WEEPING OVER THE DEAD

Muhammad discouraged weeping over the dead: �The dead is punished because of his family�s weeping over it� (2015).  He also taught haste in the disposal of dead bodies.  �If the dead person was good, it is a good state to which you are sending him on: but if he was otherwise it is an evil of which you are ridding yourself� (2059).

Muhammad himself wept over the death of his loyal followers.  Weeping over the dying Sa�d b. UbAda, he said: �Allah does not punish for the tears that the eye sheds or the grief the heart feels, but He punishes for this [pointing to his tongue], meaning loud lamenting� (2010).  Muhammad also sobbed aloud, according to certain traditions, over his expiring child, who was only eighteen months old.  His followers tried to comfort him by reminding him of his own exhortation not to weep.  Muhammad replied: �It is not this that I forbade, but loud wailing and false laudation of the dead.�

author : ram swarup