and it has now spread to Greater Syria, Anatolia, and other regions as well. Only a month ago we came across a most repulsive photograph: it showed a row of worshippers prostrating toward coffins lined up in front of them, the caskets containing the bodies of several Turks who had drowned when their ship sank.

On this occasion we draw attention to the fact that the Prophet’s general practice was to perform the funeral prayer in the open prayer-ground (muṣallā) outside the mosque. One of the evident wisdoms behind this is to keep the congregation from falling into the very violation that Shaykh al-Qari—may Allah have mercy on him—warned against.

A report similar to the one just mentioned is what Thabit al-Bannani narrated from Anas (may Allah be pleased with him). He said:

“I was praying close to a grave when ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) saw me and exclaimed, ‘The grave! The grave!’ I lifted my eyes to the sky, thinking he was saying, ‘The moon!’” (1)