Hadiths for offerring prayer and fateha for the dead
Mu' meneen Brothers
and Sisters,
As Salaam
Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and
Blessings be upon all of you)
One of our
brothers/sisters has asked this question:
Assalam Aleykum,
Could you please let me know what the
hadiths/sunnah say about offering prayers for the dead.
What about distribution of
sweetmeats/mithai for "fateha" or having a "feteha jamaan"?
May Allah bless you and your team
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Answer:
Hadiths for offerring prayer and fateha for the dead
In the name of Allah, We
praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah
guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide
them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person,
no grave, no prophet, no
imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness
that Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
Q-1: Could you please let me know what the hadiths/sunnah say about
offering prayers for the dead.
When a believer
dies, his brothers in faith should
offer the funeral ‘janaaza’ prayers for him;
and may pray as the Prophet of Allah (saws) prayed for the companions
and believers when they died. Praying
the funeral ‘janaaza’ prayers for a believer who has died, is an obligatory duty (fard-kifaayah) for
the believers; whereby if some of the
believers offer the ‘janaaza’ prayers,
the whole community is absolved from the duty. But if no one offers the ‘janaaza’ prayers, it will be a sin on the whole community.
Narrated Abu Hurairah, : “The Prophet
(saws), prayed in one of the funeral
prayers: ‘Allahumma anta Rubbuha wa ant
khalaqtaha wa anta razaqtaha wa ant hadaytaha lil lslam wa anta qabadata ruha-ha
wa anta alamu bisirriha wa 'alaniyatiha. Ji'nashuf'ala-hafaghfir laha zanbaha’ (Oh Allah ! You are her Sustainer, You are
her Creator, You provided her with sustenance, guided her to Islam, caused her
to die, and You best know her secret and public life. We plead to You on her
behalf to forgive her sins).
Naraated Wa'ilah ibn al-Asqa: "The Prophet (saws), led us in
a funeral prayer for a man from among the Muslims. I heard him saying: ‘Allahumma inna fulana ibna fulan fi
dhimatika wa habla jawaraka, fa-qihu min fitnatal qabri wa adhabin nar wa anta
ahlal wafa' wal haq, allahumma faghfirlahu war-rahmhufa innaka antal ghafurur
Raheem’. ( O Allah! So-and-so, son of
so-and-so, is under Your protection and mercy, so protect him from the trial of
the grave and the torture of Hell Fire. You are the guardian of the truthful
and the faithful. OAllah! Forgive him and be merciful to him, as You are the
Most Merciful, Most Forgiving).
Narrated by Ahmad and Abu Daw'ud.
Narrated Awf ibn Malik: "I heard the Prophet (saws), while offering a funeral prayer, say: “Allahumma-ghfir lahu war-rhamhu wa'fu anhu
wa 'afahu wa akrim nuzulahu wa wassi' mudkhalahu waghsilhu bi-ma' ind wa thalj
wa barad wa naqi minal khataya kama yunaqi athaubudanas minad danas wa abdilhu
daran khairan min darihi wa ahlan khairan min ahlihi wa zaujan khairan min
zaujihi wa qih fitnatal qabr wa adhaban nar” . (O Allah! Forgive him, have
mercy on him, pardon him, heal him, be generous to him, cause his entrance to
be wide and comfortable, wash him with the most pure and clean water, and
purify him from sins as a white garment is washed clean of dirt. Give him in
exchange a home better than his home (on earth) and a family better than his
family, and a wife better than his wife, and protect him from the trial of the
grave and the torture of Hell Fire).
This is narrated by Muslim.
it is reported from Abu Hurairah that the Prophet (saws), offered
a funeral prayer and said:
“Allahummaghfir lihayatina wa mayatina wa saghirina wa kabirina wa
dhakirina wa unthana. Allahumma man ahyatahu minna fa-ahyahu 'alal Islam wa man
tawafthu minna fa-tawafthu 'ala iman. Allahumma la tahrimna ajrahu wa la
tudalana ba'dahu”. (O Allah! Forgive our living, our dead, our young, our old,
our males and our females, those of us who are present, and those who are
absent. O Allah! Whomsoever among us You keep to live, make him to live in
Islam, and whomsoever You cause to die, let him die in faith. O Allah! Do not
deprive us of our reward for (supplicating for) him, and cause us not to go
astray after him). This is narrated by
Ahmad.
Q-2: What about distribution of sweetmeats/mithai for
"fateha" or having a "feteha jamaan"?
There is absolutely no
evidence in the Quran and Sunnah for the ritual of distributing
sweatmeats/mithai for Fateha over the dead;
or for having a ‘fateha jaman’ or feast in the name of the dead. This ritual has absolutely no basis and
evidence from the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws); therefore,
it is an innovation in the deen brought by Prophet Mohamed (saws). A believer, who truly believes in Allah and the Last Day, must abstain from following any
innovation, but rather strive to follow
the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws).
The Sunnah of the Prophet (saws) was that he prayed the
funeral prayer, buried the person, and
told the family to mourn for 3-days for the deceased. During this period, he did not read or finish the Quran to
transfer the reward to the deceased,
nor did he feed the people who
came to mourn, nor did he serve the fateha (food) on the corresponding 3rd,
10th, month, 40th, or yearly dates. In
fact, he told the neighbors and other muslims to provide food to the family of
the deceased for three days during their period of mourning.
We are commanded in the Holy Quran to follow the tradition
or way of the Prophet (saws) and any changes in the way or tradition of the
Prophet(saws) is known as a ‘bid’a’ or innovation. And we must stay away from every innovation to keep our deen and
religion pure; and live our lives
according to the guidance and principles of the Holy Quran and the traditions
of the Messenger of Allah (saws).
The Prophet (saws) himself warned that there will come a
time when people will add and subtract from the deen of Islam at will. He cursed the people who introduced an
innovation in Islam, and those who
followed it.
It has been reported by Imam Ali ibn Abu
Talib (r.a.) that the Prophet (saws) said: If anyone introduces an innovation
(in religion), he will be responsible
for it. If anyone introduces an
innovation or gives shelter to a man who introduces an innovation (in
religion), he is cursed by Allah, by His angels, and by all the people.
It has been reported by Jabir ibn Abdullah
(r.a.) in another authentic narration that the Prophet of Allah (saws) said in
a sermon: “The best speech is that
which is embodied in the Book of Allah, the Al Quran; and the best guidance is the guidance given by me, Mohamed
(saws). The most evil affairs are the
innovations, and every innovation is an
error.”
Thus the rasms of ‘khatm-ul-Quran’ and the feeding of the
congregation on specially appointed days like the 3rd, 10th,
30th, 40th, etc. are nothing but innovations in Islam and
must be avoided by the true believers,
if indeed we fear Allah and the Last Day.
Whatever written of Truth and benefit
is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of
me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is
the Only Source of Strength.
Your Brother in
Islam,
Burhan
Wister