Every man has two special days, the day of good which signifies the day we were born and the day of evil which signifies the day we will die. Hence, no one can remove or add a second to the time he was born and the day he will die. Ustaz Mhikail Shittu, an Islamic Teacher in Marcaz Shababul Islam, Lagos in his own view said: Many people especially the non Muslims have a wrong notion about how we bury corpses in Islam. They believe we hasten to bury our corpses in Islam without following due process as laid down by Allah, which is totally untrue. There are procedures to follow in Islam before funeral is announced and carried out. In a case where a person dies suddenly, maybe as a result of heart attack (almaut fijihat) in Islam, the first thing we do in Islam is to get a doctor to confirm if the person is dead. If the doctor confirms that the person is dead, then we must close the person’s eyes and render prayers thus: “O’ Allah, forgive [name of the person] and elevate his rank among those who are guided. Send him along the path of those who came before,and forgive us and him, O Lord of the worlds. Expand for him his grave and shed light upon him in it.” And inform his relatives and friends about the person’s demise. The next line of action is to undress the corpse and begin to say good things about the dead because the angels will be there to say Amin . We also have to know if the dead person has any debt or anybody is owing the dead before hastening to bury the person. Then we give the dead a special bath before it is laid to rest. All these put together shows that we do not totally hasten to bury our corpses in Islam. However, in Islam starting from the time of Prophet Adam, the dead are buried on the same day they die except when the person dies at night because it is wrong to bury the dead at night in Islam. Leaving a corpse for long before burying is another way of suffering the dead and increasing the pains of their loved ones because the more they see their loved one lying lifelessly, the more they feel bad. The teachings of Prophet Mohammed explains that there are three things we do not postpone in Islam. Asalat, najazat and almout according to hadeeth fiquiwathe page 380. It may cause more havoc — Ustaz Akintoye Ismaeel Adewale (An Islamic Instructor, Engineer) Islam has taught us the best way to care for our dead ones. When a person leaves this world, he or she does not belong here anymore and so should be given the ticket to board on the next journey which is burying his body. Aside this, leaving a corpse among the living can cause more havoc to the health of the living especially a dead person that has spent many years on the sick bed. Burying a corpse almost immediately when he or she dies will not make the dead become a terror to his loved ones as many people get scared and run away from the corpse. It will make the dead rest peacefully. When the news of death in the family reaches the relatives and friends, the first thing that they should say is Qur’an verse (2:156): “Inna lil-laahi wa innaa ilayhi raaji’oon [Truly! To Allâh we belong and truly, to Him we shall return.]”. This du’aa is known in arabic as al-Istirjaa. Also, the hadeeth of Bulugunuromi babajunasat page 105) says not burying a dead person on time means increasing the suffering of the dead especially who has encountered one hardship or the other.
