Dear brothers and sisters, with the\nnature of the week just passed both overseas and within our community, there\nhave been times when offering condolences was suitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The imam reminded us of ayats 155 to\n157 of Sura Baqara as part of this reminder and it is translated to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allah\nwill test people with different types of hardships: some with fear of those who\nare against them; hunger because of lack of food; lack of money because of\nlosing it or difficulty gaining it; loss of lives due to death from diseases\nand tragedies that kill people, or being martyred for the sake of Allah; and a\nlack of resources from the earth. Give good news, O Prophet, to those who are\npatient in the face of these hardships, of what will make them happy in this\nworld and in the Afterlife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\npatient are those who, when they are struck by one of these hardships, say, in\nacceptance, that all power belongs to Allah, He deals with us as He wills, and\nwe will return to Him on the Day of Judgement, and it is He Who created us and\nshowers us with many blessings; so, to Him is our return and our end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those\nwho possess these virtues are praised by Allah in the highest gathering of\nangels, and mercy descends on them. They are the ones guided to the path of\ntruth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dear brothers and sisters, the first\npoint made by the imam is that the act of giving condolence to the families are\nclose ones to a deceased person is not mandatory or wajib, but instead it is\nconsidered a liked action by most of the scholars. Allah knows best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With that being said, we should still\nemploy the best of manners befitting Muslims and therefore the manner of\noffering condolences is mentioned in todays reminder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The imam reminded us of a number of\nhadith in relation to this reminder. In the first one, the Prophet SAWS is\nreported to have said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018There\nis no believer who consoles for his brother for a calamity, but Allah will\nclothe him with garments of honor on the Day of Resurrection.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the next one, as narrated by Usama\nbin Zaid, which is translated to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\nwere with the Prophet (\ufdfa) when suddenly there\ncame to him a messenger from one of his daughters who was asking him to come\nand see her son who was dying. The Prophet (\ufdfa)\nsaid (to the messenger), “Go back and tell her that whatever Allah takes\nis His, and whatever He gives is His, and everything with Him has a limited\nfixed term (in this world). So order her to be patient and hope for Allah’s\nreward.” But she sent the messenger to the Prophet (\ufdfa) again, swearing that he should come to her. So the Prophet got\nup, and so did Sa`d bin ‘Ubada and Mu`adh bin Jabal (and went to her). When the\nchild was brought to the Prophet (\ufdfa)\nhis breath was disturbed in his chest as if it were in a water skin. On that\nthe eyes of the Prophet (\ufdfa) became flooded with\ntears, whereupon Sa`d said to him, “O Allah’s Messenger (\ufdfa)! What is this?” The Prophet (\ufdfa)\nsaid, “This is mercy which Allah has put in the heart of His slaves, and\nAllah bestows His mercy only on those of His slaves who are merciful (to\nothers).”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And so dear brothers and sisters, this\nreminder concludes with three points in relation to the manners of giving\ncondolences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Firstly, the act of giving condolence\nto someone has no expiry date and so if you hear of a passing much later than\nothers then it is still good manners to offer your condolences to the relatives\nof the deceased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Secondly, regarding the act of\ngathering by the relatives of the deceased in a assigned place such as a masjid\nor hall so that others can give their condolences. This is an act which is\nsplit in terms of the opinion of scholars. There are two opinions and many\nscholars state that this act is not allowed or makrooh and this includes the\nShaafi school of thought\u2019s opinion, other scholars, including the more recent\ncontemporary scholars believe that it is permissible. Allah knows best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lastly, there are actions which have\nno basis in the sunnah of the Prophet SAWS and are regarding as innovation.\nThese are acts which we need to protect ourselves from as they risk bringing\nsomething into the deen which has no historical basis. Two examples of this\naction are reading the Fatiha specifically as part of offering condolences and\nthe other is paying or bringing people specifically to read Quran for the\ndeceased. Allah knows best. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead we should offer condolences by\noffering a dua for the deceased, give charity on behalf of the deceased, and to\noffer kind words of comfort for the relatives who are grieving. The Prophet\nSAWS taught his daughter to say a dua when she informed him of the death\nof her baby. It is translated to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhatever Allah takes is for Him and whatever He gives, is\nfor Him, and everything with Him has a limited fixed term (in this world) and\nso she should be patient and hope for Allah\u2019s reward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And so, dear\nbrothers and sisters, we should use todays reminder to keep us grounded on the\nreality of the life that we live. We will be offering condolences throughout\nour lives as we all have a fixed time and one day others will be offering their\ncondolences for our passing. Let us use todays reminder to ensure that we\ndeliver this aspect with the best of manners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear brothers and sisters, with the nature of the week just passed both overseas and within our community, there have been times when offering condolences was suitable. The imam reminded us of ayats 155 to 157 of Sura Baqara as part of this reminder and it is translated to say: Allah will test people with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_regular_price":[],"currency_symbol":[],"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"blocksy_meta":[],"post_slider_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","post_slider_layout_landscape_large":"","post_slider_layout_portrait_large":"","post_slider_layout_square_large":"","post_slider_layout_landscape":"","post_slider_layout_portrait":"","post_slider_layout_square":"","full":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3088\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}