when a person dies he is either righteous or otherwise. If he is righteous, holding him back becomes a barrier between him and the bliss Allah has prepared for him in the grave, for he is moving from this world to one that is better and superior. At the very moment of death he is given glad tidings—his soul is told, “Rejoice in the mercy and good pleasure of Allah!”—and he longs for what has been promised. For that reason the burial should be expedited; any delay is a wrong done to him and an obstruction to the grace Allah has stored up for him.

But if the deceased was not righteous—may Allah protect us—then he should not remain among us, and we ought to hasten to be rid of him. It was for this that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Hasten with the funeral—hasten in preparing it, accompanying it, and burying it. Do not delay it. If the deceased was righteous, you are advancing him toward something better,” meaning something better than the life he has just left. May Allah make us and you among those who proceed to His mercy, bliss, joy, and light. “And if he was otherwise,” that is, not righteous, “then he is an evil you unload from your necks,” and you are freed of him, for whatever contains no good is not worth keeping.

From this hadith we learn that it is recommended to hasten the funeral and avoid any postponement. What some people do today—saying, when a person dies, “Wait until all his relatives arrive from distant places,” with some of them perhaps coming from Europe—