The purpose of this world is not to be a permanent place that is why Allah created death to be the only way out of this world for every creature and also to test every soul whether they will be grateful or ungrateful.
Allah says in Q67v1-2
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“Blessed is He in whose Hand is the dominion; and He is Able to do all things.
Who has created death and life that He may test you which of you is best indeed? And He is the All-mighty, the oft-forgiving.”
Also, it is a known fact that Allah has promised that every soul shall taste death, and unto Him everything shall return.
Islam therefore, as a way of life, prescribed solutions to everything one of which is death. Islam has ethics of preparing every Muslim for death. This is a big challenge so much that the Muslim congress (TMC) organized a public seminar on the sunnatic way of preparing Muslims for Janazat, which took place at the weekend at Kubwa, Abuja.
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The lecture was delivered by Sheikh Abdul Haadi Abdul Ganiyy, the Head of Dawah (National). The lecture was translated in English, Hausa and Yoruba respectively.
He started by explaining how a muslim should understand the purpose of this world.
The prophet was quoted to have said I don’t need this world, because the similitude of me and this world is like a traveler with a ride. He gets to a point of his journey and rests and later, he left for his destination.
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How Islam described the Muslim who believes in death?
“Once the prophet asked who is the wise among you He said it is the one who prepares all the time for death who is the most wise.
How then do we prepare for death?
He said we should prepare for death by checking our Iman (faith). Those things that make our Iman either improve or decline. We should improve with pretty and decrease in sin.
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He said the prophet said we should engage in righteous deeds, we should say our salat regularly and timely, we should pay Zakah and be self righteous.
All these are important so that death does not meet us unprepared, for whomever death meets unprepared, regret will be an understatement for such people.
Some recognize means of death.
Whoever does not die by the sword will die with something else. For example, natural disaster, sickness, etc. The prophet said all death is a cleansing agent for believers.
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When a Muslim is about to die, it is required.
-To be pleased with what Allah has destined for him/her and not blame anyone for his/her conditions.
– Being patient of Allah is Qadar
– Having good hope in this world and believing that Allah has a good plan for him\her.
-No matter the situation, a Muslim should not pray for death.
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Ibn Abass was tested with illness and prayed for death at some point but the prophet said you should not pray for death because if you are a righteous person, you will have the opportunity to increase in righteousness and if you are a bad person, not dying will serve as an opportunity for you to repent. The prophet taught him this prayer, “give me life if death is not good for me and take my life if death is the best for me.” Paying debt is also important for every Muslim at any given opportunity and also seeking for forgiveness from those you might have offended.
Writing wasiyah (will). It is required from every Muslim to write his\her wasiyah to;
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– Be pleased with what Allah has destined for him/her not to blame will every time. The prophet said it is not befitting for a believer to sleep for 2 nights without writing his Wasiyah (will) and it should be witnessed.
Ibn Mashood said since he heard this, no night has passed without him writing his Wasiyah (will)
Some key information for our will.
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1. We should explain ourselves in detail.
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2. All our property and reserves should be properly and clearly explained.
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3. We can request for the best grave ‘lad’
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4. You can write and admonishing our children to fear Allah.
What is our duty to a dying person?
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1. Pulling Laaillah illallah in His tongue to be easier for him to pronounce.
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2. If he\she dies, we should close his\her eyes with our hand.
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3. We should hasten to bury him\her except if there is exceptional situation.
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4. Crying and or blaming Allah is not allowed
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5. Waiting is not permitted
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6. We can announce the death because Islam wants many people to attend his\her Janaiza
The Janaiza preparation proper the prophet said, if well performed, they have cleared the sin from the Muslim community of the area but if not performed properly, the sins is on all the Muslim community of the area.
The major events on Janaiza are;
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Bath, this is matters of fiqh, the Islamic jurisprudent states that a man cannot bath woman and a woman cannot bath a man except in a situation where a husband bathes his wife and a wife bathes her husband.
The person bathing the dead should make the following provision for the bath, clean water, kafur to change the smell of the water at the third bath, gloves, three size of woman rapper with 4 – 6 long ropes on the edges of the cloth to cover him\her for bath.
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It is expected that the person giving the bath is someone who can keep secrets especially so that the person does not reveal whatever situation he\she noticed as a fault to anybody. If there is to be an assistant in this duty, this applies to them.
It is expected that a level of care is exercised in handling the corps so as to not harm the corps.
It is expected that a sizeable table is used to give the corps the bath.
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We will start by performing abluson for him\her normally except that we will not put water in his or her mouth and nose, will make use of wet cotton wool instead.
The bath begins from his or her head then moves to the right side of both the front and the back. In the case of a woman, it is expected to lose her hair and plate it into time path using wool.
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We would do the left side like that too at the third part, we will add kafur to the water to give scent and then give the bath.
After this, the water on the body is removed using a towel.
Then we will place the first cloth on the ground and place the second from middle to the right side and the third one from middle to the left side. We will now fold them on him\her using the rope to tie him\her tightly so that there is no breakage.
JANAIZA PRAYER
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The imam is expected to stay by the head of the corps if he is a man, but at the middle if the corps is a female.
The Imam would make the first Takberatul Ihram. He is expected to praise Allah and the best praise is the recitation of suratul fatiat. Then, at the second Kabara, the imam is expected to pray for the prophet by reading the salat Ibrahimiyyah, at the third Kabara, the imam is expected to pray for the corps in Arabic or any convienient language for him. After the forth Kabara, it is expected by the Imam to make salamat.
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The last stage is at the burial ground. This aspect is common as we know much of what is expected.
It was said that a woman who dies while pregnant with a well formed baby that Islam does not permit the removal of the baby except for two reasons.
1. If the mother dies and the child still leaves in her womb. She should be operated upon to remove the baby.
2. If the mother is not a Muslim who was allowed to marry a Muslim and the mother dies with the baby. It is expected to operate the pregnancy and separate them because the woman will be buried at a non – Muslim graveyard and the baby who is believed to be Muslim as all babies are born as Muslims, will be buried at the Muslim graveyard.
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The seminar was one of its kind as it served a great purpose with dramatization to further emphasize the points being made on what is expected of every Muslim on Janaiza preparation.
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