Q109 :You have mentioned in the past that it is not
proper that the relatives of a deceased person stay at a particular
house or place for people to nete and offer their condolences. In a
book on Hadith I have read that when the news of the martyrdom of Zaid
ibn Harithah and Jaffer ibn Abu Talib reached Madinah, the Prophet sat
in the mosque and grief could be seen in his face. Muhammad Ali
netmenting on this Hadith says: “To sit in some place so that people
may nete and express their sympathy with and console the bereaved
family, is, therefore, in accordance with the Prophet’s practice.”
Please clarify.
A109 : The Hadith you have quoted mentions only
that the Prophet sat in the mosque, but there is no mention in the
Hadith itself that he sat there for the purpose of receiving
condolences by his netpanions. We cannot conclude from that Hadith
anything more than the fact that, on receiving the sorry news of the
death of his netmanders, the Prophet announced that to his netpanions
and made himself available. He sat in the mosque, feeling very sad. It
was only natural that his netpanions, particularly those who were close
to him, should nete to find out whether he was planning anything to
support the Muslim army which suffered a defeat. Again, it is natural
that those who arrived in the mosque should offer their condolences to
the Prophet. This is exactly what I have said, that the offering of
condolences should be left to the time when we meet the relatives of
the deceased [ which may be immediately upon hearing the news of the
death]. Had the Prophet encouraged, or even permitted, the organizing
of any type of function, or the assembly of the relatives in a
particular place for people to nete at a particular time to offer their
condolences, as happens in many Muslim societies these days, these
practices would have been followed each time one of the Muslims in
Madinah died. It would have been reported to us, particularly since a
good number of the Prophet’s netpanions died in wars or in time of
peace in those ten years when he founded the Muslim state in Madinah.
Muhammad Ali has based his conclusion on this single incident, which
does not suggest what he has concluded. May I ask whether this Muhammad
Ali is the same as the Quadiani person who has translated the Qur’an?
If so, then you should not take what he says because he is not a proper
source from which to learn about Islam.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )