When compassion continues beyond the crisis

We are continuing our topic of the visiting visitation of the sick the ill and also the way that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would follow the geneza the way that he would perform janazah et cetera this is taken from the book provisions for the hereafter for the great appointment taken from the traditions and the ways of the best of mankind authored by shem siddin even jose last week we spoke about some of the etiquettes with regards to visiting the ill and how the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would visit the ill and some of the intentions behind visitation of those who are sick it should be mentioned that visitation of the ill is what the scholars refer to as farduki faya this is an obligation which is obligatory upon all of the community but only a gr a group is required from amongst the community to perform this act a then for example if there is a community of muslims a then is obligatory upon all of them but only one person makes the adhan on behalf of the rest likewise is the issue of geneza and returning assalaam somebody comes in and says assalamu alaikum everyone who hears him is obliged to reply but if one alone replies that's enough on behalf of the rest this is what is referred to as kifaya there is there's two types of obligations with regards to community the first is meaning every single person is responsible to perform the act like for example prayer nobody can pray on behalf of someone else so every single person of amongst the community is required to pray for him or herself whereas for example which is an obligation upon the entirety of the community but one person or a group may suffice and represent the entirety of the community in that act in that obligation such as a then such as visiting the sick such as following the geneza right or bathing the body or burial etc all of these things are considered for kefaya so we spoke about some of the etiquettes and it should be mentioned that visitation of the ill is one of the greater one of the greater and most rewarding acts a person can perform with regards to communicative acts of worship if a person goes to visit someone who is ill for the sake of allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam mentions that this person's path is a path of paradise on his way there and a path of paradise on his return and there is a narration in which the prophet sallallahu alaihi was mentioned that allah subhanahu wa will say on the day of resurrection to an individual who failed to visit his ill brother or sister abdi my servant i fell ill and you did not come to visit me and so the servant will reply how can i visit you when you are and he will say my servant so and so had fell ill in your presence or in your time and you knew of it and you did not visit him if you had visited him when he was ill then you would have found me there with him so allah subhanahu wa is with the ill those who are ill and patient in their illness and when a person goes to visit this individual allah is with him as well he says regarding the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam sunnah in visiting the ill min he says that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam never designated any particular day of the week or month or year or any particular time of day to visit someone who is ill rather any time to visit a person who is ill any day is sufficient what this means is that according to the customs of the people you're not going to go visit someone who's ill at three in the morning or two in the morning that's not what's intended what's intended is it it's regard it regards the appropriate time and place and customs of the person that you're going to visit so in some customs it's perfectly okay to go visit someone after isha and other places under other demographics or demographics or other areas or communities it is considered to be rude to visit someone after a certain time of of the day or night likewise with regards to how long a person stays and so forth this is all goes back to what's appropriate for the time and place and the person that is being visited he says.

[Silence]

Was narrated to have visited the ill in his time who were suffering from ailments such as pink eye or infection in the eyes which is known as and others these are contagious but they're only contagious if you touch them contrary to contagions which are respiratory for instance if a person has some kind of virus that is respiratory if you visit this person it may be to your own detriment if a person is going to be in danger then a person should not visit as the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam has mentioned he mentioned to avoid people with certain types of illnesses just as you would avoid a ferocious lion why is that because if a person is going to put himself in a situation where it is deadly or it is absolutely detrimental to his or her health something that is contagious something that will be of detriment to his family or to his community then this is an exception and alhamdulillah in our time we have ways to visit people without actually going in person if they are suffering from something that is contagious but something that is contagious but not but but it can be contained so for example infection of the eyes that used to occur in the time of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam which is referred to here as a ramadan this is something that is only infectious if you touch the person the person's infection and touch touch your own eyes but if you're just merely in the room with a person and you don't have any physical contact with him this will not affect you so i think this is pretty logical and pretty straightforward obviously if you're going to put yourself at risk for getting ill along with the person who is ill then this doesn't this doesn't benefit any of the parties he mentioned that sometimes the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would place his hand on the forehead of the ailing and then he would wipe over his chest and his stomach and say allah oh allah please cure this person and sometimes he would wipe over his own face alaihis was of course this is as long as it's not something that is contagious or detrimental to a person's health and if he would see a person who is in a state of chronic you know illness where there is the person is going to die they're essentially on their deathbed he would say to allah we belong into he we are returning this is what we are to say when we are faced with any calamity especially the calamity of death allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said for a s anytime you are afflicted with any type of calamity especially the calamity of death he says.

[Silence]

He mentions here that the prophet salallahu when he would his tradition and his way with dealing with a person who has passed away is the best of traditions that he salallahu alaihi wasallam would visit a person before he dies and upon a person's death he would seek forgiveness on behalf of this individual with allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and ask that allah keep this person keep this person firm in belief on his deathbed and when he is asked in the grave he would as well prepare the deceased the best of preparations of bathing and perfume and so forth and shrouding and he salallahu alaihi wasallam would then stand in prayer to allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala praising allah and glorifying allah and seeking forgiveness on behalf of the deceased as well as following the geneza all the way till the completion of the burial and after the burial the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam would often stand there at the grave with his companions seeking and making dua with allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and this wouldn't be the end he would as well go out of his way to visit the graveyards and the muslim cemeteries as well and convey assalam to the deceased and make dua for the people who are buried and have passed away at the graveyard so when a person goes to visit the graveyard the cemetery there's no particular day or time when a person should go to visit a person may visit at any time or day which is appropriate in that community sometimes people only go to the graveyard on naid sometimes people only go to the graveyard in the middle of shaban or the only go to the graveyard in ramadan or they only go to the graveyard on jummah all of this is not necessarily correct rather visiting the grave is any time just like visiting the ill so the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam made it an important habit of his and a tradition of his ummah that the person amongst the muslim community who is ailing with anything that the people are with him with this individual from the beginning of their calamity until the end of it this is something that's really important we have people that we've become very disconnected from each other so we have people that are ailing and have serious problems let's say a person has a child who passes away or has some kind of major calamity a lot of times they get a lot of support at the very beginning of this calamity and then everybody moves on with his or her life and forgets about the person and his troubles but this is this can articulate to the person a lack of concern and it can be misunderstood as a lack of concern and it also can cause a lot of loneliness i know of situations where people have lost their children some some of them have lost all of their children at once in one incident and at the very beginning when the issue first happens and the crisis first occurs people are there with the person for support but after a couple of weeks or a month goes by everybody completely forgets about the issue entirely and there's no follow-through there's no visitation there's no call there's no anything as if the world just moves on and essentially the world would have to move on but the idea that we would that we would forget about anyone's problem and that we would not notice a person suffering amongst us this is something which is unacceptable the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would always look to his companions see any of them that was missing ask about him inquire about any of the missing so much so that even in the battle of tabuk which was one of the greatest times that all of the companions had to leave with the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam to tabuk they were in the thousands the army was in the thousands and if anybody was not present you would just assume that they were somewhere else in the calvary because the caravan was so large and so even under these circumstances even that there were so many companions with him he still was able to ask about companions that were not present and inquire about them as is mentioned in the narration of khabib and malik very well-known narration in bukhari a muslim this tells us that he had a keen eye and would always notice any of his companions that were missing any of them that were not present someone is not there for prayer someone is not there for battle someone is not there for jummah the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would inquire about the person would go out of his way to visit the person even if the person was a muslim and he would try to comfort the person as best as he can and this is something that is very important and is somewhat lacking amongst the general population when something first happens people are there and then it becomes very very lonely after that there has to be a level of follow-through we see that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was would follow through with a person who is ailing a person who is ill from the very beginning of the illness all the way until the person is in the graveyard and still it would not end there he would still visit the graveyard from time to time and continue to visit those whom he buried when a person first would fall ill the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would go to visit the person he would remind the person of the hereafter he would remind the person to make a will if he has not already made a will he would remind the person to repent to allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala sincere repentance and he also commanded sallallahu alaihi wasallam that whoever goes to visit someone who is on his deathbed that he command him to say so when you go to visit someone who is ill there is different types of illness sometimes a person is ill to wear it's a minor illness they broke their leg they are sick with something they are down with the flu whatever something that they're going to be okay after they're going to survive most likely in this case you're not going to go to the person and start to make them think they're going to die and cause them to panic and have a lot of anxiety that's not what's intended but if you do go to a person who is clearly on his deathbed a lot of times people don't want to tell the person what's really wrong the real complications because this might scare the person but there comes a time when fear is something that is necessary and there comes a time when we have to prepare each other and prepare the person for his or her departure from this world and so he commanded that if a person is dying that we command him to say la those who are dying amongst you remind them to say that and in the narration of in jebel in a sunnah the prophet sallallahu alaihi was said whoever's final words of this world will enter paradise surely this is something that we remind people to say if they are on their deathbed likewise recitation of the quran this is something that's very good for a person who is on his deathbed it doesn't have to be any particular chapter of the quran any chapter will suffice but it is preferred that it be chapters of the quran that will instill hope in the person and cause the person to be hopeful and willing to meet allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala as the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said in the narration of jabber none of you is to pass away except that he is thinking good thoughts and making a good estimate of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala there is a narration in jamaica.

[Silence]

There is a narration in german in which the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam says or was narrated to have said recite surat yasin upon your dying people have misunderstood this narration this narration is not an authentic narration and so as we mentioned any verses of the quran to recite as a reminder to the person who is passing away will suffice but the best of verses and narrations to mention to a person who is on his deathbed are narrations and verses of the quran which will instill hope in the person and good thoughts about allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala and sincere repentance right.

[Silence]

And so one of the chapters of the quran because surat yasin has a lot of good verses in it that are filled with hope and beauty and instill a sense of hope and comfort in a person who is going through calamity but it's not meant this narration doesn't mean as some people have misunderstood it to be recited when a person is dead already and they're in their grave people will stand at the grave after the burial or during the burial and recite surat yasin this is incorrect and a misunderstanding of a of a weak narration what's intended is that a person recite suratiya seen to a person who can listen to him who is on his deathbed but the narration is inauthentic and any portion of the quran that is recited is preferable as we mentioned likewise.

[Silence]

That anybody who goes to visit the ill that he should remind the person and when a person dies a person should not respond by wailing or ripping their clothing or screaming or any of these things which are impermissible and go against what we know to be the principles of patience and perseverance in the face of adversity inshallah me.