FIQH 4.62: BURIAL AT SUNRISE, AT MIDDAY, OR AT SUNSET
There is a consensus that a body may be buried during any of these three times whenever there is danger of it decomposing otherwise. If there is no such danger, its burial during these times is still permissible, according to the majority of scholars, provided that it is not done so on purpose, as reported by Ahmad, Muslim, and the compilers of Sunan on the authority of ‘Uqbah who said: “The Prophet, peace be upon him, forbade us from offering prayer or burying our dead at three times: at sunrise, until the sun rises high in the sky; at noon, when the sun is above one’s head until it declines a little; and when the sun begins to go down until it sets.” The Hanbali school holds that in light of the above hadith burial during these times is undesirable without exception.
Fiqh 4.62 a: Digging a Deep Grave is Desirable
The purpose of burial is to hide the body in a pit in order to prevent its stench from fouling the atmosphere, and to save it from being eaten by various beasts and birds. If these conditions are met and this purpose is served, then one has carried out one’s responsibility . It is encouraged, however, to make the depth of the grave equal to the height of an average man. This is based on a hadith reported by Nasa’i and Tirmizhi (who considers it a sound hadith) from Hisham ibn ‘Amer who said: “We complained to the Prophet, peace be upon him, on the day of the battle of Uhud, saying: ‘O Allah’s Messenger! Digging a separate grave for everybody is a very hard job.’ The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: ‘Dig, dig deeper, dig well, and bury two or three bodies in each grave.’ The Companions asked him: ‘Who should be put in the graves first?’ The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: ‘Put those most learned in the Qur’an first.’ My father, the narrator added, was the third of the three who were put in one grave.”
Ibn Abi Shaibah and Ibn Al-Munzhir reported that ‘Umar said: “Dig a grave deep enough for a man’s height and make it broader.” According to Abu Hanifah and Ahmad the grave should be deep enough for half of the average height of a man, but if dug deeper, it is better.
Fiqh 4.62 b: A Lahd is Better than an Ordinary Grave
Lahd is a crevice on the side of a grave facing the qiblah, which is covered with unburnt bricks like a house with a roof. A regular grave, on the other hand, is a pit dug in the ground, with the body placed in it and then sealed off with unburnt bricks and covered to form a ceiling. Either of these two methods is permissible, but the first one–lahd–is preferable in the light of a hadith reported by Ahmad and Ibn Majah on the authority of Anas who said: “When the Prophet, peace be upon him, died, there were two gravediggers. One usually dug the lahd and the other a regular tomb-like grave. The Companions said: Let us seek guidance from our Lord.’ Then they asked each of them to dig a grave, and decided the grave of the one who finished first would be chosen for the burial of the Prophet’s remains. The one who dug the lahd finished first, so they buried the remains of the Prophet, peace be upon him, in a lahd.”
This hadith shows that both forms are permissible. The fact that the lahd is preferable is indicated by a tradition transmitted by Ahmad and the Compilers of the Sunan on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbas who reported: “The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: ‘Lahd is for us, and digging a pit (i.e., a regular grave) for others.”‘
Source: Fiqh us Sunnah
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