What One Says When Placing the Deceased in the Grave & Other Thoughts

Monthly Reflection for May 2008: Thoughts by Abul Layth

As I was looking through Al-Hafith Ibn Hajr Al-’Asqalani’s Talkhis Al-Habir I came acrossed a hadith that struck my soul. The author writes as the section heading,

“. It is recommended (mustahabb) for the one placing the deceased into the grave to say,

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ وَعَلَى مِلَّةِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ

“Bismillahi, wa ‘Alaa Millati Rasulullah”

“With Allah’s name, and upon the Religion of the Messenger of Allah.”

As that is reported by Ibn ‘Umar from the Messenger of Allah. When one places the deceased in the grave, place them in the lahd¹upon their right side, facing the qiblah, as that was done with the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam).”²

If you do not care for the details of the authenticity, just skip this part and move down to “So now…” If you do, continue…

Al-Hafith Ibn Hajr gives a discussion regarding the different forms it was narrated in, both marfu’ and mawquf. The hadith is reported by Tirmidhi (1046) though with minor differences in wording:

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ وَبِاللَّهِ وَعَلَى مِلَّةِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ وَقَالَ مَرَّةً بِسْمِ اللَّهِ وَبِاللَّهِ وَعَلَى سُنَّةِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ

“With Allah’s name, and with Allah, and upon the Messenger of Allah’s religion - and he also said, ‘With Allah’s name, and with Allah, and upon the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah.”

Tirmidhi stated that this particular narration is Hasan Gharib from this [reported] direction. An Nasa’i (10927), Ibn Majah (1550), Al-Hakim in his Mustadarak (1/366), Ibn Hibban in his Sahih (3110,3109), Al-Bazzar and At-Tabarani through different chains. The hadith is Sahih as even mentioned by Al-Albani in his Ahkam Al-Janaa’iz.

So now that I have went over the takhreej, I would like to mention a few thoughts. “And upon the Millah of the Messenger of Allah”. What a blessing it would be to die as a Muslim, upon the way and Sunnah of the chosen of God, ‘alayhis salam. That one completed his short life dedicated to the divine Abrahamic principles so many devoted individuals sacrificed themselves for is something we all hope for, and hopefully, work for. The real issue though is if we are LIVING the Millah of the Messenger of Allah! We all know that just because one dies a Muslim, does not guarantee him immediate heaven. So the question we should be asking ourselves is if we are living according to the Millah, the divine chosen way, Allah’s illuminated path for mankind. Salah? Zakah? Working to draw one’s self nearer to the Beloved. We all, or atleast most of us interested in eternal bliss, struggle with our spirituality, our religiousity, our inner drive to want and be near to Allah. It is what makes us Muslim, those who completely submit to Allah’s commands with mind and heart. We have our highs and our lows, our shortcomings, our sins, and no doubt are severe transgressions that only you and Allah know of. But when it really comes down to it, we are really hoping that our last moments, our last gasp of air, our last blink of the eye, will be with the testimony that we struggle to live for now - No deity save Allah! An ayah from the Qur’an comes to mind:

قُلْ إِنَّ صَلاَتِي وَنُسُكِي وَمَحْيَايَ وَمَمَاتِي لِلّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

لاَ شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَبِذَلِكَ أُمِرْتُ وَأَنَاْ أَوَّلُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ

Say: “Truly, my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death, are (all) for Allah, the Cherisher of the Worlds: No partner hath He: this am I commanded, and I am the first of those who bow to His will.”
 

So now ask yourself with sincerity and serious self-introspection, is your Salah, sacrifice, life and death for Allah and no other? If not, at the least, make your intention now that it is, and always will be. For death is as near to you as your sandal-strap. It may be soon that someone will say the words

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ وَعَلَى مِلَّةِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ

“Bismillahi, wa ‘Alaa Millati Rasulullah”

“With Allah’s name, and upon the Religion of the Messenger of Allah.”

As they place you in your grave! Oh Allah, make establish our feet upon your deen, bless our beloved Sayyid Muhammad, his family, and his followers.

Footnotes (Click ↩ at the end of the note to Go Back to Original Place in the article) :

1. A niche that is dug on the side of the grave where the body is placed, so that the dirt does not actually fall on the body [↩]
2. Talkhis Al-Habir, page 1231 Adwa’us-Salaf Edition [↩]