Janaazah

Attending the cremation of one's non-Muslim grandmother

Q: My father is a Hindu! He says he believes in one God but his religion is Hindu. He doesn’t take part in any of the beliefs and he does not attend the temple. The only thing he does is when a death happens he will do what the religion says until the burial.

My dads mother died and she will be cremated next Wednesday. So he will take in part in a few things.

My question is to you please:

1. Am I allowed to keep seeing my dad as I see him regularly?

2. He wants me to attend the ceremony for the cremation and do a speech for him to support him and say a few words on behalf of my grandmother for my dad as I am his first born?

3. If I’m not allowed to do anything would I be able just to attend to be next to him or is it not permissible? He’s asking me just to come to support him and be next to him.

4. My mother and my father divorced when I was young and Alhamdulilah I stayed with my mum and grew up knowing about Islam and I am a Muslim Alhamdulilah. He is my dad and I just want to be there for him but if Islam says no then I can’t argue with that. If you can please let me know I would be very grateful.

Dua after Janaazah Salaah

Q: Can you please explain to me the shar’ee ruling regarding making dua after the janaazah salaah? In certain places, after the janaazah salaah is performed, I see people raise their hands and engage in collective dua for the deceased.

Is this practice established in the Hadith? Some people try to prove the practice of collective dua after the janaazah salaah through the following Hadith. Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) said,

إذا صليتم على الميت فأخلصوا له الدعاء (سنن أبي داود رقم 3199)

“When you perform janaazah salaah upon any deceased, then sincerely make dua for him.”

Does this Hadith refer to making dua for the deceased after janaazah salaah or does it refer to making dua for the deceased in the janaazah salaah?

Guidelines for a ghusal khana

Q: A ghusal khana was constructed in our locality. We want to put up a poster on the wall with a few guidelines regarding the ghusal khana,for example:

1. There should be no mixing of males and females.

2. Only those carrying out the ghusal and those assisting in the ghusal should be present, others should wait outside.

3. Silence should be maintained in the ghusal khana at all times.

4. No item of the ghusal khana should be removed for personal use.

5. No pictures or videos should be taken at any time.

We would appreciate if you could please correct and approve the above together with adding more points.

Delaying the ghusal of the deceased

Q: What is the ruling regarding delaying the ghusl and burial of a deceased person?

If a person dies at night or in the evening and it is possible to wash him/her that very day but burial can only be done the next day due to restrictions from the cemetery, is it better to wash him/her today or delay the washing till the morning of the day on which the burial will take place?

Can there be a time gap between washing and burying?