The abhorrent and despicable behaviour by Muslims at funerals leaves much to be desired. The funeral has become a place of business and meeting place for old friends to reminisce about ‘old times’, to idly stand around and engage in worldly chatter and make deals that has become the norm. This is totally disrespectful to the family of the deceased who are heartbroken and shattered on losing a loved one. Have our intellect dwindled or have we lost our moral obligations when it pertains to funerals?
This horrid trend seems to be prevalent at most Muslim funerals. It’s disheartening to witness adults behaving in manner that will even put a child to shame. Many people have gasped in shock and horror at the disrespect that people have for the person that passed away.
Here lies the janaza (deceased), waiting for the people to gather so that the salaah (prayer) could be read, and what do people do? They keep the janaza (deceased) waiting, indulging in worldly chatter, gossiping, procrastinating when making wudu (ablution) and generally showing a trait of non-chalance that irk the ulama (scholars) that continuously call for the men to gather themselves. At times there is a delay of up to 20 minutes or even more before the janaza salaah (prayer) begins. The imam (leader) will continuously quote hadith (narrations) after hadith (narrations), on that the janaza salaah (prayer) should be performed hastily, but his words fall on deaf ears…
The Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) said, “When you see the deceased (being carried) , then stand up and remain standing until the deceased goes out of view or it is placed on the ground. (Bukhari, Ahmad, Muslim, Tirmidhi, Abu Dawood and Nisai)
Can we begin to fathom that it will be us lying there one day? Would you accept the disrespect that is prevalent in today's funerals? What has happened to us, that we have lost the sanctity of the respect for the funeral and the fear of Allah? We need to be wary that death is indeed sad, but refute the notion that a gathering at a place where a funeral is taking place can also be substituted for a means to reminisce of times with old friends we have not seen in a while.
Indeed it is not wrong to catch up with old friends that we have not seen in a while, but such social gatherings and reflections on times gone by can be prolonged until the conclusion of the funeral which will then be more appropriate. Let us show the respect and amend our behaviour when attending funerals and reflect that one day it could be us lying there.
The prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) said: "No single Muslim who dies and forty Muslims pray the Janaazah (funeral) prayer for him, and all of them do not associate any deities with Allah, then Allah will accept their intercession for the deceased." [Reported by Imams Muslim, Ahmed, and Abu Dawood]
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