Book of Funerals
Introduction
Funerals (al-janāʾiz) is the plural of janāza, which may be pronounced with either a fatḥah or a kasrah on the jīm, though the latter is considered more eloquent. The word designates the bier that bears the deceased; if no body lies upon it, it is not called either naʿsh or janāza, but simply sarīr (litter). Its root is janiz, “to conceal,” as Ibn Fāris explains.

The deceased is subject to several rulings discussed here: the funeral prayer and what precedes it—washing and shrouding—and what follows it—burial and offering condolences. They are treated in this section because of their connection to the well-known prayer.

Death is not annihilation; it is the soul’s transfer from one realm to another. It is the departure of the soul from the body, while the soul itself, according to Ahl al-Sunnah, does not cease to exist. Allah, Exalted is He, says: “Allah takes the souls at the time of their death” (Az-Zumar 42), that is, when their bodies die.

Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah said: “The reports have become widespread that the dead are aware of the condition of their families and companions in this world; what they do is shown to them, and they rejoice at what is good and are grieved by what is bad. The narrations also indicate that they meet and question one another when Allah wills, just as they gathered in this life despite their differing stations. The point is that the souls remain, living a barzakh-state life whose exact nature and mode are known only to Allah.”

It is recommended for every person to remember death and prepare for it, for al-Tirmidhī (2307) and al-Nasāʾī (1824) relate that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Increase your remembrance of the destroyer of pleasures,” and al-hādhim means “that which cuts off.”