Seadet-i Ebediyye - Endless Bliss Fifth Fascicle

coffin. It is always very good to bury women’s corpses in their
coffins.
If a person dies on a ship and if his corpse may putrefy before
the ship reaches land, he is washed and shrouded and his salât is
performed; then, if disbelievers’ land is close by, the corpse is put
into the sea with some heavy object tied to the shroud. If you are
closer to the Muslims’ coast, you do not tie a heavy object to the
shroud.
It is not permissible to bury the corpse of a person in the room
where he died. It must not be buried near a school or tekke, either;
it must be taken to a Muslims’ cemetery.
It is written in Shir’at-ul islâm: “When the janâza is put on the
ground near the grave, those who do not help with the work should
sit or squat down. They should not stand like Jews and Christians.
It is mustahab to recite seven sûras as the corpse is buried. These
seven sûras are Innâ andhalnâ, Kâfirûn, Idhâ jâeh, Ikhlâs, the two
sûras beginning with Qul a’ûdhu, and Fâtiha. Also, it is mustahab
to give alms and present the thawâb to the dead person’s soul
every day for one week after the burial.”
An odd or even number of people go into the grave, turn
towards the qibla, take the corpse, which has been placed on the
qibla side of the grave and lengthwise parallel to the grave, and put
it in the grave or in the lahd with its face towards the qibla. When
doing this they say the prayer, “Bismillah wa billah wa ’alâ millati
Rasûlillah, sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam.” They do not say the
adhân. The corpse’s face is turned towards the inside of the lahd,
and earth and sun-dried bricks are put behind it. Then the grave is
filled with earth. It is not permissible to reopen the grave to turn
the corpse towards the qibla if it has been placed the other way
round. For, it is harâm to reopen a grave. It can be reopened to
take something left in the grave. The ends of the shroud are
undone in the grave.
The author ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’ of the book Mîzân-ul
kubrâ states: “It is unanimously stated by the four Madhhabs that
the grave side of the lahd is covered with sun-dried bricks or a mat.
It is makrûh to cover it with baked bricks or with wood. [Nails,
baked things such as bricks are ornamental items. It is makrûh to
use them.] It is permissible to cover the outer part of the grave with
bricks, wood, or marble stones. The blessed lahd of Rasûlullah
(sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam) was covered with nine sundried
bricks. If a woman’s corpse is interred without a coffin, a large
piece of cloth must be used as a curtain.”
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