Hamzah Wald Maqbul – Riyd alSlihn Debt Death and Questioning Ribat 10292017
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So chapter regarding,
the
preference to
or the importance of
paying off the debts
of the deceased
and the preference to quickly
prepare the body,
and to quickly bury the body,
after death.
And nobody writes this. He says with the
exception
the exception of somebody who dies
suddenly and unexpectedly.
That person should be left for some time,
until you're sure that they're dead.
This happens sometimes that somebody the
the body will show the signs of death,
and then after some time, they'll come they'll
they'll they'll
come back to life again. This happened recently.
It was in the news recently with, a
person. He had, I think, a stroke or
something like that. He's a older African American
gentleman.
He actually died, and he was dead for,
like, a day or something like that. And
then he,
he, he was he came back to life.
He had no pulse, no heartbeat, none of
that stuff.
And, he lived for another 2, 3 years,
and then he, like, died died.
This is known to have happened. It happened
in in history.
You know, it's not something that happens every
day, but it does happen. So nobody says
don't just
put the person in the ground right away
if if the person dies in a way
that seems unexpected.
But, once you're sure that they're they're they're
gone and they're not coming back,
then,
then, then you can
then you should go ahead and bury them
as quickly as possible.
Said Abu Huraira radiyaa ta'ala Anhu,
he narrates from the prophet
that the
soul or the the soul of the believer
is
hanging,
on
debt.
Meaning,
that soul will neither be,
neither be given its proper station with Allah
nor will it receive the relief of salvation
until debts are fulfilled.
That that debt that's unfulfilled with a believer,
it
will it will remain until Yom Kiyama as
a,
as a difficulty that that that that they
have to endure.
Not necessarily a punishment, but it's something that
will be a cause of discomfort for them.
Now,
there's a difference between
debt and between sin.
Debts are like obligations that human beings have
to one another. There's a difference between them.
So if you owe someone something, whether it
is money or you borrowed something from them,
you didn't return it, or it has to
something to do with their honor that you
spoke about them, you back you did backbiting
about them, you lied about them, something. That
you spoke about them, you back you did
backbiting about them, you lied about them something,
you cheated them somehow, you owe them something,
whether it's something physical or whether it's something
material.
Those things,
some of them have sin involved with them
and some of them don't. So if you
borrow $20 from somebody,
that's not haram. There's no sin in it.
However, until you pay that back, that obligation
isn't fulfilled.
When a person becomes a Muslim or when
a person makes tawba, sin is forgiven.
A person is not a Muslim, they become
a Muslim, the sins are are are all
forgiven.
But the obligations that they have to give
to one another, those aren't forgiven.
Why? Because they're not sins in the first
place. It's just something that you have to
give back to the person.
So if a person for example,
I don't know. If a person,
you know,
was a drunkard or was a
drug abuser and then they become Muslim At
saying
that's all forgiven.
Drags out all the things that were, that
that came before it.
Or a person goes for Hajj,
and the Hajj is accepted as Hajj,
then the person
leaves from Hajj like the day that their
parents,
their mother bore them. Or a person,
makes toba from a sin sincere,
repentance,
then that that sincere repentance obliterates whatever is
there from sin from before.
A debt is not a sin though.
So So if a person owes another person
a $100,000
from before Islam, they still owe them a
$100,000
after taking the Shahadah
or a $100 or $10 or $1, whatever
it is.
And Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam even though taking
debt is not haram
strictly speaking on the face of it.
There may be certain types of debt that
are haram like, you know, with interest or
if you're taking it needlessly or if you
know that you're not gonna be able to
pay it back or whatever.
Those types of debts are haram.
However,
in general, taking debt is not haram. It's
permissible.
That being said,
took great pains to show the Sahaba radiallahu
anhu his displeasure with people taking that when
they didn't need to take it.
And so there's another hadith that that that
that Rasulullah
that we read from before
that,
he was told so and so passed away.
And,
he asked is that person indebted,
in any way to anybody? And so they
said yes.
He says why don't you all, go praise
Dinazid then? And so the Sahaba radiAllahu on
whom were so disturbed
that they amongst themselves arranged for that that
that deceased person's debt to be paid.
And then they came back to him and
said, you Rasool Allah his debt is paid
and so then he came and prayed over
them.
Because this was something very distressing to them,
right? But,
that indeed your prayer is,
gives them peace and tranquility.
The Sahaba radiallahu on whom they they were
horrified at the idea that that one of
them would pass away and Rasool Allah sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam wouldn't pray for them.
And so,
he used to like that. He used to
make zajar. He used to deter and and,
show his displeasure with people,
taking debt to the point where the Sahaba
would
abhor debt as if it's something that that's
a sin or something that's haram.
And,
you know, one of the reasons one of
the many reasons for it is that what?
Is that a person, once they're indebted, if
they die and they don't fulfill the debt
because nobody knows when they're gonna die. Nobody
knows what's gonna happen tomorrow.
The ability you have to pay the debt
off may be taken away from you tomorrow.
Nobody knows what's going to happen.
Because of that, he used to, discourage them
to the point where they used to really
consider it almost a moral failing for a
person to take on debt.
Now this is,
comparing contrast this to the way we live
nowadays
where, you know, people literally, they will freak
out if they cannot buy what they want
right now. People wanna buy, you know, and
live in homes that they cannot afford,
and they'll take on debt in order to
purchase homes they can't afford that they don't
really need.
For most of history, people used to live
together. There's a in living together,
and there's a in doing things simply. They
used to eat simply. They used to live
simply. They used to,
you know,
do things within their means and live within
their means.
And with the proliferation of credit,
even if a person is able to purchase
things without interest or in a permissible way.
So people will ask, okay. Is the mortgage
from guidance, is it permissible? Or is the
mortgage from university, is it permissible? Or is
this halal financing permissible or that halal financing
permissible? The fact of the matter is whether
it's permissible or not, that's an important issue
to talk about and think about. The other
question is, is it good for you financially?
Is it good for you spiritually?
Because,
once you take on debt, then you're morally
obliged to be paying off that money
more so than going on Hajj. It's gonna
stop you from going on Hajj. It's gonna
stop you from doing it. Itikaf in the
masjid. It's gonna stop you from learning ilm.
It's gonna stop you from doing a 100
different things.
People oftentimes, like, they have, a student loans,
you know.
And this is another thing. So, oh, Sheikh,
are you saying student loans are haram? Forget
about the fiqi discussion for now. This is
not a fiqi class. It may be, it
may not be. But aside from the idea
whether it's haram or not, you wanna go
and get your degree in creative writing from
whatever,
liberal arts college,
and you're gonna graduate with $300,000
in debt, then flag it in the air
you for the whole, like, the next 20
years of your life. Oh, I can't go
to Hajj. I can't do this. I can't
do that. I have student loans. Why couldn't
you just go to community college for 2
years?
What is it? A a shame on you
that you're gonna go to community college for
2 years or that you went to a
public school? Is it are you ashamed of
that? Do you have,
you know, are are you not gonna be
cool in front of your friends,
that you didn't get a, you know, go
get a degree in, like, whatever, drama from
Whitman College, but instead you went to community
college for 2 years and you, had to
sit and do a degree in something that's
actually going to allow you to, have some
sort of, means of livelihood that you can
do what you're made for afterward, which is
the worship of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
No. You're gonna get the degree from the
college that will make your,
friends happy and will make you feel like
you're cool in front of them even though
they don't care about you and you really
don't care about them either. In order to
show off to your relatives that don't care
about you and you don't care about them
either. In order to show off to other
people that you're gonna randomly meet and to
put on a resume that everybody lies about
what they do on anyway.
And it's not going to get you a
job. And even if it does get you
a job, it's going to be used as
a shield for you to protect yourself from
any sort of spiritual advancement for the next
10, 20 years until you have to pay
it off.
Why? Just because you wanted to show show
off to people and because you would have
been ashamed that someone would know that you
went to community college where as the next
guy is going to whatever North Northwestern or
Loyola or God knows what.
And the idea is that your shame should
be first
reserved for Allah and his Rasool Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam.
So if you're, you know, if your name
is like whatever,
Muhammad Abdullah Kennedy,
then by all means, go get your liberal
arts degree from from, Whitman College. Why? Because
you're living within your means. You can do
that. Your, you know, uncle probably built the,
whatever,
back third of the the campus and,
you know, it's not really a big deal.
And so go and say, you know, Alhamdulillah,
Allah gave me all of this wealth and
whatnot and go enjoy yourself.
If you're not within those means, if that's
not within your means, then
acceptance of the Qadr of Allah Ta'ala is
what that Allah puts everybody in the place
that they're in for some sort of reason.
There's no need to resent or be upset
about it. If it weighs heavily on you,
be patient with it.
Otherwise, if you have love for Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala, be happy that he gave you
what you needed and what you wanted and
what's best for you.
And trust me interestingly enough, there are so
many there are so many people. Right? They,
go to school in a place that's not
the most elite place in the world and
it makes all the difference for them. Do
you think that, I mean, we know this
is true both in Madrasah and the oolum
of in the Madrasah and I know this
to be true in university as well, that
oftentimes the best teachers are people that nobody
knows about.
They're oftentimes people that are not tenured professors.
They're oftentimes people, you know, just because you're
good at teaching doesn't mean you're good at
research. Just because you're good at teaching doesn't
mean that you're,
you know, good at playing, politics in the
department. There are many people who are, like,
the most amazing teachers. Sometimes,
the tutoring lab in the in the community
college,
you'll learn more in it than you would
have in the,
big hall in the most, elite university where
you have 300 students that you're studying with
and your your, you know, whatever professor is
from a different country and doesn't speak English
properly and views you as a nuisance, and
they grade everything on a curve and all
of these foreign students with PhDs and masters
degrees in science who have to do their
degrees again because their degrees aren't recognized will
end up straightening the curve out so that
that person could literally lecture on Latin and
Greek and still when the chemistry exam or
the calculus exam comes up, still there are
gonna be people who do well on the
exam because they know all of that from
before. These are experiences that that that that
we've gone through. The idea is if you
have trust in Allah
and you do these things according to the
advice of the sunnah of the Rasool Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam.
The person who fears Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
Allah Ta'ala will give them an exit from
their problems, and Allah Ta'ala will give them
risk and give them provision
from those avenues in those quarters that they
never accepted expected. So the idea is not
like, oh, I'm not gonna take a a
a loan. Everyone has take a loan to
get an education. I'm not gonna take a
loan and I'm thus I'm not gonna get
an education.
I'm pious because I'm gonna work at McDonald's
for the rest of my life. No. That's
one extreme. And the other extreme is take
out as much money as you can and
tell,
you're a debt slave,
for the rest of your life. That's another
extreme. The deen is what? Every decision you
make is it should be made based on
on what your your
and your
go the people who got through life without,
you know, get got through their degrees without
taking on debt. Go find them. There are
people like that. There are people who've gone
through medical school without taking on,
interest bearing debt. There are people who've gone
through, dental school, all of these things without
taking on interest bearing debt. Or there are
people that that will at least allow you
to, you know, teach you how to minimize
the amount of debt that you take off
and how you can discharge it as soon
as possible. Why? Because if you took on,
like, whatever, 300, $400,000
worth of debt, Hamas, you have a, degree
from Harvard Law now.
You're the the top whatever neurosurgeon
in the world, and you're going to get
$200,000
for, like, a 4 hour surgery, every 4
hour surgery that you do, do, and you
die tomorrow.
Well, who's gonna pay that money off? And
you're going to owe money to a bank,
and you're going to be inside of your
Kaaba. Your mother will weep for you, and
God knows what's gonna happen because Rasulullah Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam said that the soul of the
person who's in debt, that soul is like
in limbo until that debt is discharged from
them.
I mean, these are important things. These are
important things to think about. They're important things
to talk about. Strangely enough,
people who are accustomed to doing things in
cash,
their life cycle, the first, you know, 10
years, 15 years, 20 years, it's definitely more
constrained than other people. But when they get
out on the other end of it, usually,
they're actually financially much better off.
They're actually financially much better off. And how
is
how is wealth transferred?
There are a few people who will, you
know, pull themselves up from the boot straps,
work hard and say, oh, look. I built
myself up and I enjoyed,
and those people are usually the exception, not
the rule. They dangle that in front of
you in order to
make you happy with the fact that you're,
economically being basically played a number on,
by a bunch of unscrupulous
actors. But the majority of people in the
world that have money, it's because they inherited
it from their parents and,
and and they were able to to do
business with it. Not everyone who inherits money
from their parents becomes rich, but almost everyone
who's rich has some sort of chunk of
money that they came that that ceded their
their wealth.
If you do things on debt, you die
you die broke,
you're basically going to,
you're basically going to have the deck stacked
against the next generation,
against your children, against your grandchildren.
And many people have this idea that like,
oh, I want my kids to work hard
and and not depend on, like, their inheritance.
I want them to work hard and what
that's wonderful.
The reason I I don't care about your
children being able to buy a $1,000,000 house
when you die. That doesn't that's not the
the the concern I have. The concern I
have is that the Ummah as a as
a as a group
needs to have a certain requisite amount of
wealth in order to be able to run
the institutions that it needs to run, in
order to be able to build Masajid, build
Madars, sustain Khalil Center, all of these other
things. People need to have a certain amount
of money in order to do these types
of things. If we don't have them, then
instead of coming to Khalil Center, then the
people will go to another,
whatever health, mental health provider. And you don't
know if that person is gonna care about
your your deen or not. They're gonna care
about your akhirah or not. You know, there's
not gonna be a place where you're gonna
have rial al salihim class. There's not gonna
be a place that's going to be able
to accommodate that nor are the people at
home going to be able to, listen to
it on SoundCloud because the SoundCloud, whatever, subscription,
there's no one to pay for it, etcetera,
etcetera.
And for that reason,
you see that the the the Sahaba
those of them that lived after the Futuhad,
they're extremely wealthy people even though they lived
as Zuhad themselves. They lived as people that
took very little from the dunya.
Sayna,
Anas bin Malik Radiallahu Wa Ta'ala Anhu was
once shopping in the markets of Basra.
And, the shopkeeper like blew him off
because he thought this guy is broke, like
look at the way he's dressed and look
at the way he has no idea who
he is Radhi Allah Ta'ala Anhu. And so
Anas bin Malik, you know, he straightened the
guy out. It's a it comes in the
Athar. He straightened the guy out. He said,
look. He goes, don't just look at people
and judge them and treat them badly just
because you think they're poor. And he showed
that he showed him how wealthy he was.
He died in he when he died,
he was extremely wealthy.
But the wealth was for what? The wealth
wasn't for showing off and, you know, living
outside of their outside of his means, etcetera,
etcetera.
Rather it was, you know, the wealth of
the Sahaba
and whom the wealth of the until this
day, the way people find out that one
of them is wealthy is what? When they
die, all these people come forward and say,
oh, this person used to pay for my
child's tuition at school. This person used to
pay my mortgage. A widow used to pay
for my health insurance. They that person bought
me a car when I needed 1, etcetera,
etcetera. And then there's no one there to
help them out anymore. That's when you find
out that these people had a lot of
money.
And that's what your your your money is
for.
And so this should be a very scary
a very scary,
hadith for all of us that, it's scary
for me when I when I read it.
I said that the the soul of a
a believer is
in limbo,
And that that the the madar or the
the the connection of which way it's going
to go has to do with that that,
that debt that they have.
And this
situation is not going to be, remedied until
that debt is paid off. That's why when
you're, you know, when your family members die,
it's customary to make an announcement at the
Janaza and at the
that if anybody has a debt against,
against my whatever relative or father or whatever,
then pay it off.
If that person sometimes those people that die,
they have so little in their inheritance,
that that they can't, you know, their inheritance
isn't enough for them to pay it off,
then their relatives, friends, family members,
should get together and pay that debt off.
And it's hoped that Allah
will give a great reward for
for those who,
who do that for for their deceased,
brothers and sisters in Islam,
because,
because of the,
the kind of gravity of that state that
that person will, literally, until Yomokiyama be in
a state of disturbance,
until that debt is paid off. Or people
forgave each other. People forgave each other. You
can also have the debt forgiven.
But, remember
that, it is haram
to take money by force.
It is haram to take someone money from
someone by force. And the ulama write that
taking money by force takes many different
takes many different,
forms.
And so one of those forms is obviously,
like, you stick say stick it up. Give
me your what's in your wallet or I'll
kill you. That's what most people think of
when they think about money, taking money by
force.
Islam
considers, like,
verbal and emotional
attacks on people to be in the same
category as physical attacks.
So if somebody says, you know, somebody's puts
puts his hand in his pocket and makes
a shot as if there's a gun, says
give me your money.
Even though there's no gun there, the person
will be
prosecuted as if there was one.
Why?
Because the threat is more important. The the
the the threat, how it's perceived and how
the how it's processed as an act of
violence by the person who's
hearing it, that that,
that's what's what makes it an act of
violence. Not the fact that you you may
have not had any intention to kill them
ever at all, in the first place, but
still that person is in the same category
as the one who actually had a gun
and was holding holding that person up. The
Ulema writes so much so so much so
that if you
ask these things in the Majlis, like, okay,
it's Riald Salihin, Sashayef,
you know,
Imran Qasem, you know, my whatever deceased
cousin, old old Imran Qasem, you know, a
$1,000. Imran Qasem, do you forgive him? And
just because he's in front of everybody and
the embarrassment that is gonna cause him,
if he if he refuses to, forgive that
debt, even though he may need the money
himself,
that's considered a type of coercion.
It's considered a type of coercion itself.
So it's better to pay it off that
person
without any
coercion or, without any,
you know,
dislike if they forgive that debt. It's hoped
by Allah
that Allah will will forgive them, and give
them a great reward for it. But it's,
just something to keep in mind that you
don't, you don't you don't
use bad means in order to
have that person forgive the debt as well.
Yes. You had a question? Yeah. What if,
the debt was,
like, here, I think, with with credit card
debt after a certain time when they find
out the person has passed away, they, like,
they look for,
like, in, probate court or whatever. Like, let's
say someone passed away and and, you know,
the person that the Mexican didn't know anything
about, like, a lot of debt. And that
that just goes away. Some like credit card
debt. They stop pursuing it and it just
gets
following somewhere. Because I still have the same,
like, hoke them up.
Yeah. I mean, the the idea is that
once a debt becomes so bad that that
they stop trying to collect it,
just the fact that they don't pursue it
anymore,
it doesn't mean that the effect of the
debt goes away.
Sorry.
If they forgive it theoretically, if they forgive
the debt, if they have, like, a a
a clause in it that if you die,
we'll forgive your debt,
that's one thing. But, I don't think that's
what it is. What it is basically, the
debt becomes so bad that there it it's
cost them more money to try to recover
it than
than to than to, receive
it.
That's that that that doesn't that doesn't help
at all. That that won't alleviate it at
all. And, paying the debt is the the
the responsibility of the one who's in debt.
It's not the responsibility of the collector to
collect it.
Wahwahin, who was one of the,
Ansar
and
he,
passed from this world as a shahid in
the path of ta'ala at the battle of
Qadisiyah.
It was the last battle that that kind
of broke the back of the the Persian
Empire and opened the
Mada'in, the the imperial Persian, Sasanian Persian capital
to the Sahaba.
He narrates that Talhatabnul
Bara'ah,
from the clan of Assad from the Ansar.
He
became mortally ill, and the prophet
came to visit him. And when he left
from, visiting him,
he said that, it seems to me that
Talha,
he he's going to die. He's he's not
there's really no,
it doesn't look like he's gonna survive this.
So,
when he dies,
let me know.
Give me give me word so that he
could, pray over pray his janazah
and
he says He said that, and and quickly
once he passes away,
quickly
wash his body and prepare it and then
bury it because it's not proper for
the the the the corpse of a Muslim
that it should be held up,
with the family.
Meaning what? It's a it's a sunnah it's
a sunnah that once a person passes away
that they should be buried quickly.
And there is a
narration of the the story of the death
of Talha that he did die,
and he died in the middle of the
night. And before he died,
this is Masha'allah, this is the, the the
adab of the sahaba radiAllahu ta'ala anhu.
That,
narrates that, he died at night. And he
said that that, when he was about to
pass away, bury me at night.
And,
let me meet my lord.
And don't,
don't tell the messenger of Allah
because I fear,
I fear if he comes at night,
he's going to be attacked,
by the,
hostile,
tribes
of Jews that live around Madinah Munawwara that
are hostile to him, that somebody will harm
him on his way to,
on his way to, my
Janaza.
And so
he was buried like that at night.
And then Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wasallam was informed
about his,
passing in the morning.
And, he came to his grave
and he stood at it and the people
stood behind him in rows
and he raised his hands in dua
and he said, oh Allah,
meet Dala laughing and let him meet you
laughing. Meaning meet him,
meet him in a state of happiness and
pleasure with him and let him meet you
also in a state of happiness and pleasure.
This is the adab of the Sahaba radiAllahu
ta'ala and
whom that,
imagine how much
imagine how much,
benefit there would be if Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi
wasallam were to pray someone's janaza.
And how much of an honor it would
be for them to pray that someone's janaza.
And Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam even
said, tell me when he dies so I
can come and be in his janaza.
But
he Talhatab Noon Bara radiAllahu anhu his adab
with the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam was
such that he cared more for Rasool Allah
sallallahu alaihi wasallam's well-being than he did for
his own.
And this is a recurring theme in the,
the life of the Sahaba radiallahu anhu and
their relationship with the messenger of Allah sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
That,
you know, someone is
about to be executed.
And, Musharikin
asked them,
wouldn't you prefer that Mohammed be in your
place,
right now that you're about to now that
you're about to die, alayhis salatu wasalam. And
they say, wallahi, I would rather I would
rather die than even a thorn go into
his foot sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
And a person thinks about like, oh, well,
if,
you know, if Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam comes to my janaza, I'll be forgiven.
I'll get this benefit. I'll get that benefit.
I'll get the other benefit.
But the Sahaba
had common sense in the sense that they
knew that,
the Asul of Iman has to do with
loving
Allah and his Rasul, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
more than you love yourself.
And so if a person can imagine what
the benefit of Rasul, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam's
praying your janazah is,
and they know that this is something that's
of a higher priority,
then whether or not they know what specific
reward you're going to receive for,
for for, you know, sparing
from going through Taklif,
you know it will be bigger than whatever
reward you you know about.
Why? Because,
submission
is always,
always rewarded better than than, trying to think
through things on your own.
And this is this is the epitome of
adab
that, a person should have with other people,
that they should never want another to go
through difficulty for them. That they should have
saber and patience and they should take difficulty
on themselves
rather than inflicting difficulty on somebody else. And
you see even Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa sallam,
first of all, he didn't you know, if
that person had did something wrong because they're
gonna say, well,
why didn't they tell Rasulullah, alayhis salatu wasalam?
Why did they listen to this Talha instead
of listening to the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasalam?
Because the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasalam said, inform
me. And Talha said don't inform him.
Is this the sign that the Sahab are
like some sort of conspiratorial munafiqeen or something
like that, hypocrites that they don't listen to
what his command is or what he has
to say. Absolutely not.
And the proof of that is that Rasulullah
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he
didn't he didn't in the narration say, why
did you do this? He didn't,
make,
zajar or he didn't
tell them, you know, you did wrong or
you should have listened to me. He didn't
say anything to them that that that indicated
his displeasure.
Because Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam doesn't bear witness
to Batil.
Rather,
what did he do? He went and he
made dua at the cover of
of, Talhatu al Bara.
And
such a dua, any of us would
would say that this is this is like,
you know, this would make our entire dunya
and akhirah of Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa sallam
made this du'a for us. Because his du'a
is accepted by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That
the person who Allah Ta'ala meets and he's
happy with, and that person meets Allah Ta'ala
and they're happy with them. You don't have
to ask for the details. You know it's
gonna be good.
And so this is a a a a
a also another important lesson because oftentimes we're
like, oh, I want this. I want that.
We think about ourselves ourselves
ourselves by trying to,
procure honors
and benefits for ourselves. We oftentimes miss the
bigger picture, which is, that through the service
of others and and being careful about not
harming or giving, taqif to other people,
we will ourselves garner much more benefit than
than we would have had we been selfish.
So this is the the end of this
previous chapter.
It's a chapter chapter regarding,
giving exhortation righteous exhortation,
at the at in the graveyard.
Chapter of giving righteous exhortation,
in the place of burial.
We,
were in the Bataia. The Bataia is there,
graveyard of Madinah Munawara.
The,
which is the graveyard. It's still there.
Although,
there's no tree trees in it anymore, I
guess. But,
he says that we were in the the
Baqir al Kharkad,
following a janaza.
And the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam came to us,
and he sat.
And we sat down around him,
and he had a stick,
in his hands
and he started making dots in the in
the in the sand,
with his stick. And he had his head
bowed down. He bowed his head down and
he started making
dots in the sand with his stick.
And then he said, there's nobody,
amongst you except for Allah Ta'ala has written
for them a specific place both in the
fire and a specific place,
abode in Jannah.
And, the people asked him asked the messenger
of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. You Rasool
Allah, Afalanatakilu
alakitabina.
He said, You Rasool Allah, should we not
then just,
you know,
give up and know that whatever Allah has
written for us is what we're going to
get?
He said no. He said rather,
keep doing keep doing deeds
because everybody,
will find a path facilitated,
to fulfill whatever they're created for.
And this is part of the hadith,
Andy.
The rest of the hadith is
mentioned,
is mentioned in the the books that it's
narrated in,
and it's mentioned in the narration of Bukhari.
That the the the the rest of the
narration from Bukhary is that Rasulullah
said, as for the people of happiness of
eternal happiness,
they are,
they are facilitated
to do the deeds
of the people of eternal happiness.
And as for the people of eternal wretchedness,
a path is facilitated for them to do
the deeds of the people of wretchedness.
And then Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam read
from Suratul Layl. It says as for the
one who gives and fears
Allah and and and gives charity
sorry. Not gives charity and, believes us true
or holds us true, this revelation in a
good way, we will make easy for them
a path to,
a beautiful end
sorry, a path to
an end, which is, one of ease.
And as for the one who,
is miserly
and pretends like they don't need Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala
and,
disbelieves
in this, in this revelation in a good
way.
Meaning what? What does it mean to disbelieve
in the revelation in a good way?
Obviously, there's Hatikatan, there's no way of disbelieving
in it. But in reality, it's all it's
all nonsense, all bogus. But there are some
people you'll see
that they speak really eloquently.
They have very delicate manners. They're very nice
people.
They,
dress very well. They have good businesses.
Their, you know, their children
seem to be good. Everything about them seems
good,
but at the core of it, it's rotten
in the in the sense that they've turned
their back on Allah
Right? We're people as as Muslims.
We look at
what is the foundation of,
of all matters. If the foundation is good,
then there's a chance that something good will
come from it. If the foundation is bad,
if everything else on top of it is
good, it's still all gonna crumble.
If you have 20 steps
20 steps
of action that you're gonna do,
19 of them are very enjoyable and the
last one is bad, what's our aqidah?
Our akida is a umurubil kawatiem.
All matters
the quality of all matters is to be
ascertained by the way they end.
It's an it's an important thing. It's an
important, it's an important
thing to understand. It's an important precept to
understand. Like for example, we're talking about debt.
So
for example,
you buy a house on a mortgage whether
it's halal or otherwise.
If you were to pay for the house
in cash,
how much would you pay? A $100,000.
If you're to buy get it on a
mortgage, how much would you pay? 350,000
dollars. So you know
this is not this is not good.
There may be some other circumstance that forces
you to
purchase on that mortgage,
but you know once you know that the
end of this thing is not good,
then
the logic of iman is what? Is that
it's not worth doing.
This has to do with who you make
friends with, this this has to do with
who you marry, this has to do with,
what career path you have, this has to
do with which neighborhood you buy your house
in, this has to do with all of
these things.
If the end of something is not useful,
then what's the point?
So,
what what that that person,
they disbelieve and they show their disbelief in
a beautiful way,
will make easy for them the path toward
difficulty. And there's no difficulty that's,
that's, more horrible and horrifying than the
the the hellfire.
And so Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Salam, he,
you know, he shows a point this is
something that comes up because we teach akhida
in different places. It comes up again and
again that
it comes up again and again that
Baby sit in the back, go to mama,
go.
Baby, go mama.
Thank you.
The
this comes up again and again in the
aqidah class which is the issue regarding free
will and predestination.
And the simple
the simple way of looking at this issue
is that
from your own intuition, it feels like what
you do every day is that you have
free will in all matters.
You're the one who creates your destiny. You
have that feeling inside of you. Right? That
if I usually when I wanna do something
good, something good happens. And when I wanna
do something bad, something bad happens.
So you should go about your day choosing
the thing that you want. At the same
time, it should be easy for you to
understand that Allah ta'ala who created the heavens
and the earth from nothing, knew everything that
was gonna happen before it happened and nothing
can happen without his, allowing it to happen.
How these two things are true at the
same time, It's not not really any of
your, it's not any it's not something that
you you need to know. It's not gonna
a, you're never going to be able to
understand it. And b, it's not Even if
you did understand it theoretically, which you're not
going to be able to. It's impossible to
understand why Allata does what he does.
Right?
Just like the the table cannot understand why
the carpenter does what what it does or
more so than that.
But you're not going to be able to
understand even in if you were to suspend
your rational faculty and say, okay. I You
know, even if I did understand.
If you suspend your rational faculty and say,
even if I did understand, it's not Actually
doesn't help you
do anything any different.
It didn't change the way you go about
your life.
So the the Saabar radiAllahu anhu asked, if
already Allah ta'ala has written for us a
place in the fire and a place in
Jannah and he already knows which one we're
going to,
then,
you know, should we not just like why
should we struggle so much in order to
try to go to 1 or the other?
Should we not just relax and just say
whatever Allah wrote for us? That's what's gonna
happen. And Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, no.
Rather keep doing what what what you feel
like is the best course of action. Because
Allah Ta'ala will make easy for every person,
a path
toward that end that Allah Ta' created for
them.
And this is something that that's mentioned again
and again,
in the Athar of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam that every person who went goes
to Jannah, there is a place for them
written in the fire as well. And everyone
who goes to the fire, there's a place
for them written for them in Jannah because
every soul had the potentiality of going toward
1 or the other.
Even though Allah
knew who was going to choose what,
every soul also desired to go there. You,
in parallel, also were created for the place
that you end up and you deserve it.
And you deserve it.
The people of Jahannam definitely deserve it. If
even if the people of Jannah,
they enter through Allah's grace, nobody enters into
Jahannam except for through Allah Ta'ala's
justice.
This is the meaning of
the the kalam of Allah ta'ala
That those people are the inheritors. The the
people of Jannah, the believers, those are the
inheritors, the ones that inherit,
paradise.
They will live therein forever.
What does it mean that they inherit?
It means that all of, once everybody who's
going to go to Jannah has entered into
Jannah, obviously there's gonna be a whole bunch
of,
empty houses.
So in this world when you have empty
houses, Chinese investors buy them.
In that world,
something else happens. We do that when everybody's
in their mafam and jannah and then there's
always open and empty spaces, the angels will
make an announcement. Whatever space is not claimed,
if you want it, it's yours. Go stake
your claim. Go take it.
And they inherit the of the people, the
hellfire from them in Jannah.
But those places literally exist.
And,
more scary is that even the people of
Iman, even if you have hope from Allah
Ta'ala that you'll buy
die in Iman,
remember there's a place marked for you in
the hellfire.
And every person has the potentiality
inside of them to,
to make it to that place. And generally,
the people who do are the ones who
think, oh, I'll never go there.
So if you have that makes you afraid,
then there's good news inshallah. You ask for
Allah's help, he'll help you to avoid it.
If you don't fear Allah Ta'ala with regards
to that, then,
you know, then, Allah Ta'ala protect us all
and help us all because that's not a
good sign.
The chapter regarding praying for the deceased
after having buried them and,
sitting at the grave for some amount of
time to make dua and to ask Allah
Ta'al for forgiveness for them and for the
recitation of the Quran.
Arthman ibn Affan ri ibn Affan riabdu'ala Anhu,
the Amirul Mumineen,
he
said that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
generally, when he was done with,
burying the deceased,
he would stand,
over the grave,
and he would say,
seek forgiveness for your
brother
and ask Allah to make him firm because
right now he is being questioned and he
is being asked.
So,
the second narration in the same chapter is
from Sayidna Amr ibn al Asr radiAllahu anhu.
He said that
when you bury me,
stand around my grave,
for an amount of time,
equivalent to
however long it takes to slaughter a camel
and distribute its meat.
So maybe 45 minutes or an hour or
something like that.
Until, I feel comfortable
in my grave. I don't feel, completely scared
while I'm in my grave.
And I know,
I am calm enough to be able to,
know and give proper answers to the
messengers of my lord.
Meaning what?
Meaning the person when they enter into their
grave,
once the people leave,
they will be, sat up and forced to
answer questions by Munkar and Nakir.
Who is your lord,
and what is your deen? And what do
you say about this person? And they'll be
shown the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam in
a way that they that they they know
who it is.
And,
both the narrations,
indicate that what? That a person when they're,
buried in their grave,
a, they receive benefit from the duas of
those who make dua for them.
And this is something,
it's mentioned in the that it's part of
the of the Muslims
that
the the duas for the deceased
and
the sadaqa that's given on behalf of this
deceased, both of them, the deceased will benefit
from them.
This is part of our aqidah.
Then thereafter, there's a difference of opinion amongst
the ulama
that doesn't extend to all of the other
acts of piety.
Can you pray for example and then make
intention that the the reward go to the
deceased?
Or can you,
for example, read Quran and make the intention
that the recitation the reward for the recitation
goes to the deceased?
Those are things you can, you know, in
a 5th class, you can ask about about
them. My understanding is majority of the lama,
they also accept that, but some of them
don't. Everyone has their own,
has their own,
arguments for why whatever is isn't true. That's
something you can learn about in class.
But this hadith, someone might say, well, isn't
this a definitive proof that,
you know,
aren't these hadith a definitive proof that,
you know,
you know, reading Quran around the grave is,
is going to be helpful? And the answer
is no. Because first of all, the recitation
of the Quran isn't
mentioned,
in either of these.
And,
secondly,
there's a comment that's made at the end
of the second one,
by Imam Nawawi
that Shafi'i Rahimahullah Ta'ala, he,
preferred that some part of the Quran be
read,
around the grave.
And this is also a Hanafi
this is also the the practice that's described
in the Hanafi books that you should read
the beginning of the
Surat Al Baqarah and read the end of
the Surat Al Baqarah,
at the grave as well as some Quran
recitation should be made. And it's mentioned Nawawi
makes mention of the the opinion of Shafi'i
that it's even good if a person reads
the entire Quran at the grave.
It's an opinion it's an opinion of the
Mujshahidun,
but there's 2 things. 1 is the salaab,
the the reward of the recitation. Does it
go to the Does it go to the
deceased or not? That's one issue. The second
issue is what is the effect on the
on the on the the deceased? There are
2 separate issues.
So when a person goes to a a
Kaabar, a good thing to do at the
Kaabar is to make vikir or to recite
the Quran.
Why? Because wherever the recitation of the Quran
is, made and wherever the dhikr of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is made,
in the spiritual realm there's a good effect
in it.
So a Kafir may say, well, I don't
feel any difference. Well, of course, you wouldn't
feel any difference. Your heart's dead.
Someone said, well, I'm not a Kafir. I
don't feel any difference. Was it because you
watch TV all the time and listen to
music the entire day and haven't, you know,
woke up for fajr for quite a long
time and you don't make wudu properly when
you do and etcetera etcetera ad nauseam. If
you, you know, went and stayed in the
attic off for the next 40 days and
did things properly, I promise you, you would
feel some effect.
And and that's something that we also have
to check ourselves because we get into these
kinda slump like states where, like, where where,
like, oh my god. I don't feel it
anymore. The the the idea
the the idea that that that a person
doesn't quote unquote feel it anymore, your own
has a lot to do with that. So
if you get into that state, a person
should be very,
afraid and then should do some things to
pull themselves back into back into that state
if they fall out of it. That's why
Ramadan is such an interesting time.
Because the rest of the year, sometimes I
see like the the community and I see
the Ummah and I'm like, oh my goodness.
This is not going anywhere good. And then
that same person that you would have sworn
last month,
you know, Allah knows best if they're if
they really believe in God or not. Then
you see that person like praying salat like
there's no tomorrow and like, you know, doing
all these pious things and you're like, oh
wow. Okay.
It's you know,
this is these things describe living hearts. They
don't describe dead hearts. But there's an effect
on a person.
And the effect on the dead,
because there's no
there's no hijab between them and the spiritual
realities
at that point. The heart doesn't isn't it
can't be dead in that state.
Even if a person is the
and they're inside of their grave,
you know, like whatever. You know, I just
read an article, ridiculous article,
the other day about some crazy woman who,
like, moved to India and, like,
came up with this philosophy that Hitler is
like an incarnation of, like, the Hindu God
Vishnu. And, like, I'm just thinking, like, all
these different, like, crazy disparate, like, types of
Kufir coming together
and forming this, like, super, like
it's like if Kufir was transformers and when
the, like, 5 of them get together and
make this huge transformer
of Kufr.
And
even even those people, even if, like, Faraun
and, like,
you you know, Hitler and all these people
are are are, you know, they're they're hanging
out.
Even then, once once the veil is lifted
and they've passed from this world,
they cannot help but
witness
the the anwar of the Quran being recited.
And it's possible that even a kafir in
their punishment
will feel the lightning of their punishment in
the grave,
when somebody, a pious person passes by and
makes the dhikr of Allah Ta'ala and and
and makes the recitation of the Quran.
So how would it be for then a
person who dies on?
Iman.
So that's one issue but then that doesn't
mean even if one were to accept that,
that doesn't mean that the deceased is receiving
the reward. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Those are 2
those are 2 separate issues. So one can
accept the first one and still have an
argument against the second one. I'm not arguing
in favor of either because, again, this is
not a fit class, but I am bringing
it up so that people can, you know,
keep the the keep in mind that,
that separate issues should be,
treated separately. But the idea is this is
that,
Umar bin Asr radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, he was
saying that stay because I'm going to enter
the grave and I haven't been there anymore
and I'm afraid I'm going to freak out.
If you stay and you do these things
like making
Istilfar seeking Allah's
forgiveness for me and you are doing these,
making zikr. Although those things are not mentioned
in his rewaiyah, but they are mentioned by
Rasool Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is that that's
what you you should do when you stand
around the grave.
I feel like I'll be calm enough that
I won't mess up the answers to the
questions that the angels give. Now this being
said,
the ulama have a difference of opinion whether
whether or not it's
must have for a person to,
stay at the grave too long after the
burial.
So this is an opinion also that the
people should leave,
and that that,
the you know, this is also a difference
of opinion with regards to what they call
the
is like, to give instructions to the person
who's buried because there's a narration,
or a couple of narrations that,
Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam his Sahaba radiallahu
an whom said that once you bury me,
let a that I heard Rasulullah
say that when you buried somebody,
if you say if you if one of
their brothers stays at the grave and says
2 angels will come to you and they'll
ask you these three questions and this is
the answer.
That the angels will put, Munkar and Nakir
will put hand in hand and say what
need do we have to question this person?
They already told them the
answers, and they'll leave without questioning them.
The have
a
a a a a debate between them
as to whether or not these narrations are
correct enough
to,
make Amal on.
And, generally speaking,
the the the Fukaha
consider these these
issues like this one to be something that's
that that it's not so solidly
transmitted that that we the should say that
everyone should do this, but it's also not
so baseless that the Fauquaha should say, like,
don't do it.
So it's a,
I guess, a difference of opinion that that
seems to run down the middle.
But the reason the reason I mentioned it
is that whether a person makes amal on
it or not,
it's in line with it's in line with
this concept that when a person dies
that, people should at that time make dua
for them or should make
a stilfar or thikr for them,
or recite Quran at the grave just enough
so that that person
dampens the the the the fear
of this very,
you know, very difficult
experience of being questioned in the grave,
at that time.
I would prefer
that,
if someone were to do this that the
Dua not be in congregation.
Mhmm.
Just because it's, it's not the recorded amulets,
not the recorded practice of the Sahaba radiAllahu
anhu. And generally speaking, when people do things
in congregation,
with exception of those things that are,
are done through the sunnah.
There's a type of show and pretense, like,
people wouldn't have state if they didn't have
to. Whereas when do people do things on
their own,
there's a modicum of sincerity in it in
the sense that you actually had to be
sincere enough to drag yourself to do it.
The fact that other people are there or
not there watching or not watching is precluded
from from that in in in in some
sense.
And your duas are the effectiveness of your
duas are directly pegged to
the sincerity with which they're made. And if
they're not made with sincerity then, you know,
one might say that they're almost useless.
But, you know, some people some people will
do that. It's the custom of some people
to stand in in
congregation and make duas and things like that.
And anyway, by the way, if any of
you go to a
go to a
a a janazah or something, these are not
the that's not the time to bring these
things up. We bring these things up in
class because when someone's like whatever relative and
loved one is being buried and you're like,
well, it's better to not do it in
pub whatever and you just make a scene
and and and cast a leaf to the
to the living and possibly to the dead
as well at that point.
But, these are things for us to know
for our own
for our own deaths. I mean, really, honestly,
all of these things like paying off debts,
how you wanna have the dua made at
the end of your or at the end
of your burial. Do you wanna be buried
quickly? Do you wanna be cremated? What do
you wanna, you know, what do you wanna
do? These are the reasons that's it's it's
not permissible for a person not to have
a because you I I I will. One
might say, well, I'm broke. I don't have
any money anyway. Right?
That's not the whole point. I mean, you
actually probably do have some money. But more
importantly than that
is,
in this country, they're not gonna follow Islamic
customs anyway
until and unless there's a document compelling them
to do so.
So someone may die
and
they may be cremated.
They may die and
you know,
that one crazy uncle at the masjid who's
like crazy.
You know, we'll end up praying their janaza
and you don't even know if they're they're
Muslim or not. And like they'll end up
like they say the craziest things. And they'll
end up leaving your janazah or whatever and
tell them unless you leave instructions and specify
to people what to do when you're when
you're gone,
that's those things there's no guarantee they're gonna
happen.
If you leave a and they don't happen,
it's not your problem.
If you don't leave a and they happen,
assume that it's your own responsibility that whatever
happens.
Who knows if a person goes, travels, dies
somewhere far from their home, They send your,
may it, you know, for for for Janazah
that ends up at the Qadiani place because
they're whatever local Qadiani guys, like, elected to,
whatever city council position, and so he's the
one who set it up that way or
whatever. Allah knows best. What are what what
kind of weird things can happen?
And weird things all that they happen all
the time.
They happen all the time.
So lest, you know, we, pray janaza over
your ashes,
you know, do go ahead and write your
your your and think about these things. And
part of the benefit of writing is that
you think about these things. If you're gonna
think about what what's gonna happen at that
time, you're also gonna take a remembrance and
a reminder of your death. And then,
all of the sudden,
your favorite movie doesn't seem so important anymore.
And all of the sudden, you know, the
car you wanted to buy doesn't seem as
important anymore. All of a sudden, your favorite
sports team doesn't seem as important anymore.
Is a haram. It was not a fit
class.
Just as certain things, they have more importance
and we don't give them time. And certain
things, they have less importance and we give
them so much time.
So,
exercises like this help us to, bring balance
again to our, you know, to the way
that we live live our lives. And balance
balance is a good thing. Balance is a
very good thing. Allah give all
of
us so much.