Sikander Hashmi – The Final Departure KMA Friday Message
AI: Summary ©
The speakers emphasize the importance of preparing for warmer weather, avoiding loss and misery, and not overemphasizing the importance of death. They stress the need for preparation, peace, and volunteerism for funeral industry. The importance of burying the deceased in the burial and creating simple and lighted burials is emphasized. Visitors should be in check and not try to be annoying. The burial is considered a holy day, with the burial being the most important day of the day. Visitors should be in check and not try to be annoying.
AI: Summary ©
My young friends,
If you ask please ask the brothers to
try to fill in the gaps so that
we have maximum capacity.
My brothers and sisters,
how long ago was it
that the plants
were starting to bud
and we were
eagerly anticipating the spring
after winter?
The warmer weather,
the beautiful flowers,
gardening,
the plants,
the new leaves,
reprieve after the winter,
it wasn't that long ago.
It was about 5 months ago.
And yesterday,
the autumn season season arrived,
and and it arrived officially and also arrived
with a wave, a blast of cold air.
And those same leaves
that we were looking forward to seeing and
they were sprouting,
they are now reaching
the end of their lives.
And
this is something that we human beings enjoy.
Right. So especially in the area that we
live in, there's going to be, you know,
various activities that have to do with the
fall colors,
fall rhapsody, so on and so forth.
SubhanAllah
has made it so that at every stage
of their lives,
these leaves, they give us
satisfaction
and pleasure.
When they're coming out,
we see the little green sprouts coming out
of the ground,
and on the dead trees,
we are hopeful.
We look forward to nice weather.
We look forward to the greenery after the
winter.
And then once they are fully sprouted and
they have fully grown,
then we enjoy the greenery around us.
Right? You go for a long drive, you
go on a trip, you look outside in
your backyard, in the park, and you see
all the lush
green trees,
and it gives us a type of happiness
and satisfaction.
And now
as they are dying and they change their
colors, that also gives us pleasure and satisfaction.
SubhanAllah. So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
has made everything that he has created
in some way shape or form
beneficial and useful,
and especially for the human being. This is
the special grace of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
for the human beings.
That everything is there
to support
our existence
and to support life on this planet, not
just life in a technical sense, but also
life that is satisfying, that is fulfilling, that
is balanced in every way. And this is
from the qudr of Allah SubhanAllah.
Allah
tells us in the Quran regarding the leaves
That not even a leaf falls, subhanAllah, if
you think about how many leaves there are
and soon they're going to be on your
lawn and you will be raking them or
blowing them and they'll be crunching under your
feet when you go for walks,
not even a leaf falls without
the knowledge of Allah
Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah has complete and absolute
knowledge of every single thing including every single
leaf
that is on the trees
and it is not going to fall except
that it is in the knowledge of Allah
Allah My brothers and sisters, if we take
a step back
if we take a step back and look
at
these,
or the life of these leaves
and you look at the life cycle,
real we realize
that we too
are part
of the same cycle
that these leaves are going through.
And inevitably,
we too will also go through the same
thing that they are going through.
These are the signs of Allah
and reminders for us,
countless reminders around us. So we see the
leaves and we just reflect for a few
minutes,
and we take a step back and we
think about it and realize that, you know
what?
My situation and your situation
is no different than that of the leaves.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in the
Quran.
Every soul,
every living being
will taste death.
Every created living being will taste death,
and then to us, to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala, you will all be returned as
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells
us in Suratul An Kabut. Now this is
a topic my brothers and sisters, a reminder
that perhaps, you know, might make some of
us uncomfortable,
but this is the reality that we all
have to face.
So it is better that we are prepared
for it.
It is better that we are prepared for
it. It is more difficult if you are
not prepared for something that is bound to
come. It becomes easier
if you make peace with it, meaning you
accept it,
and you learn as much as you can
about it so that you are psychologically, mentally,
emotionally, spiritually prepared.
When we travel, we know that there are
certain guidelines
and etiquettes of traveling.
And
sometimes,
especially, like, when we are overseas,
you may notice
people who are not aware of the etiquettes
of traveling.
They have never traveled before.
It's saqeen. Like, they've never even been on
an escalator before.
And they're at the airport for the first
time, and they're trying to figure out how
you're supposed to get onto this thing and
which way you're supposed to go. And they're
falling, and they're trying to hold on to
things. Right?
And, you know, somebody who's never traveled, never
flown on an airplane before, they don't know
how to pack their luggage.
And you see, like,
sacks of items,
you know, like random boxes, like all types
of luggage, you know, that's going onto the
conveyor belt, or many times things that cannot
be checked in or that cannot be brought
on board.
Right? And you feel sorry for them because,
you know, clearly, they are ignorant of the
etiquettes. They've never done this before. They've never
nobody's taught them, and it's the first time
that they're having to go through this. Right?
And they're standing out because they don't know
how to behave and what to do.
So my brothers and sisters, we don't want
to be in a situation
where we are ignorant and lost
or worse even misguided
at one of the most critical stages
of our lives and the lives of our
loved ones.
So today, let's take a few moments, Insha'Allah,
to educate ourselves so that we are better
prepared,
so that we can educate our loved ones,
Insha'Allah,
and that we are in a better position
to do the right thing
when the time inevitably
comes, and only Allah knows when that time
is going to come. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
protect and preserve all of us and all
of our loved ones, Ameen.
Preparation,
of course, is spiritual, and that's
a a complete,
you know, other discussion and topic. The prophet
has stated as related by Ibn Umar
live in this world as if you are
a traveler or a wayfarer.
So that is the type of relationship we
should have with this world knowing that we
are all travelers. So when I give that
example of travelers being ill prepared,
right, perhaps we too are ill prepared for
this journey that is coming towards us or
the journey that is coming to a culmination
that we don't
realize. So it's their spiritual preparation.
There's also being mentally prepared.
Aisha relates that there was a leather
or wood container
full of water
in front of the messenger of Allah
at the time of his passing.
And he would put his blessed hand into
the water
and rub his face with it
saying,
that none has the right to be worshipped
except Allah, and no doubt
death has its
stupors or death has its agony. Then the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
raised his hand
and he started saying,
oh Allah
with the highest companions.
So this was the dua that the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam was making, and then Aisha
radiAllahu anha says, until
he kept saying it until
he passed away, until he expired
and his blessed hand dropped.
She also relates that I saw the messenger
of Allah
when he was at the point of death.
He had a drinking bowl with water in
it.
He would dip his hand into the bowl
and wipe his face, and then he would
supplicate,
Oh
Allah, help
me over pangs and agony of death. You
Inaha illallah.
The son of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal,
'Abdullah, he says that when my father, Ahmed,
was dying,
I had a piece of cloth in my
hand to wrap around his jaw,
and he would sweat
and then come to
and, and he would sweat, and he then
he would come to and gesture with his
hand, not yet. Not yet.
He did this several times. So I said
to him, oh my father, what are you
saying?
What are you saying not yet not yet?
He said the shaitan is standing beside me
biting on his fingertips and saying, oh, Ahmed,
you got away from me, and I am
saying not yet until I die. So we
learn my brothers and sisters
that first of all, this moment
of,
the final moments of our presence here in
this dunya
is usually not an easy thing.
It is not an easy thing. Even the
beloved messenger of Allah salallahu alayhi wasalam was
making dua
and was in this situation. Of course, Allah
made it easy for him, but nonetheless he
made dua for protection against the pangs and
the agony of death. Secondly, we also learn
that this is a time when shaitan may
try to pounce
and try to, you know, make his last
efforts
to gain a person,
to gain a person before they slip away
for good. Because if a person dies upon
the iman
dies with iman with la ilaha illallah, then
that is a loss for shaitan.
So he's trying his best.
He may try his best to try to
get people at this time.
We also learn that
the jaw, you know,
can draw open when a person passes away
and body the body becomes very stiff, right,
soon after. So, therefore,
we should, when a person passes away, should
tie their jaw with a piece of cloth
around their head so that it doesn't fall
open and doesn't stay like that. Abu Saeed
Al Khudiri
relates the messenger of Allah said,
exhort
your dying ones to say
So the good practice or you could say
the sunnah practice, the best practice
is to make it easy by giving some
water,
by having someone who is closest, who is
most loving for the person, to have to
maybe wet their their lips a little bit,
give them small, you know, drops drop drops
of moisture
so that their throat becomes a little bit
wet and it becomes easier for them, and
to say
around them and encourage them. Right? Encourage them
gently. Right? It's not to pressure them because
it's a time of difficulty and confusion. Right?
It is said that all types of thoughts
are coming and going, all the attachments of
the world, you know, it's it's a major
stage in our lives. May Allah make it
easy for us, right, in our, in our
spiritual lives, right, because our soul is about
to go through a transition of dimensions.
So
this is a time when we don't want
to be annoying, that if you are annoying
perhaps a person will say the opposite of
what you're trying to get them to say.
So don't be annoying, don't pressure them, but
gently recite
and you can also encourage them to say
istafar if they're in that state, if they're
able to do so, but do it gently
so that they follow along. Do not try
to pressure them, and do not try to
be,
annoying for them.
It is also reported
that there may be benefit in reciting Surat
Yaseen.
To recite Surat Yaseen when the person is
in this stage of passing away. Right, this
has been, narrated and is discussed by the,
by the scholars.
When the person passes away and they breathe
their last, then you close their eyes.
Right. You make sure you close their eyes.
Also, as someone said, you know, the the
eyes follow the the soul as it leaves,
so close the eyes. Right? Because, again, if
you don't do that, then soon it will
become stiff, and you will not be able
to close it. So close the eyes, get
a sheet to cover the entire body.
Now as you know, in the Islamic tradition,
the teaching is that everything that needs to
be done after a person passes away should
be done quickly. Because Abu Huraira radiAllahu anhu
relates, which he attributed to the prophet that
hasten
to perform the janazah, hasten to bury the
deceased.
For if he was righteous,
If he was righteous, then you are taking
him to something good.
And if he was otherwise, meaning if he
was not righteous, then it is an evil
of which you are relieving yourselves. So either
way, when a person passes away, our effort
always should be to try to speed up
the janazah and try to do things as
quickly as reasonably possible. And this is one
of the stark differences between
the janazah of the Muslim
versus the janazah of those who are not
believers.
Right? And this is one of the things
that we notice, you know,
you know, recently there was a tragedy
where, you know, a a Muslim brother was
shot and killed, you know, in in Moulton,
in the GTA,
and a police officer was also killed. Sadly,
no fault of of either of them, but
especially the police officer. He was just getting
coffee for his peers, and he was just
killed right out of Tim Hortons. And we
noticed that the brother's janaza was the next
day. Right? Next day or or 2 days.
Like, immediately, as soon as possible, the janaza
was done, whereas the police officer janaza was
or funeral procession will happen, like, a week
later or something. You know? So you will
notice that this is one of the main
differences that are very visible. Of course, there
are other differences as well. So the janaza
should be done as soon as possible. And
also, this is one of the reasons why,
and there's other reasons also why it is
not a good idea to transport the body
back home or to some other place.
Right? It should be buried. Their ideal and
the best practice is to bury the person
where they passed away as soon as possible.
K. Because the whole transportation process takes time,
there's embalming, there's a whole types of stuff
that happened to the body, and this is
against the dignity of the body and again
is is a form of disrespect of the
body. It does not help
the deceased in any way, does not help
anyone in any way, and prolongs, you know,
either the agony or just is against the
teachings of the prophet
Now, of course, Islamically, the body has to
be washed also. Right? And normally, the males
will do it for males, the females will
do it for females. There's some exception for
spouses, but there's, some discussion amongst the regarding
that, so that's a further detail I'm not
gonna discuss right now. And,
you know, for most people probably haven't done
it before, so basically the aura or, you
know, the part of the body that needs
to be hidden that should always be covered
is covered with a piece of cloth, and
then a few people will gather together, best,
ideal if there are family members that are
involved.
And, you know, the the body is washed.
So, you know, when we go to the
washroom, we wash ourselves. So in the same
way, first, those parts of the body are
are washed. Any type of excess,
you know, fluids or or or filth is
is gently taken out,
or is, you know, pushed out gently,
and then, you know, that is washed away,
then the wudu is done,
on on the the body, then the washing
of the body with,
lilt leaves 3 times,
then like properly washing it, then pouring body,
water over the body 3 times on the
right, 3 times on the left.
As I said, the close family members should
participate ideally, alhamdulillah, we are very fortunate that
there are masajid in the city, where, the
brothers and sisters who were building the masajid
have had concern for this, and have built,
you know, facilities for washing the body. So
we don't have to go anywhere else.
The masajid have organized this,
reward and and bless the brothers and sisters
who have taken care of this Farduk Kifaya.
It's a communal obligation.
If nobody takes care of it, then everyone
is sinful. But,
they have been taking care of it quietly.
They don't announce it.
There's committees. You'll call the Masjid. We don't
have the facilities, but the other Masjid, the
the the the Arwa Masjid, Jan Umar, SNMC,
Masjid Bilal, you
know, Masjid have facilities to call, and they
actually have a license to operate as a
funeral home, and they can go they'll go
to the hospital if someone passed away in
the hospital. They'll fill out all the forms,
they'll release the body from the hospital, they'll
bring it to the Masjid, They'll, you know,
take care of all the arrangements and, mashaAllah,
there's purpose built facilities for that. So,
I reward them, especially the brothers and sisters
who may who do this work day in
and day out, and you'll never even know
who they are until maybe it's your loved
one who who who who who needs to
be washed and buried. But they are there
and they are volunteers, they don't get paid
for it. So if you if Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala puts it in your heart, this
is a great mission and a great work
to volunteer yourself for, because there's a great
need often to have volunteers for this, especially
for sisters, especially for sisters,
for sisters because you need sisters to to
watch sisters, and sometimes it can be very
difficult to find sisters who are willing to
volunteer. So if anyone is ready,
please do reach out and, and and and,
put yourself forward for this task. May Allah
reward you. The shroud,
normally,
you know, preferable to be white cotton, it
doesn't have to be.
3 pieces of cloth is a sunnah for
men, and 5 pieces of cloth, for women,
the cloth, the clothing is perfumed.
The prophet
told us, and I'll try to go quickly
in respect of time, that when a dead
body is placed on a beer and people
carry it on their shoulders, if the deceased
was righteous,
it meaning the corpse,
it, the corpse, would say, send me
forward.
So the corpse actually says this, send me
forward if the person was righteous.
But if the person was not righteous, then
the prophet said
that the corpse says,
It says that, oh, woe to it. Where
are you taking it? And the prophet
said that everything
that everything hears this sound, this voice, this
talking, except the human being. And the prophet
said that
that if the human being heard this, this
voice of the corpse, they would fall unconscious.
They would pass out. Right? That's how freaked
out you would be. You would you would
pass out if you heard it, but Allah
protects you from this. You don't hear it.
Everything else hears the the all the other
creation of Allah hear this corpse speaking. Islamically,
there is no show, there is no pageantry,
there is no fancy coffin. None of these
things benefit the deceased, and they are against
the sunnah of the prophet
They are against teachings of Islam. So we
do the janazah quickly. We do it without
any fanfare.
The main thing is to offer the the
janazah prayer and to make dua' for the
deceased and to bury them in the right
way and to do it quickly. So there
is no show, there is no, you know,
spectacle that's made out of any, that should
be made out of any Muslim janazah.
The numbers of the janazah prayer. Ibn Abbas,
radiAllahu anhu, are related that the prophet
said
That there is no Muslim man, and, of
course, applies equally to a woman as well
who dies. And 40 men who do not
associate anything with Allah pray the funeral prayer.
Men or women pray the funeral prayer for
him, except that Allah
will accept their intercession for him.
People who are not doing any shirk, they
have perfect iman, they have solid iman, and
they pray 40. And 40 is generally, you
know, used to to denote kasrrah, to denote,
you know, a large number, but that is
what the prophet
said. So we should try the indication is
that we should try to have,
as much peep as many people as possible
to have a larger jamayah
for the, funeral prayer as much as possible.
If you find out that there is janazah
happening, we should try to attend. There is
a great reward as well, the prophet
said. And whoever follows the funeral of a
Muslim,
So same wording as we find for Ramadan
for, you know, fasting, for standing on Laylatul
Qadr in faith and seeking reward, and he
remains with it until the prayer is offered
and the burial ceremony is finished. He will
return with 2 great rewards, with,
2 qiraat and,
the, or and the prophet
said that,
the reward
of each is like the size of Mount
Uhud. So if you go to Medina and
you say Mount you see how the large
mountain, Mount Uhud,
outside of Madinah, essentially, the reward will be
that great.
Now whoever offers the funeral prayer and returns
before the burial. So the person who offers
the janazah prayer and goes for the burial,
the reward of bayla.
Right? To 2 massive rewards,
Allah knows best as to exactly what it
will be like, but we get an indication
from the prophet and
a person who only goes for the janazah
prayer does not go for the, burial, then
they return with one great reward. So there
is reward either way, so we should always
try to join the janazah prayer.
It is,
okay to cry. The prophet shat tears as
well. This is a sign of mercy and
rahmah that Allah has put in our hearts,
but it is not okay to wail, to
lament, and to make a great, you know,
to to or to cry uncontrollably.
Let's put it that way. K. So we
have to be in control of our emotions
as much as possible. It is okay to
shed some tears. There's no harm in that,
but not no wailing, no lamenting. And people
would say, you know, in the past, they
would wail, and they would even hire people
to do this. And they would say, read
them say the praises of the person who
passed away and make a spectacle out of
it. So that is something which is against
the teachings of Islam.
With regards to women,
regarding women visiting, the cemetery,
the scholars have had varied opinion on this,
opinions on this. So some say that it
is allowed or even preferred,
and the case of women going to the
cemetery is similar to that of men. Others
have said that it is matru, that it
is undesirable,
and others have said that it is forbidden.
So if you see women at the cemetery,
just have Hashem al Din and assume that,
you know, they are following one of the
opinions that allow it.
And, you know, if you find a family
or, you know, a group of people who
are very firm on that, that is also
a firm on women not,
being present at the cemetery, that is also
a, a valid opinion.
In that case, you wanna make sure if
sisters especially are going for to the cemetery,
but also brothers, just ensure that emotions are
in check, that the, emotions are not becoming
uncontrolled,
and there's no, like, you know, loud crying
and wailing and and all of those things.
If that is the case, you feel someone
is really having a tough time and they're
not gonna be able to control themselves, do
not go, to to the janazah, to the
cemetery, especially for the sisters. There is no
issue with sisters attending the janazah prayer. And
with regards to the burial, the sunnah is
to bury without a coffin.
The sunnah is to bury without a coffin,
without a box. However,
legally that may not be possible in some
places or there may be issues with regards
to not having a coffin, so it is
still permissible. A coffin, if used, should be
simple, no decorations, nothing of that sort. SubhanAllah,
if you look at the funeral places, they
sell coffins here for 1,000 of dollars with
even pillows and, like, you know, all these
decorations. And none of that is gonna benefit
the deceased. The person is, you know, the
the soul is gone.
So we just have a simple box box
if needed.
The cost here in Ottawa is approximately
$3,000 for the entire burial,
apart from, Yani, apart from the masjid cost,
the actual cemetery cost,
approximately $3,000.
You should make dua for the deceased, at
the grave.
There is nothing wrong with making dua for
them at the cemetery for the deceased. However,
the cemetery or a grave is not a
sacred place to make dua for yourself, for
ourselves. So when we go to the cemetery,
we make dua for the people who are
there. We go to visit someone's grave. We
make dua for them, but we don't take
it as a special place to make dua
for ourselves. The prophet
said,
regarding the cemetery, regarding the graves,
Visit the graves,
verily they soften the heart, they, shed tears
in the eyes, and they remind of the
hereafter. So the prophet
has encouraged it, and there's different wordings of
different narrations, but nonetheless, it is something that
is encouraged by the prophet and indeed
he used to go to the cemetery even
at night time. There's nothing freaky about it.
He would go there and he would visit,
you know, the the the the deceased, make
dua for them. And it it benefits it
can benefit them, the dua, and it also
benefits us as well. With regard to tombstones,
Sujavid radiAllahu anhu narrated that the messenger of
Allah salallahu alayhi wa sallam prohibited whitening a
grave with plaster to sit on it or
to build over it. K. So these are
things which have been, prohibited. So therefore, you
know, we don't have, this concept of of
of making graves permanent or or adding,
things, that are not necessary. However,
to have a simple, you know, piece of
wood or a stone or some sort of
marking is fine, there's nothing wrong with that.
To mark the grave is fine, but to
build upon it and to solidify it and
to to be,
extravagant in doing that, that is something which
is against the sunnah and the teachings of
the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam.
The prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam also has told
us that when a human being is laid
in his grave and his companions return, he
hears their footsteps.
What happens?
You hear the footsteps of people walking away,
and then the angels come. The 2 angels
come for the questioning of,
the grave. And in the grave, there is
also a squeeze that the prophet has talked
about that everyone has to go through. It
is said,
the interpretation, the explanation is that for the
pious believers, the squeezing is a positive thing.
It's like a welcoming hug almost, like like
an affectionate hug. And for those, who, who,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is displeased, with, then
it can be prolonged and it can be
a form of torment in the grave. May
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us all. So
brothers and sisters, let us try to prepare
for that time
spiritually. I know I've moved to it through
it very quickly, so forgive me. But let
us try to prepare,
for that time spiritually.
Let's try to educate our family members on
the correct method
so they can benefit us when the time
comes for us. And be sure to leave
a will that gives
clear instructions regarding your janazah and your burial,
especially especially
if Allah may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect
our children and guide them all. But if
you find that your family members, especially your
children, are have become distant from Islam
and they don't know much about the religion
and they're not close to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala, they're not part of the community,
be certain that you leave proper instructions
so that your janazah is taken care of
in the right way in the sunnah method
and that there is nothing happening at the
janazah that goes against the teachings of Allah
and his messenger, salallahu alayhi wasalam. May ask
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to grant us all
hosunu katam a good return to him. May
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
grant us a good return to him physically
and mentally and spiritually. May Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala protect us from every type of harm
and difficulty, especially at the time of death
and in our graves.