Malfuzat - Volume VIII — Page 416
Malf uza t - English translation of Urdu Volume 8 416 adopted Hindu practices. Upon the death of a loved one, there is this commandment for Muslims in the Holy Quran that they should only say: 1 اَّنِا ِهّٰلِل َو ۤاَّنِا ِهْيَلِا َنْوُعِجٰر اَّنِا ِهّٰلِل َو ۤاَّنِا ِهْيَلِا َنْوُعِجٰر That is, we are God’s possession and property. Therefore, He has the authority to take what belongs to Him whenever He wants, and if one has to cry, only tears are permissible and who- ever does more than that is from Satan. 2. Second, to go on mourning for one year continuously, and to cry and weep and lament beating one’s chest and wailing every time new women arrive or on certain special days, and for women to knock each other’s heads and cry, and to utter nonsense from their mouths, and stop cooking specific foods for a year on the pretext that there is mourning in our home or our extended family; all these are unholy rituals and sinful things that should be avoided. 3. A lot of unnecessary expenditures are also undertaken during the days of wailing and weeping. Deceitful women, sisters of Satan who come from far and wide to cry and weep, covering their faces deceptively, smashing their heads into each other like buffaloes while bewailing loudly, are fed lavish meals. And if possible, to make a show of their grandeur and arrogance, they spend hundreds of rupees to cook expensive food and distribute it among their extended family and others. The aim is to receive praise from people that so and so made a fine display of things 1. Surely, to Allah we belong and to Him shall we return ( S u rah al-Baqarah, 2:157). [Publisher]