Category: Q n A

I was looking (at him) through the crevice of the door. A man came to him and mentioned that Ja’far’s women were lamenting. He (the Holy Prophet) commanded him to go and forbid them (to do so). So he went away but came back and told (him) that they did not obey (him). He commanded him a second time to go and forbid them (to do so). He again went but came back to him and said: I swear by God, Messenger of Allah, that they have overpowered us. She (‘A’isha) said that she thought the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) had told (her) to throw dust in their mouths. Thereupon ‘A’isha said: May Allah humble you! You did not do what Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) ordered you, nor did you stop annoying Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ).

” You did not spare the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) the botheration.”

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) took a promise from us along with the oath of Allegiance that we would not lament. But only five among us fulfilled the promise (and they are) Umm Sulaim, and Umm al-‘Ala’, and the daughter of Abu Sabra the wife of Mu’adh, or daughter of Abu Sabra and wife of Mu’adh.

Umm ‘Atiyya reported that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) took pledge from us (including this promise) that we would not lament. Only five amongst us fulfilled the promise, and one of them (who fulfilled the promise) was Umm Sulaim.

When this verse was revealed:” When believing women came to thee giving thee a pledge that they will not associate aught with Allah, and will not disobey thee in good” (lx. 12), she (Umm Atiyya) said: In (this pledge) was also included wailing. I said: Messenger of Allah, except members of such a tribe who helped me (in lamentation) during pre-Islamic days, there is left no alternative for me, but that I should also help them. Upon this the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: (Yes) but only in case of the members of such a tribe.

The dead is punished because of the lamentation of the living. Upon this ‘A’isha said: May Allah have mercy upon the father of ‘Abd al-Rahman (Ibn ‘Umar). He did not tell a lie, but he forgot or made a mistake. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) happened to pass by a (dead) Jewess who was being lamented. Upon this he said: They weep over her and she is being punished in the grave.

I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) saying: He who is lamented upon would be punished because of the lamentation for him on the Day of judgment.

A hadith like this has been narrated by Mughira b. Shu’ba from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).

This hadith has been narrated from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) through another chain of transmitters.

Among my people there are four characteristics belonging to pre-Islamic period which they do not abandon: boasting of high rank, reviling other peoples’ genealogies, seeking rain by stars, and walling. And he (further) said: If the wailing woman does not repent before she dies, she will be made to stand on the Day of Resurrection wearing a garment of pitch and a chemise of mange.