Captioning provided by MUHSEN (www.muhsen.org)
- A man comes to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
and he says to him that, "My mother died suddenly."
And he said, "I think, law takallamat tasadaqat.
If she were able to speak
then she would want to give charity."
(As Salaam Alaikum Warahmatullahi)
So he asked the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam,
he said "So can I give charity on her behalf?"
And the Prophet, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, says,
to give charity on her behalf.
Now, the reason why I start with this narration
is because look at the point that he started from.
If she could speak, what would she want me to do?
If she was able to tell me, what would she tell me to do?
Would she tell me to make my grave more beautiful?
Would she tell me, you know, the tombstone's
not the right marble, it's not the right granite?
Can you make it a little higher?
Can you engrave it with this?
Can you put Surat al Fatiha on it?
Can you burn some incense on top of it?
You know, make sure that you watch
my favorite TV show for me.
What would she ask you to do?
What would your loved one ask you to do?
They would ask you to give charity.
They would ask you to do good deeds on their behalf
because that's what they need right now.
And in fact, they would be angry with you
and admonish you over the money that's wasted on things
that are of no benefit to them whatsoever.
Right?
And SubhanAllah you see that sometimes
that there is so much that's spent on the funeral,
on the celebrations of life that come after,
on the tombstone, on the grave,
things that of course do end up in the realm
of the sinful even.
But at the end of the day, like come back to it,
what would that person say to me if they could speak?
What would they want me to do?
And then consider the other side of the realm.
The Prophet, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, mentions
the righteous person who is in their grave
and then suddenly a visitor comes.
And this visitor is exceedingly beautiful,
has a beautiful smell, has beautiful clothes,
and as this visitor comes to the grave the visitor says,
"Abshir", glad tidings,
ladhiya surruk
with that which makes you pleased.
and that which you were promised."
And the person responds and says, "That face, this face,
this wajah,
what a beautiful face.
And this type of face, wajahukal wajh, yaji'ul bilkhair
this is a person that is definitely coming with good news.
I know that if I was expecting a punishment
this is not the person that would come to me
to give me bad news.
This is a person that would come to me to give me good news.
man 'ant, who are you?
Because you have to be bringing good news.
Are you one of the righteous souls?
Are you an angel?
Who are you?"
And imagine how stunned the person is.
May Allah make us that person when the one responds
and says that, "I am your Amal al Salih,
I am your good deeds."
SubhanAllah
I mean, this is a consistent trend when we're talking about
the hereafter that our good deeds will be personified
just as our sins and just as our limbs will become people
that testify against us on the day of judgment
may Allah protect us from using our tongue, using our limbs,
our hands in ways that are displeasing to him.
In the same way a person meets their
siyam,
meets their fasting on the day of judgment,
meets their recitation of the Qur'an on the day of judgment,
as people that come to give good news.
Now anything in this life that you could have given
to that person, right?
You think about the most beautiful piece of jewelry
that you would have bought, the most precious gift you
would have bought, the best day of your lives together.
Anything that you had ever done in this life to benefit them
or to make them happy or make both of you happy
in the process that has died along with that person
in the sense that they can't benefit from it anymore, right?
But when you do good deeds on their behalf
and those good deeds accompany them in their grave
and those visitors come to them,
or that visitor comes to them, and that is the good deed
that you continued on their behalf how pleased
is that person going to be with your action?
So I want to actually break this down into five things to do
for the dead when they pass away
inshaAllah Ta'ala,
so you can actually remember these five things.
And I'll start with this hadith.
Once again, in similar vein to the first one
that we started off with, a woman comes to the messenger
of Allah, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
and also says, Ya Rasulullah,
"My mother has died and she had some fasting
that she had to make up.
Some obligatory fasting that she had to make up."
And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam says,
"Do you see that if your mother would have died in debt
that you would have been expected
or you would have taken care of her debt?"
And the woman said, "Yes."
The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said,
"Then go ahead and fast on behalf of your mother."
So thinking about the fasting,
the siyam, as a part of a debt
that is owed on her behalf.
So you really want to think about it in terms
of debts and deeds.
But let's expand first the concept of debts.
So we're gonna go through five things.
The first one, you know, the scholars used to say,
"Glad tidings to the one who dies
and their sins die with them."
Their sins die with them.
You don't want to be dependent on someone else to pay off
your debts or to go seek forgiveness on your behalf
to someone who you hurt and you never got a chance
to apologize to.
So first and foremost, you know, think about yourself
that you don't want to be in that situation
where you need someone to go do that for you.
But when someone passes away, think about debts
and harm in regards to other people.
Immediately see if they have debts that they owe to people.
Immediately see if there are people that have been harmed
by them or that feel that they were wronged by them
and go seek forgiveness on their behalf.
Ask them to forgive your loved one and say,
"Listen, you know, death has come, this was a reminder,
please do forgive them."
They will be in need of that.
So let it go.
Let's let the grudges die as well.
And SubhanAllah, you know,
in the end times where you see the increase
of riba,
the increase of usury and interest, you see the increase
of debts and you see the increase of spiritual diseases,
you see the increase of grudges and tensions
and hatred between people.
So this becomes that much more urgent
for us to go and to seek forgiveness and pay off the debts
on behalf of our loved ones in case they were there.
So search for those.
Number two, our debts to Allah
Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la.
Not that debts to Allah are less important
but I'm talking about the priority at the immediate time
of death is to make sure that that person is only meeting
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la with the deeds
between them and Allah, not the deeds that are between them
and other people.
So debts between them
and Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la.
This refers to obligations that they did not get to fulfill.
And so this first and foremost starts off
with the obvious: hajj.
There are many times people make hajj on behalf
of their loved ones because their loved ones were not able
to make hajj themselves because they never
got the chance to.
Okay, so hajj.
After you make your own Faridah
you make your own obligatory hajj.
If you have the opportunity to do hajj
on behalf of that person.
siyam, fasting
which is in the example that was mentioned
by the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
to that woman.
This is referring to obligatory fasts
that were to be made up and the person passed away
before they were able to make up their fast.
And that's why, by the way, it's important
for you to let people know yourself if you have fasts
that you need to make up.
Your close ones, your loved ones, someone,
so that if you pass away they could make up those fasts
on your behalf.
Why not salah?
Why not prayer?
Because prayer is an obligation at all times
no matter what your situation is.
Right?
Hajj could be an obligation only when you have
the capability and you just might not meet
that financial and physical capability.
Fasting, there are reasons for which a person
will need to make up fasts.
But prayer, there is no excuse to delay the prayer,
to miss the prayer.
Even if a person can only pray with their hands,
with their eyes, and if a person was unconscious,
then they're forgiven for that anyway.
But so long as a person was conscious then prayer
was their obligation and if they did not fulfill
that obligation then you are not able to fulfill
that obligation on their behalf.
So that takes care of the first two things.
So debts to people
and debts to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la.
Then come the deeds.
And I'm gonna categorize the deeds into three,
inshaAllah, to make it easy.
The first of those categories, meaning the third
of this list of five, are deeds that are an extension
of the good that they inspired or taught themselves.
Meaning what?
Every time we do a good deed guess who gets a share
of that reward?
Rasulullah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
Because without the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
we would not know how to pray, we would not know
how to connect to our Lord.
So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam gets a share
of the reward every single time.
You know, if someone narrated the hadith
that established that good deed and everyone acts upon
that hadith then the narrator, somewhere in there,
you know and we usually only mention
the Sahabi but everyone in the chain
of narrators gets the reward
bi-idhnillah Ta'ala for the deed
that was inspired.
A parent who taught their kids some sort of good,
or a friend who taught their circle of friends,
or taught their community some sort
of hasanat, some sort of good.
And the people act upon it.
Even if they're not intending every single time,
"This is on behalf of my parents who were taught
by my grandparents who were taught by their grandparents,"
or, "My friend who was taught by..."
No, every time you act upon those deeds
inshaAllah that person is getting
a reward of it and that is the mercy
of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la.
That is far greater than the mercy that we could assign.
So be great, right?
You know, especially with parents,
especially with people that taught you to do well.
Continue to make progress to Allah
and that will be considered progress
for that person as well, bi-idhnillah Ta'ala.
The fourth one which is by far the largest category
are good deeds that are specified in the sunnah.
What I mean by that is that the Prophet
SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said that these particular
deeds benefit a person after their death.
First and foremost, we already mentioned
dua, right?
So dua, starting off
with istighfar,
with seeking forgiveness.
Then you see sadaqah.
And the best type of sadaqah
is sadaqah jariyah.
A continuous charity.
One that continues to flow.
So for example, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
specifically told, Sa'd ibn Ubadah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu.
To construct a well for his mother,
and Sa'd ibn Ubadah even donated a garden
for his mother.
So the types of projects that are ongoing
sadaqah are the best type
of sadaqah.
But any type of charity on behalf of the deceased,
bi-idhnillah Ta'ala, is accepted.
And of course, when it comes
to dua a righteous child's
dua is better
than the dua
of anyone else, right?
So dua, sadaqah jariyah
being the first of them.
Can I do hajj and umrah
even if a person has fulfilled their obligatory hajj?
Yes, you can do hajj on behalf of a person.
You can do umrah
on behalf of a person.
SubhanAllah
I once met a person in one of my own groups who was doing
hajj on behalf of Imam An Nawawi Rahimahullah ta'ala
I said, "SubhanAllah
why Imam An Nawawi?"
He said, "Because Riyad as-Salihin
changed my life."
So he'd done multiple hajjs
and Masha Allah he decided to do hajj
on behalf of Imam An Nawawi.
So if you want to do hajj on behalf of your loved one
or Umrah on behalf
of your loved ones and even people that just benefited
you this is something
that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la has given us
to where we can keep connected.
Knowledge that is of benefit, okay?
Knowledge that continues to benefit.
So again, that's inspired knowledge
and that is purchasing something, or extending a school,
or funding da'wah,
funding beneficial knowledge, right?
On behalf of that person.
The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
mentioned visiting and honoring the family and friends
of the person that has passed away.
This is beautiful.
He did it SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam with
Khadija radiAllahu Anha
with her family and her friends.
He would always send a share on her behalf.
And we also find Abdullah ibn Umar radiAllahu ta'ala Anhuma
honoring the children of his father's friends.
SubhanAllah as a means
of honoring his father.
So these are deeds that are specified
in the sunnah of the Prophet
SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, right?
And they broadly fall within the category
of dua, charity
and beneficial knowledge, right?
So doing one of those things or funding something
within that category, don't pay someone to make
dua, right?
That's different.
But funding a beneficial project, funding something,
inshaAllah,
all of that will be an extension.
The fifth category are all good deeds
that are done on their behalf.
What is the ruling on Isal-Thawab,
on good deeds in general reaching them?
Meaning, can I do any good deed
like reading Qur'an for example?
Or anything else, right?
In terms of offering a nafilah,
a prayer on their behalf.
All of the ulamah would say
that you could read a khatam Quran,
for example and then the dua
that you make at the end of khatamul Quran
for example, you could dedicate
that dua
to making dua for the person.
But then the difference of opinion comes to the deeds
that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
did not specifically mention whether or not there is a limit
on those deeds.
You'll find that a large number of scholars have said
that all good deeds, based on an analogy
of what the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
has mentioned, all good deeds
that are, of course, specified, legislated good deeds
themselves count as on their behalf
with the proper intention
and inshaAllah that would count.
But what I would say, and Allah knows best,
is for the most part, right?
Stick to as much of what the Prophet
SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam has specified
and inshaAllah there is no harm
in doing other good deeds on their behalf.
May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la accept them all.
And the second thing that I would say is avoid
ritualizing those deeds.
This is where it starts to fall out of difference
of opinion to just blameworthy.
Where a person starts to say after three days
we'll do this, after 10 days this, 40 days, one year
we'll gather here bringing in the food, the parties.
When we overly ritualize these things then you come out
of difference of opinion and you go into the blame worthy.
So I'm gonna repeat the five things
inshaAllah once again.
Debts to people, debts to Allah
Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la,
and then deeds that are inspired by that person
or are an extension of that person,
and then deeds that are specified in the sunnah,
and then lastly, all good deeds,
bi-idhnillah Ta'ala
May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la accept them all
on behalf of that person that has passed away.
(birds tweeting)