This letter, written to the Qâdîs of
Perkana, offers condolence.
The sorrow felt for the death of the merhûm[1] Hadrat (exalted person) is very severe, very
poignant; but the slave has no other way than acqueisce in the doings of his
owner. Man is not created for a constant abode in this world. We are created to
work in the world. We must work! There is no reason for apprehension for a
person who has worked, earned, and then died. In fact, such a death means to
come into great fortune. Death is like a bridge; it brings lovers together.
Death is not a disaster. But it is a disaster not to know what you will
encounter after death. We must help the deceased and rescue them by saying
prayers and istighfâr for them, by giving alms for them. Rasûlullah (sallallâhu
’alaihi wassallam) declared, “The state of a
deceased person in the grave is like that of a person who has fallen into the
sea and is crying for help. As a person who is about to drown awaits a savior,
so the deceased person yearns for the arrival of prayers from his parents,
brothers and friends. Any prayer coming to him delights him more than if the
whole world were given to him. Through the prayers of the living, Allâhu ta’âlâ
gives the deceased rahmats like mountains. The present to be given to the
deceased by the living is to say prayers and istighfâr for them.”
[Du’â (prayer) means to ask. It
is like a hungry man’s asking for food when he has an appetite. It is very
useful to do khatm-i tehlîl for a person who has died with îmân, that is, to
say the kalima-i tawhîd seventy thousand times and present the thawâb to his
soul. But we are in such a time that very few people die with îmân. It is
written in Maqâmât-i Mazhâriyya, “A hadîth-i sherîf declares: ‘If
a person says the kalima-i tawhîd seventy thousand times for himself or for
someone else, his (or the other person’s) sins will be forgiven.’ Hadrat
Mazhar-i Jân-i Jânân ‘qaddas-Allâhu sirrah ul’azîz’ was sitting near a
prostitute’s grave, when he turned his tawajjuh to the grave, [that is,
concentrated upon it without thinking of anything else]. He said, ‘There is
Hell fire in this grave. I doubt if the woman has îmân. I shall present the
thawâb of Khatm-i tehlîl to her soul.
She will be forgiven if she has îmân.’ After presenting the thawâb of khatm-i
tehlîl, he said: ‘Al-hamdulillâh, she has îmân. The kalima-i tayyiba has taken
effect, and she has been forgiven.” It is stated in Manâhij-ul-’ibâd,
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[1] Deceased and admitted to Allah’s mercy.
“The Kalima-i-tawhîd is said seventy
thousand times by one person or by a number of people.” It is stated in the
hundred and twentieth letter of Makâtib-i-sherîfa,
“The Khatm-i-tehlîl is very useful to living people, too.” It is written in a
book of fatwâ, which occupies the number 520 of the Ibrâhîm Efendi
‘rahmatullâhi ’aleyh’ section in the library of Süleymâniye, “Prayers must be
said silently. It is ignorance (for an imâm) to say prayers together with the
jamâ’at after the Friday prayer. It is bid’at for a preacher to say prayers
aloud (and have all the listeners say âmîn) after his preaching is over. No
report has come from the Salaf-i sâlihîn (that such things must be done). Such
practices have been assimilated from Jews and Christians.”]