Fiqh of Janaza and Burial in Light of Covid-19

I sat down one day kumara Missoula who would I go to with him that allow Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah, who Allah Allah, He will be he wanted me to have a bad one. Welcome back to our regular Tuesday Q and A's but it is not regular. As usual, I'm speaking to you in these days from our green screen room. And we will try to resume a sense of normalcy by resuming our programs that we used to have and as you recall, Tuesday's would be our open q&a session. And today inshallah I will do a very important question regarding which I have gotten over a dozen emails from around the world. Last week, somebody from Norway emailed me and then today, if you last few days, I've been getting a

lot of phone calls and emails about this issue of the flick of the whistle, and the funeral prayers in light of the Coronavirus in light of the fact that things are changing, and that perhaps, you know, the body might be problematic to wash or that the governments are putting extra restrictions. And so in today's q&a session, in sha Allah Allah, we will discuss the Islamic rulings pertaining to the janazah pertaining to the taking care of the corpse and pretending to the Salah, or the funeral prayer. And as I have said, the last, you know, few lessons in the last week that really brothers and sisters, it does appear that we might be facing one of the greatest potential tragic tragedies

of our generation. And I'm not saying this to be a fear monger. I'm saying this so that we prepare ourselves if that is the case, and I hope that I'm proven wrong, but it does appear the way things are heading that we do have a long time ahead of us perhaps even months or more than this. And we will be tested and we don't want to be tested but when Allah chooses to test us, then we seek our refuge in Allah from ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada we turn to Allah to protect to protect us and we realized that this is the time that our faith will shine that our iman will strengthen and guide us and before even begin the flick of the Janessa Jana is and whatnot. I remind myself in all of you in the

Battle of the Trench, which was one of the most difficult times for the Muslims when they were surrounded by an army 510 times their quantity when they did not have any other mechanism to support themselves. Allah says in the Quran and Latina call it a homerun Natsu in the NASA called the Gemma Allah conflictual, whom, remember Allah says that when the hypocrites told the believers when the hypocrites came to the believers and said to the believers, all of mankind has gathered to attack you. You're surrounded by everyone. Aren't you scared? Aren't you terrified for showhome and Allah azza wa jal says describing the believers for that home Imana their Eman went up there ima and

increased while Callooh has spoon Allahu ONERA mainly were killed. They said Allah is sufficient for us. And he is all that we need to protect us so has been Allah who are near mal Joaquin, at times of stress, at times of difficulty, at times of fear, the movement turns to Allah subhanho wa Taala and their Iman goes up and their courage comes from their faith and their strength and their determination comes from above and Allah azza wa jal will then give them the faith that they need to overcome the tragedies that they're going to face. And dear Muslims, indeed, it does appear that we're going to be facing some tragedies, there might be as Allah says, in the corner, we're going to

test you with something of fear and calamity and with the loss of life and with the loss of produce. And the plague is of course one of the most terrifying uncertainties and it is a time of great confusion and hysteria. And it is also a time where a lot of people die. And we do have to prepare ourselves for the possibility that there might be families amongst us who will be affected, maybe even we ourselves will be affected. And we have to remind ourselves that death only comes to us when Allah has decreed no one can protect against death, but we still take reasonable precautions. Wherever we are, death will come when Allah has pre ordained it. Nothing can change the time of

death, Allah azza wa jal has decided, but that doesn't mean we act foolishly, we act wisely and we prepare and we seek protection from a worldly perspective and we seek protection in Allah subhanho wa Taala realized your Muslims that death during the time of a plague is in fact a mercy from Allah subhanho wa Taala and that is because we learned from the Hadith that anybody who dies because of a plague during the time of the plague, they shall be blessed with the highest status possible and that is the status of a Shaheed there are different types of Shaheed

There's the Shaheed of this world and the darker the martyr of this world and the next world that's the highest category of martyr and there are those who pass away in the battlefield in a legitimate fight and jihad for the sake of Allah subhanho wa taala. They die defending their homelands they die for the sake of Allah subhanho wa taala. That's the highest level of Shaheed they are not given a hustle. They are not prayed for according to the more stronger position they are buried as they are, and they will have all the blessings of martyrdom in this world and the next, there is another category of Shaheed and that is the Shaheed of the Hereafter but not of this world, the Shaheed who

will get the rewards of martyrdom in the hereafter. But in this world, we don't treat them like a martyr. But if they die in a particular manner, as we'll explain in a while, then we expect and we hope that insha Allah Who Tada they will get the rewards, or at least many of the rewards of the Shaheed and that is a type of consolation for us. Anyone who passes away during this trial during this plague, anyone who loses a family member, anyone who faces the death of a loved one, console yourself, console yourself with the fact that your loved one passed away with the most honorable and the highest level of honor that Allah could bestow on somebody at the time of death. And that is the

honor of martyrdom. And as somebody Malik narrates that one of his students Yeah, he's passed away. And so he asked, How did you have any Anambra pass away? And they said he passed away because of the plague. So unassuming Radek said, I heard the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam say the plague is the death of shahada for every single Muslim Hadith in Sahih Bukhari. The plague is the death of shahada, anybody who dies during the plague, it will be the shahada for any Muslim who dies during the plague. And in another Hadith and Agudo. Our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, seven are the martyrs who shall be counted as a martyr, even if they don't die on the battlefield. So he said

seven types of people, they will be given the blessings of martyrdom, even if they don't die on the battlefield. And he began that list number one on this list he said, Al Matsuno. Shaheed the one who dies in the cloud on the one who dies in the plague is a Shaheed and so this is the number one category of martyrdom after passing away in the battlefield, in the Hadith in Bukhari, Aisha Radi Allahu Anhu says that I asked the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam about plagues, how do we understand plagues? And our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that the plague is a punishment that Allah sends on whomever he pleased, he pleases and it is a mercy for the believers. So it is a

punishment to one group of people, whomever Allah wills, and it is for the believers. Then our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, listen to this hadith, there is not a single believer upon whom the plague comes, and he remains in his land patient, expecting the reward from Allah subhanho wa Taala knowing with full certainty that nothing happens to him, except if Allah wills it to happen to him, except that that person will get the rewards of a Shaheed this hadith in Sahih Bukhari and half of the bin hedger, the famous commentator of Imam Al Bukhari sahih and half had been hedgerow said this hadith is actually broader than the one who dies in the plague because what does the

Hadith say? Listen to it carefully. Our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, No one remains in a land of plague patient saw Baron more tests even expecting Allah subhanaw taala to reward him. Yeah, and then will he knows with certainty that nothing will happen to him, except whatever Allah has decreed. Whoever remains patient, expecting Allah's reward full of faith, that person shall get the reward of the Shaheed and half of them in hedger says, Therefore, any one who is alive during the time of a plague, and demonstrates these three characteristics, even if they pass the plague, even if they finish the plague alive. In sha Allah hooter Allah they will get the rewards of a

Shaheed Muslims, dear brother and sister, don't you want to get the rewards of the Shaheed well Allah has given you this chance Allah has given you an opportunity. This is a gift for you and me, this is a gift what we do in this plague how we react to this plague our faith during this plague our iman our sub our sub as the Hadith says these three things if they are good and fine. Then in sha Allah hooter, Allah we will get the rewards of a Shaheed if we die, and even if we don't die, we'll get a longer life and we'll still get the rewards of a Shaheed What a beautiful gift from Allah subhanho wa Taala How can we not accept this gift and then try our best to honor it and then

get the rewards of a Shaheed and so

We console ourselves dear Muslims that Allah has chosen us. Allah has chosen us to get the rewards of the Shaheed, some of us will actually ended up passing away in this play. We've already had cases across the globe of people, Muslims and non Muslims. And of course, the plague affects everybody, some of us, we're going to end up meeting our Lord, within this plague, some of us are going to get through this plague, all of us have the opportunity to get the rewards of a martyr. And that is really our goal. And so we begin with this theological, you know, response before we get to the fifth one. And by the way, before I jump into the fifth of loosen, and the fifth cover janazah.

Also, and it's not it's an awkward issue, to say it's a morbid thing to say, but it needs to be said, especially to those that are at a high risk that it is appropriate for all of us, especially those that are high risk to sit down with their family members, and have the very awkward conversations about what if we don't go through this display what is going to happen if we move on. And I remind myself and all of you to be firm and strong, and to show your Eman and to explain to your loved ones that hey, whether I'm here or not, Allah will take care of you. I don't take care of you. Allah is the rub. Allah is the One who is Malik and Malik, Allah is the One who a result

result, not me not, you're not you, anybody, Allah is the result. And so if I am not here than the one who took care of you, while I'm alive, I will take care of you when I'm not here. And you give them the advice that you want to give them. This is also the time to cleanse your heart of any hatred of any issues that you might have had. This is also the time to write your wills down. We don't want to make life more complicated. You know, already, there's going to be tensions for those of us that move on, we want to make things very, very simple and easy. We also want to make sure that our medical issues are very clearly communicated to our loved ones, especially for example, do

we want to be intubated or not? Or what is going to happen to foreign life support? You know, we have to these are choices, very difficult choices. And we don't want our children or our loved ones deciding this. We want to just make make up our own decisions and communicate to them before that time comes so that they can say, hey, look, this is what he or she wanted. And let's honor their requests. And these are conversations you have to have. And these are thoughts that you have to have as you communicate to your loved one. So with that long Prelude, now we get to the issue of loosen and Janaza and realize that we are now talking about the hosel in particular, of those who have

passed away because of this virus, COVID 19, or the Coronavirus and of course, the issue comes the problems of doing loosen for a body that is potentially problematic. And this is where we need to understand that it's not just Fick. It's not just Islamic law that is at play over here. Rather, Islamic law is one aspect I'm telling you the fifth that's one issue, you also have to take into account what the medical experts say how contagious is a corpse that is that has passed away because of Coronavirus. You know, what are the pros? And I mean, what are the issues that we need to be aware of from a medical and scientific standpoint. And of course, we also have to take into account

the laws of the land because in the end of the day, we are living in different lands in different societies. And sometimes we cannot affect what we want. Because the laws of the state or the province or the government that we're under, they might be different than what we require. So there are three different issues all three of them Interplay together. I am not here to talk to you about the laws, you know, best your countries that you live in, and you need to get the laws from them. I am here to tell you that you need to get expert advice from two different people. Firstly, the fifth, which is I'm going to teach you today in shallow data. And secondly, medical experts, we need

to get the advice of medical experts and of scientists because and if you've been listening to me for the last week, you know, I've been saying this you know over and over again that this is not just an issue related to fiqh, Islamic scholars are not the only reference that you need, we will provide you one aspect of the equation, you also need to go to medical experts and to scientists and to people who understand diseases and viruses and get their expertise. And the two together is what will help us form a judgment. And I have to to point out here as well. And again, I've been saying this for the last week and it has caused a lot of issues. But you know, this this this trial of the

plague this this this issue that we're seeing around us, it's actually showing us many things that we did not have frank conversations about n of them is that within the scholarly community we do find you know, different understandings and different paradigms. And someone like myself, I am of a paradigm that says Islamic knowledge has its role in place, and modern science and the knowledge that we know from experience from empirical evidence also has its role and its place and these two knowledges should not cannot be in conflict with one another. They are both brought to the

table. It is not appropriate for religious scholarship to ignore knowledge that is now certain. We are certain about what a disease is. At least we know that it comes from a virus at least we know without a shadow of a doubt that diseases are contagious. We know how diseases get transferred. Overall, we might not know every single detail, but we know that diseases are inherently contagious for a religious person to come. And they might have great Iman they might have great Taqwa. And they say there is no such thing as religious as contagion. And really in religion, we're not supposed to believe in contagious diseases based on a misunderstanding of a hadith for a religious person to say

that we should not fear anything other than Allah subhanho wa taala. And anyone who fears the virus and takes precautions, this person is not a good Muslim or even worse, this person is a Kafir. You know, we have to be honest and blunt here. I don't want to be harsh upon you know the person, the individual, but I want to be harsh upon the mentality. This is foolishness. Taking reasonable precautions has nothing to do with believing in Allah or not believing in Allah, you can be the strongest movement and still take reasonable precautions, and you can be a kafir and still take reasonable precautions and you can be a movement and not take precautions and you can be a Kaffir

and not take precautions, the two are separate. And our religion tells us that we tie the camel and we put our trust in Allah subhana wa taala. And again, I am forced to continue to say this because we still have people who use the religion to preach ideas and doctrines that are simply wrong. If you see what is happening in the world, sometimes it is religious gatherings that have spread Coronavirus, there is a in Palestine and Philistine for example, there was a large, you know, a gathering where some Palestinian brothers and Palestine was shut off. We were hoping that at least one of the perks would be that because they're shut off the virus would not enter but lo and behold,

there was an Islamic gathering and a group you know, went out for their Dawa and their tablet and they went to this gathering and they came back and they entered Palestine after having been infected and they spread this and the same thing happened in Malaysia The same thing happened and this is not meant to to to to nitpick on one particular group, it's meant to nitpick on the mentality, this notion that we only fear Allah hence we're going to do nothing for the Coronavirus. Yeah. Okay, fear Allah and take precautions against the virus. Why is that an either or, And subhanAllah this is, you know, the problem isn't just that these types of understandings are harming people, they're

literally fatal. Literally, they're causing the loss of life. It's not just that there is also a bigger problem that needs to be said, one a person who studies medicine and science and knows for a fact that there are viruses and that diseases are contagious, and that we need to protect ourselves from them, then sees a person who exudes religiosity, making statements that are not correct that are frankly foolish. Many people's imams are affected because they see Islam itself in what this person says. And they cannot differentiate. And this is a problem from the person, no doubt about it. They should differentiate this person's fatwa from Islam. But when this person sees many famous

people that he looks up to many people that that are trained in the Islamic sciences, and they are worthy of respect. I'm not negating that they're good people. But I am saying what we see now is there's multiple camps within the Roma community. There are those camps who believe Hey, you know what, Islam has a place and function. And modern science has a place in the function, Allah azza wa jal created this world, he sent down the book, and the both of them are in harmony with one another, that is my paradigm. And then you have others who are saying things that they are essentially rejecting what modern science says, and they're rejecting what doctors say. And unfortunately,

innocent Muslims, they sometimes look at that group, and they presume the religion itself is saying this, and they end up doubting Islam or and I have met many people like this, simply rejecting the faith because they could not separate individuals with wrong opinions from the religion. And they said, since these people speak in the name of Islam, therefore, in their minds, Islam itself is in their minds, again, backward and foolish and whatnot. And that is why it's very awkward because when I say this, obviously, I understand the people who look up to those aroma. They read into what I'm saying, they're saying, Oh, you are disrespecting, you are putting yourself up. And Allah azza wa

jal knows, Allah knows. It's not my goal. It's not my desire to appear in competition with those who are there. Many of them are my own teachers, many of them I love and I respect undoubtedly, and I say this, and Allah is my witness. I'm speaking from my heart I consider many of them to be more with Turkey than me more pious than me more better in mental hygiene and Quran and Ditka than me but it doesn't change the fact that what they are saying is just the

not correct. Taqwa is one thing technical knowledge is another, you know piety is one thing policy is another. And what I am saying is that what we are seeing of this Coronavirus and whatnot, these tensions that we tried to hide or sometimes surface, these tensions are now being brought to the forefront when you have greater Obama saying, don't take any precautions, go ahead and do also with the body go ahead and do and you have others say no, no hold on a sec, we need to shut our massager down, we have to take precautions. And in the end of the day, dear Muslims, I cannot force you to follow any position it is up to you. But I say that this tension has been around for a long time. In

my previous lectures, when I talked about the history of the plagues, I briefly mentioned some of the tensions in the past as well. And I continue to say it is obvious, it is obvious to those of you that are connected to the scholarly class, that you have fatawa that are mutually contradictory. You have factoids that are saying, don't take anything into account, just do everything. And then you have those that are saying, You know what our knowledge of science has grown, our knowledge of diseases has gone much more than it was 500 years ago, and therefore our knowledge of fic and our knowledge of Sharia has to take this into account. And we then formulate a position based upon both

of these knowledges This is my paradigm if you accept it Alhamdulillah if not, and Hamdulillah. But I still say for the time being err on the side of caution and then we'll debate this later on. In any case with this, let us now get to why did I bring all of this up? Because what am I saying? I am saying listen to this carefully. You cannot just come to me and ask me what is the fifth of washing the corpse of somebody who has died with Coronavirus? I am half of the equation. The other half of the equation we need to know what doctors tell us how dangerous is the corpse. I don't know how dangerous a corpse is, I don't know the medicine or the medical issues about how contagious the

deceased might be. And therefore, you need to go to the specialists and get it from them and based upon what they say then we will formulate the response put together. So, with that in mind, let us give you the fifth side and I will also share with you I was on a conversation today a national group of specialists diseases and diseases of EPA of epidemics and also pulmonologists and also other doctors that are specializing actually spoke with a doctor that dealt with a dozen cases of Coronavirus as well about this and so, I will share with you all that we have learned but realize my speciality is the flip side. So, realize if there was no Coronavirus and this regular course it is

obligatory to wash the corpse this is something that is well known, it is why job to do loosen of the corpse it is harder to define to be more precise, and that is that somebody has to wash the dead body and it is a communal obligation. And it is obligatory because our Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam commanded, every time somebody passed away in his lifetime, he commanded when the man passed away, going for Hajj, our Prophet sallallahu wasallam said it we'll see who the man was southern washing with water and with perfume, the southern tree that is mixed in the water. And when his own daughter passed away, he said it was a cylinder her washer three times or five times or seven times.

So he commanded the body to be washed. And of course the default is that the body is shrouded in a particular manner, a way that anybody who is trained in the funeral is known. However, we are now in different circumstances and if we learned from medical experts that the body is contagious of those who have passed away from Coronavirus, and that one could possibly get the disease. In this case. Shetty allows us to go to a different alternative than doing a proper rehearsal. And this is something that is well known in classical field. It's nothing new here. We find these positions in early Islam. It's nothing that we have to change just because of Coronavirus. So,

first we begin if we are able to do a proper also the way that it is done. Then we go with that now what did the medical experts say? Well, I spoke with a group today and also we logged on to the CDC, the Center for Disease Control and also we looked at the World Health Organization. And as of yet and again this might change day by day week by week as of yet I have read and I have been informed by multiple experts that if a standard procedure is followed, and that is to wear what is called PPE, personal protective equipment, and the regular protocols are done and they have special gloves and special mask and what not. And this is standard procedure in these types of cases that the

transferability of this virus is really almost negligible. That is something that is really

It's not a risk factor. And this is what the CDC itself says. And that is because the virus spreads via the the droplets that are exhaled from the body. And of course, when the body is dead, there are no drop this coming out. Now, the CDC does say that if obviously protocol is not followed, there is a very, very, very small possibility that even the body, or if you somehow get to the tissues or something, and it gets on you that perhaps it is transferred. But that is if you don't follow protocol, therefore, as of yet, as of yet, and again, this can change day by day, what medicine is telling us and what the scientists are telling us and what the health ministries of our governments

are telling us is that the deceased who has died from the Coronavirus, if proper protocol is followed know what his proper protocol, those that are in the field of washing corpses know, and it is to wear the PPP and to make sure the PPE excuse me, and to make sure that the proper gloves and masks and the disposable suits are worn. If that is worn, then insha, Allah hooter, Allah, there should be no problem. Therefore, if we are able to get to that level, and you have the equipment than the default remains, and that is that you do a proper hustle. And you should wash the body properly, as per the methodology of our religion. And of course, those who know how to wash the

bodies, they should follow this procedure. By the way, I also need to point out to you that given the fact that the number of deaths might increase, in the next few weeks or months, may I suggest communities think about getting young men and young women and training them because we will need people in our communities to take care of this photokey fire. And they need to be trained in both ways. That's why it's just training. You don't need to be a scholar to wash your body, just half a day, an hour, two hours of training, you need to be trained in both ways. Firstly, the fic, of how to do a hosel of the of the body and men wash men and women wash them. And that's the general

default. So you need to learn the fic of how to wash the body. Then secondly, you need to be trained by a medical expert. How do you put on the PPE? How do you take it off? How do you dispose of it? What is the procedures to follow. So that is two types of training. And given the fact that our communities might face multiple deaths in the next few weeks or months, we ask Allah for Afyon protection, we need to be prepared and perhaps regular what we have you know of our services might not do the job. So may I humbly suggest every community to be proactive before it is too late. And for those in charge of the funeral houses in the Muslim communities, the funeral parlors that they

reach out, and they get get volunteers and they train people that are at lowest risk. And these are young men and young women who are healthy and don't have any other issues and who are eager to to volunteer for this blessing from ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada or paid it's all fine, whatever the committee is able to do to get training. So we said the default is to do hosel. And as of yet the CDC is allowing this now, suppose in some areas, they say you cannot touch the body. And this might vary from state to state or place to place, or suppose that the funeral place has run out of protective gear, right, because that's another issue, then you don't have protective gear. And in this case,

you should not touch the body without protective gear. And so we say from a fear perspective, you should not do hustle, and you move on to the next stage, what is the next stage the next stage are scholars say, if you cannot do a lesson, it is permissible to pour water without rubbing without touching, you may simply pour water. And our scholars have said this in multiple scenarios of the past, for example, they said that if a lady dies, and she's a traveler, and she is amongst a group of men, none of whom are her Muharram that nobody can touch her nobody can you know wash her body and so our is called Classical scholars that in that case, you know she is simply water is poured

over her without any rubbing without any touching. And then she's put in the shroud and put in so if you cannot do a proper hustle, we move to level two, level two is pouring water and you can these days use a hose you can use something from the air whatever you can simply, you know, do a proper and you don't have to necessarily remove the clothing and whatnot if that's something that is not possible to do. So that is level two. Now suppose the medical experts say or suppose in this particular case that we don't even have the facility to do that, we can then move to level three. So again, we're moving down here, depending on what depending on three things again, remember number

one, what doctors tell us what the medical experts tell us and as of yet we say also it is permissible if you have the equipment. Number two, our own preparedness What if we don't have the equipment? What if we don't have this then we're going to move down and then number three, what our

the the local laws tell us because again, perhaps in some states perhaps in some vicinities the law will say that you are not allowed to touch the body at all, not even pour water on it. So then we will move down according to what the law as well says. So level two we said was pouring water

and at a distance even you don't have to rub level three which is allowed again very explicitly and that is to do Teja mum to do to your mum no water What if the doctor say hey look you know water is what transfer because as of yet we think what we know of the virus it is the water droplets that transferred and what if our doctors say and we don't have the equipment for water and also our doctors say You know what? The dry the dry body if you wear at least gloves that if you touch it then you Dispose of the gloves you should be fine. Then we move to the third level and the third level will be TM mum TM mum, Imam romiley The famous Shafi scholar says in the title mortage woman

to either a whole slew the fact that Dilma e oh the lady he can if Taraka oladele Whoa, what a who said letter Hara Oh, he thought I lost him. What am Younkin Jota how food the human men,

human, human, human, we're sorry, human, whoever is not able to be washed with a whistle. Either because they don't have water or because his body is in such a state that if you were to touch it, it would you know decay or whatnot, or one is worried about the washing person, the one who's doing the hustle, and that he might get harmed in this case to young mom is done upon the body. My own teacher Sheikh Mohammed Matata show Katie, whom I studied with in his military for 10 years and how was it I was able to study with him. Shanthi says that whoever has a disease, that the corpse has a disease that we are worried that it might transfer over to the one doing the hustle in this case,

and if the doctors tell us that it is possible that the one washing might get the disease in this case, if it is possible, then TM mon is done. And therefore if you cannot do hosel living or dead, then you move to tell your mum whether you're alive whether you're dead to him when was this substitute? So what do you do then you will wear your gloves because again, this is Coronavirus, you cannot have you know without gloves. And again, speak to the doctors, not just me remember, don't just listen to this lecture and do something listen to this lecture and then also speak to the medical experts of your vicinity about this disease. What I'm telling you if you cannot do hosel and

you cannot pour water stage three you do Tamil How do you do Tamil, you're allowed to wear gloves in this case, it doesn't have to be with the bare hands and you will put it on any Sandy surface any you know even the table or something, it's symbolic because the end of the table was symbolic, you will do that. And then you will rub the face and then rub the hand so you feel the loss if you're the one doing the hosel you will rub the face and then rub the hands and that's it then Dispose of the gloves the way that the doctors and the medical experts tell us that is the third stage that is to your mum. And so, if you can not do hosel and you cannot pour water then you will do tell your

mum now suppose the doctors say or the body is in such a state where they are you are told you cannot even come close to it. And suppose because it might be very possible. In some places we might run out of the protective gear. We might not have gloves, gloves, we will and by the way, dear Muslims already in hospitals already and we are in week one Subhanallah we are in week one. And we are running out of gloves. We're running out of the masks, as you know in America, in America, this great land this land that is supposed to be the pinnacle of of technology and whatnot. In week one, we are running out of ventilators and we're running out of masks. What do you think is going to

happen in week five and week 10 We ask Allah for Salah and Althea. So it is very likely that in funeral homes and clinic cleansing facilities, we might run out to protective gear and then we will be told you cannot touch the body at all, even for tambem. And you might not have gloves to do that. In which case if that is the case, then we go to level four, which is that they will bury the body in a special sealed bag. And in this case, the body will be buried as is without the hosel and without tambem because that was what the law and what the people told us and there's nothing that we can do. What are you calling for long enough son in law WUSA that Allah does not place a burden on a

person more than what he or she can bear and therefore any person whom we are told by medical experts that you know the situation now whether for the facilities whether because we don't have it whether because of the body, if we are told that you cannot even come close to the body and the body is going to be in a in a in a bag, a special bag that is you know the there for the bodies, the zip bag that is seals everything. In that case, the body shall be buried as is and no one is sinful, and it will be deemed that the rights have been performed and no one should feel that something was wrong. Because this is as the Shetty I says, this is a principle of filth. Please Please memorize

it. The Shetty the principles of fixate have

coulomb al Bakr Al Amaroo. Tessa, the more difficult the situation becomes, the easier the Sharia becomes, the more difficult the situation, the easier the Sharia becomes. And therefore, if we are not able to do any of the above, we are forgiven. Now question, what if there's the body bag? And then we are told you can do whatever you want outside of the body bag? Should we pour water? Or should we put some sand on the outside of the body bag? The response is that in reality that does not make any 50 sense. None of the scholars of the past said that you should wash the body that is already shrouded in a way that no water comes in. When they said pour water. They said that pour

water over the clothes that a person wears because the purpose of the whistle is you're actually washed the body. If you cannot wash the body, then the purpose is a type of TM. Suppose the body is fully covered up. I mean, I personally would say there is really no need to do anything. However, if somebody says that even symbolically just to attain a moon, there is no need for water by the way, because there's no listen, it makes no sense to pour water on a waterproof zip locked body back. But if a person wants to do take them over the body bag, I would not say this is something that needs to be done. But if somebody does it for the sake of their hearts or whatnot, I would not object to that

either. But really nothing needs to be done and the body may be buried as is, and there is no sin. Nor should anybody feel that my relative didn't get the full thing. No, the Shediac allows this to happen. And our books that Phil mentioned such scenarios, no problem whatsoever. So this is with regards to the loosen of the body once again, number one insha Allah still we can do listen, if we wear PPE, and we follow proper protocol, if you have the proper protocol, do it. If you can't number two, pour water from afar from above anywhere, and then do the shouting. If you cannot do that, number three wear gloves and do to move just the face and the hands. And if you cannot even do any

of the above the number four and they say you have to wrap the body up and have the specialist routing and whatnot. And of course they have a special bag of course this is not the Islamic shrouding then you forget you are forgiven and you bury it as is Allah will forgive you and the person has not no don't feel that you have done anything short because Allah does not burden you more than you can bear. Okay, the next issue now that is the host of the next issue is Janaza Janaza. Salah, as for Janaza, Salah

Alhamdulillah there's much more easily way over here. And that is because Janaza Hamdulillah. Even in classical field, we don't need to redo anything or rethink anything that of course, why is it an issue now that in our times we are not allowed to call for congregations it is against the law in many states, including the one I'm in right now, you cannot have more than two people, you know, come together. So technically, you cannot have 510 50 people come and pray janazah even though maybe a few people, the family members, they might be allowed to go and vary. But there should be no issue with Janaza prayer. Why? Because Janaza prayer can be done anywhere with any number of people that

hamdulillah janazah prayer can be done anywhere, you don't have to be in a particular place where the body is washed, you can do janazah right there no problem. In fact, according to many of our early scholars, and this is a position that I also follow it is permissible to do Janaza even without any excuse inside the graveyard in a moon that says that knarf here the famous students have been Omar Nath here mentioned that the wife of the process of Isha and all masala made the both of them their janazah was prayed in genital Brooklyn, Brooklyn hola Derek Janaza was prayed and there was no Coronavirus. There was no plague. But the janazah was prayed inside Brooklyn, Mohammed Abu

Hurayrah came and he led the Salah in front of the cupboard in Buckley, Al Horford and Ibn Omar was also present over there and didn't say anything. And Ahmed Abdul Aziz de grandes great grandson of America also did this as well. And this is a position that I follow and many scholars follow no problem if you cannot do the janazah anywhere else, you do it at the grave site or at the place where the body was washed, all of this is allowed. So you may do Janaza inside the grievant you cannot pray Salah and Salah is like Rocco and sujood you cannot pray Salah inside the graveyard but so lateral janazah is not the type of Salah that is prohibited inside the graveyard. If you need to

whoever is there, you know, the brother is there the friend is there the family is or whoever is there, they may do the janazah wherever it is possible. And this doesn't need a new film or photo that is Islamic photo as well. janazah does not have a minimum number. Now of course we want a large janazah but we're not allowed to make a call and call people as you know and it is foolish to do so it really is it goes against the goals of the Sharia to do so. And therefore the janazah will take place with whoever is there. If it's even one person the one who

Is washing the body, then even that one person can stand and simply do the janazah. And that will be considered a legitimate salatu Janaza Janaza does not have a minimal number, nor does it have a place that it needs to be done. Now, the other thing as well that we need to discuss is the issue of Janaza Ironheart. Origin as in absentia, because what if family members could not come and there and this is already happening in a number of countries. I know, for example, in England, where family members were told that they cannot even you know, come in large gatherings even to the graveyard and only small numbers could come How about the rest of the family members? How about the rest of the

friends? What should they do? Well realize that, once again, we don't need any new factual or new field over here, the shaft very method and the humbly method and many alumni including Mr. Shokan and others, they said that Janaza Island ha EB is something that is allowed without any excuse. So what about when there is an excuse? How about then? So what is Janaza law? It is reported in the sight of Imam Al Bukhari, that when Naja she passed away who wasn't a Joshi, the jar she was the governor or the ruler or the king of Abyssinia and the jar she passed away in a faraway land and our Prophet system was informed by God that the Joshi passed away and the Joshi passed away in

Abyssinia. The Prophet system announced in the masjid of Medina, that your brother in a Joshi has passed away and we will do janazah for him. And so, he lined up the people and they did Salah till Janaza even donor Josh's body was where Avicennia and from this the humbly school the Shafi school many odema they said This clearly shows that if you want to do Janaza Island, ha, you can do so and this is without any excuse. Imagine now when loved ones are dying and we might not be able to pray what will the family do we say to them, no problem in shallow to other in this time of distress and difficulty followed the position that so many roller Ma said even if you're not humble yourself in

my opinion, in this case, it's no problem. You may do salata, Janaza and aloha, which means wherever you are, you gather your family and friends don't have a large gathering whatever is there don't call people were supposed to be in social isolation, whoever is living together all the family and friends individually in their houses, they can stand face to table and they will do one person be the Imam and the others behind him and they will do tech bill for tech the robots and then they will say somebody who somebody from the first tech Bureau will be certified to the second tech Vera will be the salah Ibrahimi Allah Allah Allah Muhammad Ali Mohammed, the third tech Vera will be a dua for

the deceased and if you don't know the ones from the Sunnah, then say anything from the heart just make dua for the disease. The fourth tech Vera Rapana attina for dunya has an awful after the hassle of an adult now, and then you will make the salah on both sides or on one side both of these are permitted and then the Salah is over, there is no record there is no sujood you have to do will do and face the Qibla and that is it. And so salata, Janaza, Allah is something that we should be aware of, and perform for those amongst us who pass away, and we cannot physically be there for them, Jaya. So this, we talked about hosel, we've talked about salatu Janaza, we also need to get to the

issue of the burial itself. And again, ideally, as we mentioned, as I mentioned, the people who study Islamic faith, and the people who know this, they know that there's a particular shroud. And there's a particular mechanism, if we're able to do this, this is Sunnah, by the way, it is not wajib if you don't have the shroud, even in regular circumstances, as long as the body is covered in some manner, and that is the bare minimum. So if we're not able to have the five or seven trousers, we're not able to have the white and the way that it is typically done. That is not wajib. And there are many times in history. In fact, even in the Battle of oil, multiple people passed away, and

there wasn't even enough cloth to cover them up. So as long as something is covered in the body, and these days, we have the body bags and whatnot. So that is not going to be an issue. However, another issue might come, can we bury multiple people in the same grave, especially if the number of deaths increase, and we don't have space? What can we do then realize that once again, we we don't need to reinvent filter hamdulillah our faith has discussed these issues many many centuries ago. And we know that even in the time of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam even in the time of the Prophet solo, sell them that some people in the battle have too many people passed away. And so the prophets

have said very two or three people together as many as you can. And so in one grave, multiple people were put there is no problem whatsoever in this regard. And this is something once again that goes back to again, it doesn't need any new HDR. If the situation gets difficult and we don't have space or it becomes logistically difficult to keep on

burying, you know, digging and burying and you know, deer Muslims plagues always brought about this issue in Islamic history. Every time there was a plague, there were some problems with burials and our scholars overlooked it for the time no big deal it happens, what can you do? So, if and we seek Allah's refuge, but if the number of deaths increased such that we will not have the time or the logistics or the energy or the space to have every single person buried in one grave, no problem, our sharing allows this even in the Battle of awkward and by the way, the battle of words, they had the time, but it was just time consuming energy and the process of allowed people two or three

people to be buried in the same cupboard. So, how about now when we might not have that you know, the luxury so, no problem multiple people may be buried in one grave if the situation calls for this. I want to also finish up with some other related issues as well. Now that we are talking about

the fifth pertaining to the the Coronavirus as well, and that is that, Okay, what if the person is being buried? And you know, the family is back at home, and they cannot see the burial? Is it allowed for me to take my iPhone or something like this and simply show the family show the, you know, the wife or the daughter or the children? Can I show or anybody can I show them the burial procedure? And is it going to be something that is held in Islam? And the response is that yes, there is no hemorrhage whatsoever. There is no sin whatsoever in broadcasting, the funeral procession and the funeral burial live to family members as long as Islamic decorum as long as

dignity is observed. In and of itself. There is no shutter a prohibition about broadcasting it. But obviously we remind the family remind the people that what they say has to be something that is acceptable to Allah subhanho wa Taala and that they don't, you know, do things that are prohibited, which is like wailing for the dead and saying things of a nature that are an Islamic as well. Now that we're talking about, again, all of these issues pertaining to Coronavirus and of course, the main thrust of today's issue was about was about the filter agenda isn't the filter of the filter of funeral prayers, but because we were talking about this, let us also quickly talk about one or two

other issues before our time runs up.

Related to the field of Coronavirus, the field COVID The times of Coronavirus and of them is the field of Juma asada and what is to be done for Juma Isola. And I want to read to you the fatwa that the fifth Council of North America which is the oldest body of fifth councils in North America, it is the first body that was formed for the for the issues of fifth potato North America. And I'm very humbled and honored to be the least really person on there but 100 I'm a member of the fifth Council and today we convened online and we unanimously agreed to a fatwa pertaining to the prayer and the funeral. And what I have just said to you, by the way, is essentially an explanation of that photo

for the funeral. I will now read to you from the field councils official fatwa about the prayer when it comes to this situation of the Coronavirus and the fifth Council has said that given the extenuating circumstances surrounding the Coronavirus crisis, the fifth Council of North America convened online and has unanimously issued the following statements regarding Friday prayers and communal sign up the fifth Council states the suspension of the communal prayers in the messages and all religious activities in person is a necessary matter in light of the overall goals of the Sharia. And not only is there no sin in doing so, rather, it is sinful to flout such regulations and

to bring risk to oneself and to others of the primary goals of the Sharia is the preservation of life. And this ban of social intermixing is not a ban on the Salah, which is for the iron individual obligation, but rather a ban on the communal prayer the Salado GEMA which according to the majority of aroma is not for dine and can be lifted for many reasons including slight hardship. For example, if there is rain, I will process instead pray in your houses. So the ban is not on salah. The ban is on communal Salah and there's no problem. In fact the fifth Council says to proceed without caution in the lands where it has been banned is in fact sinful. And the fifth Council says this suspension

should remain until medical experts give indications that it can be lifted. The field Council of North America says listen to this. This is a matter for medical experts to assess not religious authorities

And this is what my paradigm is. We as people trained in physics and intercede and in Hadith, and in theology and in the classical sciences are not the people you should be coming to, to ask us about when the bound should be lifted. And when we can have Jamaat again, that's not my forte is not what I have studied, when the medical experts tell us that it is dangerous for people to be intermixing together in this manner, then we have to say we hear and we obey, we are not experts in this regard. This is something goes back to them not to us. This is what the field Council says and what I believe. The field Council then says, while in person activities should be suspended, religious

lectures and all other classes and even hold about sermons can and should be delivered online and distributed to the community. We advise every community that it should be connected with its rigid religious leaders during this time of crisis, and community should do their best to maintain some semblance of activities online. In other words, we advise all masajid that have had communities in the past to continue their services to their communities online. So that Islamic education tarbiyah, Eman, building, you know, teaching them the car and to us and whatnot, it continues because we need always to increase our knowledge. So the fifth Council says We advise all the services to continue

online. However, very important. Listen to this, the hotbar, the Friday sermon that is being broadcast, even if live does not take the ruling of a hotel, but for those who listen to it from their houses. This is because there is unanimous consensus amongst all the legal schools that an unreasonable gap between the lines between the environmental lines, breaks a congregational prayer. Hence there is no Gemma when many households are praying many miles apart, as well. In particular for the Friday prayer the Joomla. The default is that Joomla is done in major misogyny and that Joomla is meant to gather Gemma the people therefore, it is not permitted for people who are

watching the sermon remotely, to then pray to look at Friday prayers even if they are listening live. Rather, those in their homes will pray for Raka vo her in lieu of regular Joomla meaning you may listen to our live broadcasts, you may listen to any holdover, recorded or live. But if you're at home, you cannot consider that heartbeat to be an actual heartbeat for you. In which case you will pray to look I know it's Islamic advice, which is happens to be a while before it's being given for you at home. It's a religious advice and then you will pray Lord with the Sunnah with the Nuffield and for Ricardo and of course, you can pray Jamaah for Lahore for Raka. Now, the third

Council says

while some schools of law did allow three or four people to perform Joomla with some conditions, and hence according to those schools, it would not be invalid to establish Joomla in individual houses if these conditions and numbers were met. The fifth Council does not encourage this practice unless extenuating individual circumstances exist that make this option better than the other options. The goal of the ban on social intermingling would be defeated if many Germans began, services began other people's houses end quote. In other words, what the fifth Council is saying is that some scholars very few allowed Juma with three or four people and if therefore, some family have

mashallah four or five, seven people living together, if they were to have a mini Joomla in their houses, and so the father stands up and his two sons are there and the mother or the daughter in the backend, they're all doing this. From the perspective of that very, very, very small group. This is a valid Joomla. By the way, the majority would say no, the majority would say the concept of Joomla. Like this doesn't exist, because Joomla is done in massage, that is John Mayer, and it is done by congregating the people and this is the position I also follow. But some very small orlimar said it is allowed. So if the family does this, the fifth Council says we are not saying it is invalid.

We're not saying it's battle. But we encourage families not to do this. Why for multiple reasons of them is that the purpose of Joomla is to gather people together and to come to the main message of them is that generally speaking, the person who's not trained in the hotbar might not give as effective of a hook but as the actual you know how they will be giving of them is that once people hear that oh, so and so's giving a hug, and it's my neighbor Oh, I'm going to come to I'm going to come to what's going to happen instead

Have not having social intermingling, we're going to have 50 houses where people are coming and driving to and people say, Oh, I liked he, his son gave a hug. But last week that was really good, more people are going to come. The whole purpose is we don't intermingle. The whole purpose is we isolate ourselves to the maximum possible amount. And therefore if we start popping up many Germans everywhere, it defeats the purpose, dear Muslims, our religion does not tell us to act foolishly. And now that we know various things that our predecessors did not know. There is no problem you see, and that will conclude now because time is up.

The issue comes that you have groups of people you have sometimes even Obama,

whom I respect I love, we really do not doubt their sincerity. They keep on coming to this point, and they say, in the history of Islam, plagues have happened. And it is true that massages or ties were closed as a reaction, that there were no people to pray, people died. But never in Islamic history. Were massages closed proactively never in Islamic history around the globe. Did people say Oh, because of the plague, because we don't want social mixing, we will close the massages. So this group of Obama is asking for precedent, it's called precedent is a technical term, and the law student knows this. We don't want to be the first to do this. We want somebody to have done it

before. And I'll be honest with you, you will not find that type of precedent, you can try to hunt for it. And in my previous lectures, I kinda sorta did try to throw out tidbits here and there, but I'm going to be honest with you, you will not find any classical scholar that says, for fear of Coronavirus, for fear of the plague shut down jumaan. That's the truth. But you see, those scholars were dealing with the world as they knew it with the knowledge they had. And we thank Allah we had them. We thank Allah for their efforts, and we build from their efforts. The question is, now that we know what they did not know. And now that we understand very well to the level of certainty, you

see, that's the whole point here. This isn't knowledge that in every calvani It's a conjecture, it's a hypothesis. No, this is certain. We know that there are diseases that are carried by this thing called the virus we know virus spreads by the physical vicinity. Back in those days, they literally thought there's some bad air around you, or they thought that whatever something festers, and it comes read Ibn Sina with my utmost respect for these types of aroma as well read the classical medical doctors, they did not understand plagues, even though they knew it was contagious, but how they interpreted is different than what we know. Even the doctors of the past, much less the Obama

didn't understand. Now, the question here, you have two groups of scholars, and the one group is saying, if there's no precedent, we're not going to do anything.

I respect that. And that is something that we understand. But you see,

even as I respect it, I point out that is not the way forward. I am not attempting to diminish the the the erudite knowledge of that group. I'm never attempting to cast aspersions on their Nia, but I'm saying Islamic fiqh needs to take into account the certain knowledge we have as well. And the real *y the real jurist and I'm not amongst them, I'm the lowest amongst them. I'm of that paradigm, but I'm a mere student of knowledge. I'm not claiming that I am the one I would have been a challenging move to so and so and shifts are no, they're all above me and Iman and Taqwa, but it's a clash of paradigms. And I'm not the only one greater Allama, the council's of Islamic scholarship

around the globe, many of them and Hamdulillah, they are on this paradigm. And they are saying, now that we know what a virus is, and how it spreads. We don't need precedent to form this position. Because this is what common sense and Islamic law dictates. We want to preserve lives, not kill people. We want to preserve our children and grandchildren want to live in this dunya and the akhira. And our Shediac does not ask us to be foolish. What is being suspended is not salah, if it was the actual salah, well, that's a whole different issue. It's not it is Salah, in congregation, it is coming together in congregation it is physically touching one another, we are shaking hands

for people that don't live in the same house. All of this should be suspended and it is of the goals of the Sharia to do so if you follow this paradigm, and I'm definitely of that paradigm. If you really don't want to what can be done

May Allah azza wa jal rewards you for your sincerity but it is not the right way and our religion does not your religion and my religion does not ask you to be foolish just like you wouldn't throw yourself off of a bridge and say Allah is the One who will protect me. No, you don't do that in the first place. You take precautions, you don't throw yourself over the bridge, even when you're going to do something dangerous. Our Profit System walked into the battle of offered the Battle of a budget in the battle that he wore to armors to double protection because he he knows he's going to face a threat over there is anybody going to say that our profits isn't wearing armor shows that he

doesn't have to work on it Allah, he doesn't have Eman and Allah subhanaw taala Subhan Allah, you were your armor, you have your sword you train. And then when you have to face the enemy, you fight with valor with courage, you don't just throw your sword away and say, Oh Allah, I want shahada and you die right there. That's not Islam. Islam calls for the preservation of life, the preservation of intellect, the preservation of dignity, and the preservation of religion, all of these we preserve them. And therefore, I humbly humbly keep on reminding you listen to those who also want to take into account other sciences and then bring forth a fix that is conducive to the sciences of our

times. In today's lecture, I present to you basic issues with regards to the hosel with regards to the Janaza with regards to the Salah and what not, and this takes into account what we know of this world, we ask Allah subhanahu wa taala to protect all of us we ask Allah subhana wa to Allah to grant us Iman and to feel we ask Allah to grant us wisdom. We ask Allah azza wa jal to grant us the best of manners We ask Allah azza wa jal to be our hottie to be our molar we have no molar other than Allah subhana wa Tada. We ask Allah azza wa jal that is does not show us in our loved ones that which will cause us grief and harm. We ask Allah azza wa jal that our children and grandchildren are

protected We ask Allah subhana wa Tada that our loved ones all of them are protected We ask Allah subhana wa Tada to live as Muslims and to die as mins and Asha he is if Allah chooses us to die in this timeframe, we ask Allah is which has been given the rewards of a Shaheed and we ask Allah Subhana Allah to Allah that the last phrase that we say in this world be the phrase of la ilaha illAllah Muhammad Rasool Allah. And with this we come to the conclusion of today's q&a session. I will insha Allah Allah see you in our next sessions. Jazak Allahu alayhi salam alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh