Advice for the Muslim

meet one another.” The Hanafî ’ulamâ’ write in books of fiqh that
it is sunna that the shrouds be nice, because the dead praise
themselves to one another and visit one another. In fact, the
’ulamâ’ of all the madhhabs write so in their books of fiqh. Many
amazing khabars and narrations confirming this fact have been
reported. Those who wish to read more on this subject may refer
to the book Sharh as-sudûr by Hadrat Imâm as-Suyûtî, a scholar of
hadîth. The lâ-madhhabî say that they trust in the ’ulamâ’ of
hadîth, quote many hadîths as proofs and documents from books
of hadîth and claim that Ibn Taimiyya was the greatest ’âlim of
Islam. They read the books of hadîth which write that the dead see
and hear in a way we do not know and understand, yet they do not
believe them and label as ‘unbelievers’ or ‘polytheists’ those who
believe that Rasûlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) and
awliyâ’ hear. They claim that those pilgrims who say, “Oh Rasûl-
Allâh! Intercede for us!” in front of Rasûlullâh’s blessed tomb are
polytheists. They say that hundreds of thousands of animals
sacrificed by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims at Minâ [near
Mecca] are najs (impure according to Islam) and, therefore, they
do not eat them but cover them with soil with bulldozers. They say,
“The animals slaughtered by polytheist[!] should not be eaten or
sold.”
PART FIVE. The dead know what living people do in the
world even without it being shown to them. Ibn al-Qayyim al-
Jawziyya, whom the lâ-madhhabî call an ’allâma and esteem
greatly, wrote in his book Kitâb ar-rûh as follows:
“Hâf›z (scholar of hadîth) Abu Muhammad ’Abd al-Haqq al-
Ashbîlî [al-Mâlikî (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ), d. 497 A.H. (1104)
gives detailed information on this subject. The dead ask
questions about the deeds of the living and understand their
words and actions.” On the next page of his book, he quotes
’Amr ibn Dînâr as saying, “One knows about the changes
happening with what he left behind as he dies. He sees and
watches the people who wash and shroud him.” On the following
page, Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya writes: “Sa’b ibn Jusâma [1] and
’Awf ibn Mâlik adopted each other as brothers in the next world.
They agreed that the one who died first would appear in the
dream of the other. Sa’b died first and appeared in ’Awf’s dream,
who asked, ‘What did Allâhu ta’âlâ do about you?’ Sa’b said, ‘He
[1] He was the son of Zainab bint Harb, the sister of Abu Sufyân. He
passed away during the caliphate of Hadrat Abu Bakr.
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