`Ala', the daughter of Abi Sabra (the wife of Mu`adh), and two other women; or the daughter of Abi Sabra and the wife of Mu`adh and another woman.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "When you see a funeral procession, you should stand up, and whoever accompanies it should not sit till the coffin is put down."

The Prophet (ﷺ) once passed by two graves and said, "They (the deceased persons in those graves) are being tortured not for a great thing to avoid." And then added, "Yes, (they are being punished for a big sin), for one of them used to go about with calumnies while the other never saved himself from being soiled with his urine." (Ibn `Abbas added): Then he took a green leaf of a date-palm) and split it into two pieces and fixed one piece on each grave and said, "May their punishment be abated till these (two pieces) get dry."

During his sickness, Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) was asking repeatedly, "Where am I today? Where will I be tomorrow?" And I was waiting for the day of my turn (impatiently). Then, when my turn came, Allah took his soul away (in my lap) between my chest and arms and he was buried in my house.

A man said to the Prophet (ﷺ) "Tell me of such a deed as will make me enter Paradise." The people said, "What is the matter with him? What is the matter with him?" The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "He has something to ask. (What he needs greatly) The Prophet (ﷺ) said: (In order to enter Paradise) you should worship Allah and do not ascribe any partners to Him, offer prayer perfectly, pay the Zakat and keep good relations with your Kith and kin." (See Hadith No. 12, Vol 8).

The last glance that I have had of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) (before his death) was that when he on Monday drew the curtain aside. The hadith transmitted by Salih is perfect and complete.

The Apostle of Allah (ﷺ) did not come to us for three days. When the prayer was about to start. Abu Bakr stepped forward (to lead the prayer), and the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) lifted the curtain. When the face of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) became visible to us, we (found) that no sight was more endearing to us than the face of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as it appeared to us. The Apostle of Allah (ﷺ) with the gesture of his hand directed Abu Bakr to step forward (and lead the prayer). The Apostle of Allah (ﷺ) then drew the curtain, and we could not see him till he died.

I made up my mind to hold Abd al-Rahman b. 'Auf back, but the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Leave him."

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: The people who lift their eyes towards the sky in Prayer should avoid it or they would lose their eyesight.

When we said prayer with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), we pronounced: Peace be upon you and Mercy of Allah, peace be upon you and Mercy of Allah, and made gesture with the hand on both the sides. Upon this the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ said: What do you point out with your hands as if they are the tails of headstrong horses? This is enough for you that one should place one's hand on one's thigh and then pronounce salutation upon one's brother on the right side and then on the left.

"Three times or five, or seven, or more than that, if you think that (is necessary)."

"And Hafsah said, from Umm 'Atiyyah: 'We put her hair in three braids."'

mention was made of standing at the funeral until the body is placed in the grave. 'Ali bin Abi Talib said: "The Messenger of Allah stood, then he sat down."

"Two Muslim men were killed on the day of At-Ta'if, and they were taken to the Messenger of Allah. He commanded that they be buried where they were killed." Ibn Mu'ayyah was born during the time of the Messenger of Allah.

"I said to the Prophet: 'Your paternal uncle, the old misguided man has died. Who will bury him?' He said: 'Go and bury your father, then do not do anything until you come to me.' So I buried him then I came, and he told me to perform Ghusl and he prayed for me, and he mentioned a supplication that I do not remember."'

"We complained to the Messenger of Allah on the day of Uhud, saying: 'O Messneger of Allah, it is too difficult for us to dig a grave for each person.' The Messenger of Allah said: 'Dig graves and make them good and deep, and bury two or three in one grave.' They said: 'Who should we put in first, O Messenger of Allah?' He said: 'Put in first the one who knew more Qur'an."' He said: "My father was the third of three in one grave."

That the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was shrouded in a garment of Yemeni stuff, it was then removed from him.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: When one of you dies, and he possesses something, he should be shrouded in the garment of the Yemeni stuff.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Breaking a dead man's bone is like breaking it when he is alive.

We went out with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) to the funeral of a man of the Ansar, but when we reached the grave, the niche in the side had not yet been made, so the Prophet (ﷺ) sat down facing the qiblah, and we sat down along with him.

I said to Aisha! Mother, show me the grave of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and his two Companions (Allah be pleased with them). She showed me three graves which were neither high nor low, but were spread with soft red pebbles in an open space.

Abu 'Ali said: It is said that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) is forward, Abu Bakr is near his hed and 'Umar is near is feet. His head is at the feet of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "(Prophet) Dawud (ﷺ) ate only out of that which he earned through his manual work."

[Al-Bukhari].

Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "(Prophet) Zakariyya (ﷺ) was a carpenter."

[Al-Bukhari].

Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) distributed some wealth and I said to him, "O Messenger of Allah! Do you not think that there are other people who are more deserving than these whom you gave." He (ﷺ) said, "They had, in fact, left no alternative for me except either they should beg of me importunately or they would regard me as a miser; but I am not a miser."

[Muslim].

While I was walking with the Prophet (ﷺ) on his return from the battle of Hunain, a few bedouins caught hold of him and began to demand their shares. They forced him to a tree and someone snatched away his cloak (which got entangled in that thorny tree). The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Give my cloak back to me. Were I to have camels equal to the number of these trees, I would have distributed them all among you, and you would not have found me a miser, or a liar, or a coward."

[Al-Bukhari].

Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Wealth is not diminished by giving (in charity). Allah augments the honour of one who forgives; and one who displays humbleness towards another seeking the pleasure of Allah, Allah exalts him in ranks."

[Muslim].