A Celebration And A Funeral

BismiLLAH-hir-RAHMAAN-nir-RAHEEM
In the Name of Allah (God), the Most Gracious the Most Merciful

The Qur`an tells of an awe-inspiring story -the story of our father, Ibraheem (Abraham) [Peace be upon him]. Though every ayah (verse) related to his story is beautiful, one set of ayaat (verses) in particular describe Ibraheem (Peace be upon him) in a manner that cannot be matched. Time and again I read those ayaat and cannot stop my eyes from welling with tears of amazement, tears of shame for our satisfaction with what little we practice of our religion, which is next to nothing compared to the submission of Ibraheem (Peace be upon him). As I write this post, I am involved in an inner push-and-pull: "I want to quote the ayah but I have to translate it; the translation will surely take away from the eloquence of the original; I shouldn't quote it as it will not be able to convey the original; I should quote it even if it is translated, because those who may not have read it, will want to read it." And back again to the first thought: "I want to quote the ayah but..." Essentially, there are only a few things that can break this tangle of thought. The reader should read it in the original language if he or she knows it, or else should work to learn the language. A translation of the verse can only convey a certain portion of the eloquence of the verse because in a translation a person can do only so much to preserve both meaning and syntax. For the great majority of translations, it is the meaning that is preserved more carefully than the syntax. In the end, I wish to encourage myself and any readers to develop enough of an interest to refer back to the original after reading the translation:

"Then, when they had both(Abraham and Ishmael) submitted themselves (to the Will of Allâh), and he had laid him prostrate on his forehead (or on the side of his forehead for slaughtering); And We called out to him: 'O Abraham! You have fulfilled the dream (vision)!' Verily! Thus do We reward the Muhsinûn (good-doers). Verily, that indeed was a manifest trial. And We ransomed him with a great sacrifice (i.e. a ram); And We left for him (a goodly remembrance) among generations (to come) in later times. Salâmun (peace) be upon Ibrâhim (Abraham)!"
(Al-Qur`an 37:103-109)

This is an example of the ultimate form of submitting one's will to Allah (God). How peaceful and how beautiful would the world be in which the people all submit to His will? It is this submission to the commands and will of God, that Islam demands of its followers. Hence, the word Islam itself, from the Arabic root word consisting of the letters S-L-M, is derived from a word that means, peace, submission, and obedience. Putting these words together and keeping in mind the principles of Islam we can formulate a definition of the word -rather, religion and, more appropriately, complete way of life- Islam: Attaining peace through the submission and obedience to the One and Only Lord, God, and Creator, Allah. It is the attainment of a true inner peace with oneself; it is the attainment of a true peace of a society, of a region, of a nation, of a peoples, and of humanity at large; it is the attainment of a true peace with the happenings in one's life; it is the attainment of a peace of mind, a peace of the soul. The attainment of that peace is reached through the complete submission to our Lord, God, and Creator, Allah and making our desires obedient to His commands. In fact, such obedience and submission is the only way to attain any and all such peace. After all, that is what the great Prophet, Ibraheem (Abraham) and many other of God's great Messengers and Prophets did. Were not they the few in the history of humanity who attained true peace in all its senses?

A week and four days ago, Muslims across the globe shared in the celebration of a holy day -or rather days culminating on the 10th of the Dhul-Hijjah (last month of the Islamic calendar), the day of the 'Feast of the Sacrifice'- to commemorate the sacrifice of Prophet Ibraheem (Peace be upon him) when he submitted to Allah's command and went to sacrifice his son. Out of His infinite Mercy, Allah accepted Prophet Ibraheem's (Peace be upon him) sacrifice right as he was about to sacrifice his son and gave him a ram, in the stead of his son, to sacrifice. It is on this celebration of 'Eid-ul-Adha that we, too, sacrifice an animal and pray to Allah, praise Him, and thank Him for His blessings.

I happened to be close to my family village a few days before the 'Eid day. The day of Eid was drawing closer and being amongst relatives after spending months and months away from home while studying, I was happily anticipating the day. It was in the late afternoon on the day before 'Eid that we received a phone call; one of our relatives in the family village had passed away. The funeral prayer was scheduled for the next day -the 'Eid day. After informing my parents by phone, and as a result of their desire for me to attend the funeral, I picked up one of my bags and prepared myself for the journey to the family village with my aunt and my cousins. It was to be a three to four hour drive and we were maximizing space in the car in terms of the number of people travelling together. This, added to the fact that we were only to stay there for the day of the funeral, I decided to pack lightly. Two pairs of clothes, in addition to what I was wearing on the journey, would be sufficient; one pair of clothes I could wear to bed at night for the one night we were to be there; the second pair I would wear on the day of the funeral.

The question that came to mind only hesitantly was what would be an appropriate set of clothes to wear to the funeral? It was only a moment's of thought after which I chose to pack my newly-bought clothes for the occasion of 'Eid in my bag. On any other day and in any other culture this would seem incongruous. However, there was a thought to rely on: 'everyone else would surely also be wearing clothes for the occasion of 'Eid.' After a long drive of a good four hours, we reached the destination at mid-night, met with the family of the deceased, and paid our condolences by praying for blessings of Paradise for the deceased and for patience and the reward for it for the family of the deceased. Even in the midst of the loss, the hosts greeted the travellers with a small dinner and a warm cup of tea. Hospitality for the visitors, even if it was a time of mourning, was not neglected. Then, the hosts painstakingly arranged for beds for everyone to sleep on and did not retire for the night until all had been catered for, even if it was two or three in the morning. As soon as I was shown my bed, I snuggled in under the comforter to protect myself from the cold, which was accentuated by the limited use of heaters, and fell sound asleep.

It was at the call for the early morning prayer that we awoke and then after an hour or so the house was a hustle-bustle in preparation for the 'Eid prayer. Like the other celebration before it following the holy month of Ramadan ('Eid-ul-Fitr), this 'Eid, 'Eid-ul-Adha, is started with a special prayer offered in congregation; the prayer is offered in the morning after sunrise and is attended by even those who may not be accustomed to praying on ordinary days. As I completed my preparations for the 'Eid prayer I saw that as I had expected, everyone was wearing clothes that they had prepared for the occasion of 'Eid. It is part of the Islamic tradition to wear the cleanest, best, and newest clothes for this celebration, the one before it ('Eid-ul-Fitr), and even for the Friday prayer.

After getting washed-up and changed, my cousin and I left the house to follow the funeral as they took the deceased from the house to the place where the funeral prayer was to be offered. This place was an open field outside the Mosque, which could accommodate a large number of people. As I looked at the field, the coffin of the deceased, the people -including the children of the deceased, and the new, clean, and, in some cases, embroidery-adorned clothes of those people, one thought kept coming to mind: "how difficult must it be for the family of the deceased?" The funeral prayer was to directly follow the 'Eid prayer. After securing the coffin at the funeral paryer place, we proceeded to the Masjid (mosque) to join the congregation of the 'Eid prayer.

At the end of the prayer and the accompanying sermon, the Imam (leader of the prayer) encouraged the entire 'Eid congregation to attend the funeral prayer. The people all exited the Masjid and reassembled on the field where the funeral prayer was to be offered, still wearing their new, adorned clothes for the festive occasion of 'Eid. At that point a thought raced through my mind, "could not an outsider find a contradiction in the setting of this funeral? Though not a point of consternation in my mind, could the continued celebration of the 'Eid festival along side the funeral serve as a dilemma of the conscious for an outsider?" The fact of the matter is that the celebration of 'Eid is not one where we create an atmosphere of an uncontrolled party as would be paradoxical to a funeral. Rather, the celebration itself begins with a prayer and is commemorating a time of great test for the Prophet Ibraheem when he was commanded to give up his only son. This celebration then, is one of perseverance and sacrifice, self-discipline and submission, and obedience and acceptance of God's will. Similarly, this funeral was one, as are all others, of perseverance and sacrifice, and submission and acceptance of God's will.

After the funeral prayer, we followed the coffin to the burial site. The body of the deceased was lowered down into the grave that had already been dug out and prepared. Then, the grave was made stable and the dirt was slowly thrown in to fill the grave. The children of the deceased partook in the filling of the grave by taking the shovel in turn to place the dirt into the grave. As I looked on, I kept thinking, "how hard must it be for the family of the deceased?" As soon as the grave was filled my cousin and I were each requested to recite a portion of the Holy Qur`an. My cousin was asked to recite the first few verses of the second surah (chapter) of the Qur`an and then I recited the last few verses of the second surah of the Qur`an as requested. In these few verses, I found the answer to my thoughts about the difficulty the family must be going through,

"Allâh burdens not a person beyond his scope." (Al-Qur`an 2:286)

Following this statement, Allah gives us a beautiful supplication that we can make to Him to relieve us of our hardship:

"Our Lord! Punish us not if we forget or fall into error, our Lord! Lay not on us a burden like that which You did lay on those before us; our Lord! Put not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Pardon us and grant us Forgiveness. Have mercy on us. You are our Maulâ (Patron, Supporter and Protector, etc.) and give us victory over the disbelieving people." (Al-Qur`an 2:286)

As I was preparing to leave the next day, I met children of the deceased and I could see their eyes well up with tears at the mention of their mother though they were grown men with children of their own. The tears were not of anger or disbelief in what had happened. Instead, they were tears of mercy and love for their mother and for a perseverance and an acceptance of the will of God. In this way, and because of the very essence of the two, I witnessed a celebration and a funeral on the same day -both demonstrating what it entails to be an adherent of Islam.