Abdul Nasir Jangda – Islamic Funeral Procedure during Pandemics
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Bismillah Alhamdulillah wa salatu salam ala rasulillah who Allah Allah He was to be admiring.
Due to the current situation with COVID-19 and the corona virus pandemic. There are increasing concerns and questions about how to handle the janazah process and funerals from an Islamic point of view. Recently, we conducted a column Hangout, which is a program online where a number of column instructors and scholars come together to have a more detailed discussion and conversation about certain issues, where we discussed the laws of funerals. However, that being an extended discussion and conversation, and this being a very, very critical issue in a very serious situation, we felt that it was prudent that there should be a resource video from Calum detailing out the Islamic and
classical fic understanding on how to go about in this current situation that we're in understanding that health and government to regulate agencies are placing many different restrictions and regulations on the funeral process. So while abiding by what the health and government agencies are imposing as rules and regulations, how can we understand that in light of the Islamic process of janazah, and funeral. So the way that I wanted to lay this out in sha Allah is that there are five main components or parts of the funeral process from an Islamic point of view, the very first one is the washing of the body. Now when it comes to the washing of the body, the typical procedure
according to the son of the prophets, a lot, he said, is that water is poured on the body and a hand is lightly passed over the body.
The scholars in the football ha have stated that the objective of the washing of the body the washing part of the funeral process is not so much the cleanliness of the body, but more so it is something that is done ritualistically as a sign of respect for the deceased and fulfilling the rights of the deceased. Therefore, when washing the body, even under normal circumstances, the objective is not necessarily to scrub the body and to cleanse the body. So water is poured, and the hand is lightly passed over. However, in a circumstance and situation where the hand cannot be passed over the body due to maybe some kind of trauma or issue, then the scholars have clearly
stated that water can then be poured in that situation. Scholars have even in classical books of Philip have gone as far as talking about the issue, that if water cannot even be poured, without causing more detriment to the body, then in that situation Tim is done. What is taken to him very briefly, is once again a ritualistic thing that is done, when someone needs to attains ritual Islamic spiritual purification, where we'll do or the taking of a bath of purification after major impurity, but water is not available or they're not able to use water for whatever reason, environmentally or health wise, they're not able to utilize the water, then they perform what is
called take them where a person makes contact with something from the earth like dirt, and then they rub their hands on their face, they make contact with that surface, again, kind of dust off the extra dust on the hand, and then they pass the hands over the arms, that is called to them. So in this kind of a situation that is what would be done on the deceased. Now, if that also cannot be done, because no physical contact is being allowed between living people and the body of the deceased. Then in that particular situation, the janazah of a person can be valid. If the component of the washing of the body was not done, the scholars have stated that a janazah can still be seen
as valid. So we would comply with whatever the regulations were in that in that instance. The second part of the funeral process from an Islamic point of view is the shroud the coffin, the covering of the body. Now again, under more typical circumstances, there are a number of garments, three for men five for women, they typically tend to be in Muslim tradition, plain white sheets that are wrapped around the body. However, in the current situation based off of what we are hearing and learning that if the body is sealed inside of a bag that cannot be opened, due to health and safety reasons, as long as that bag is not
not transparent, that bad could actually substitute as the coffin and the Shroud of the deceased. The third issue is the funeral prayer itself. That is the third component. When it comes to the funeral prayer Salafi janazah. Once again, there is a lot of versatility, a lot of options and a lot of flexibility in terms of fic. First and foremost, under more typical circumstances, we have the janazah prayer in a communal setting in a public area, the community is encouraged to congregate and pray for the deceased. And we tried to do what's called tuxedo and Gemma are increasing the number of people there in the congregation. But none of that is mandatory or required for a valid funeral
procedure. Rather, one person suffices for fulfilling the rights of salata janaza for the deceased, that is first and foremost, and based off of what we have been hearing right now, they are allowing a limited number of individuals to be able to come and offer the janaza prayer. Secondly, the place where the janaza prayer is being done, that there is also no requirement from an Islamic point of view as to it must be done on the masjid premises, or something of that sort. In fact, in the time of the prophet to love Him, they used to do just now as a de janaza prayer outside of the mustard facility. At the same time, there is a question that can disallow to janazah be performed on the
premises of the cemetery or the graveyard, then the majority of the scholars state that that is allowed underneath and necessity, that is not the default. That is not how we normally do things. But in cases of dire need. In very trying situations. That is something that is allowed, meaning that the prayer will be considered valid, even if it was done on the premises of the cemetery. So in the case where they're transporting the body from the facilities where it's being stored directly to the cemetery, and they offered the janaza prayer there, that would be completely valid. There's another side issue with the issue of the janaza prayer, the prayer component that I wanted to
mention here as well. There's a practice that is preserved in authentic narration from the tradition of the prophets. A lot of the some of the Sunnah were the prophets, a lot of them performed what is called selective janazah Allah Ha ha, he prayed a lot in janazah for a deceased whose body was not present. That very famously happened in the case of an A joshy, the king of Abyssinia due to that particular incident and how that is understood by different scholars. Some of the scholars like the Hanafi school in the Maliki school say that that should not be done that was exclusively done by the prophets a lot a setup. However, the shafia a school in the humblest school do allow for it. And
when you consider the situation and the circumstances that we are in, I would venture to say that it is allowed for family members who might not be able to be present there and attend the janaza prayer that they from their homes or wherever they are isolated, that they could offer a salata janaza and aloha from that location and from that place in order to provide some kind of closure and consolation in in the situation of such a tragic loss. The fourth component of a funeral process and procedure in an Islamic point of view is what we call the procession, when hallucinogen as a window into another body is carried and taken for the burial, the procession itself and that whole process
that is just that is a son of the Prophet sallallahu sallam. And that really depends on the situation that they're in. So once again, while it is a very noble and beautiful tradition, son of the prophets allowed him to carry the body, by the family and by the community that they would carry the body that is not required and a funeral process would be completely valid and would fulfill the rights of the deceased, even if that form of a procession and carrying physically of the janazah did not occur. The fifth part of the process is the burial, burying the body in the ground.
The issue of the burial is a very sensitive one, meaning that there is what we call an edge mark and absolute consensus of all the scholars of Islam that in the Islamic tradition, bodies are buried Of course in a situation where somebody drowned out at sea or something like that, then obviously the body is not available. But nonetheless, if we have a body available, the deceased are buried That is stated it is talked about in the Koran alluded to in the Quran, minha kalapana, Kumasi hunt or Edo calm and the story of the sons of Adam and so on and so forth. So, this is something that is absolutely agreed upon. So my purpose of saying that is that in this situation and from what I have
been informed, that is not
Currently, the image that is not currently the instruction, but in the situation that there was discussion or talk of cremation. That is something that we as a Muslim community would come together, we would advocate for, and we would try everything within our means we would petition we would advocate, we would do whatever we could, in order to try to find a way to make it as safe as possible, and allow for an exemption, at least for the Muslim community, for us to be able to bury our deceased brothers and sisters, because that is something that no scholar in the Islamic tradition has ever discussed. An alternative to now when it comes to the actual burial, once again,
if the burial is being done, and there are some kind of workers who have been hired with safety equipment, who are lowering the body into the grave, and not the community or family members doing so that is completely valid. The classical scholars have talked extensively about the permissibility of their being hired workers who are lowering the body into the grave, so that will not be an issue or a problem. The second issue is that, once again, the Islamic tradition states that we bury Muslims in a Muslim cemetery and graveyard. But in extreme scenarios, there is a permissibility of burying Muslims in outside of a Muslim Cemetery in graveyard, but once again, I want to caution,
that is not something that is not an option that we take lightly or easily, as much as possible to our ultimate extent, that will be our effort. However, in an event in a very, very extreme situation, that is something that the classical scholars have talked about, that there is room for permissibility into cases of severe situations. Thirdly, and hopefully in sha Allah, it does not come to this, it has not come to it at this point in time. But in a very, very dire situation. Once again, this is not the norm, in a very dire situation, there is an Islamic permissibility of bearing more than one person in one grave. That is something that has occurred in the Islamic tradition, and
there is permissibility of that, how it even happened during the lifetime of the Prophet sallallahu Sallam in the aftermath of war, hence, very, very dire situations. But nonetheless, I wanted to just clarify that there is some discussion about that being a possibility. Lastly, and finally, so I wanted to detail detail on all these components to illustrate and to explain, what are some of the different considerations in regards to the different components of the funeral process and procedure from an Islamic point of view? May Allah subhanaw taala protect everyone May Allah subhanaw taala keep everyone safe and sound? Lastly, and finally,
as we are already hearing about deaths occurring due to COVID-19. And may Allah subhanaw taala protect everyone. But in the case that we hear more, we hear of more deaths occurring and more people experienced the loss of loved ones. I wanted to comfort and console, all of us collectively together by reminding us of the words of the prophets a lot SLM were the prophets. A lot of them said, someone who dies of this kind of a very, you know, terrible disease or illness that is spreading rapidly throughout the community, that they receive the reward of a Shaheed, there is some discussion scholars say what kind of an illness that alludes to, but many scholars, particularly of
the Arabic language have said that the owner shahidan that the throne would also apply to any other kind of waba contagious illness. So we hope from the mercy of Allah subhanaw taala for Allah to extend that mercy and that honor upon everyone who all of our Muslim brothers and sisters who will lose who have lost their lives and might also lose their lives during this very difficult time. Once again, may Allah protect everyone May Allah give our whole community strength and safety throughout this ordeal, does akmola Hayden bark along FICO was Salam alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh