Janaazah

Building a structure around a grave

Q: My father had passed away almost a month ago. I am living abroad that is why I was late by two days for janaza due to delayed flights. My family kept him in mortuary. He was a patient of heart and blood cancer. My mom was worried that this is too long for him to be in the mortuary and probably body will start deteriorate by the time I will get there. But when I went back, he was as fresh as he was sleeping. I did the janaza ghusal by myself and my younger brother. Everyone was very astonished that even after two days, he was looking as if he is sleeping keeping in mind the issue of cancer and other diseases he had. We did the janaza and came back.

I and my brother wanted to give his grave a two tier boundary so the land will become solid as it is looking unstable and uneven from the outside. We want to put marbles boundaries or in other words making its structure boundary solid. Once I remember he said for someone else that he do not like a tomb on graves.

I dreamt that we are again taking him home from mortuary with my same friend and van. But this time his body fell apart in pieces, his hand came off and his upper body and lower body came apart. we put him like this on the stature and taking him home. Every one was saying that this is expected and calm down. Then suddenly he was replaced by a really handsome/beautiful man sitting and talking with everyone.

Please suggest us can we make the sides of the grave solid with bricks and marble but not like big tomb but just 10 inches boundary on all sides like a rectangle. As this is a rainy season and land is so soft and not tidy and strong.

Women visiting the funeral home

Q: I wish to inquire what is the mas’alah with regards to women attending the funeral home of the deceased on the day of the janaazah. Please enlighten us with regards to the following:

1. Is it permissible for the general women of the community who are not the close family of the deceased to attend the home of the mayyit on the day of the janaazah as is the practice nowadays?

2. The mayyit house gets packed to capacity with women of the community (not necessarily the close family members but the general women). Will this be considered as causing takleef to the bereaved women of the house or not?

3. Which women are regarded as the close family members of the deceased?

4. Please explain the proper Shar’ee procedure for women to follow with regards to attending funeral homes?

Bathing the mayyit with hot water

Q: I read in an online fatwa that "In Faatawa Shaamiyah, it is stated that when bathing the mayyit, water should not be too hot as the mayyit also feels pain and is harmed just as the living."

Since this indicates that the mayyit is sensitive for temperatures, does it mean that he may also be harmed when his body is placed in the Mortuary Fridges, where the temperature is cold? Does his feeling end after burial, or will he also feel the cold earth, the insects physically biting him etc?

Esaal-e-Sawaab

Q: Is it right to read fatiha and dua for a dead wali or sheikh so as to remember what you have forgotten? Is it that it is praying for the dead not asking the dead?