Sunan Abi Dawud

I swear by Allah, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) prayed over Suhail b. al-Baida' in the mosque.

I swear by Allah, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) prayed in the mosque over the two sons of al-Baida': Suhail and his brother.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone prays over the dead in the mosque, there is nothing on him.

There were three times at which the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to forbid us to pray or bury our dead - when the sun begins to rise till it is fully up, when the sun is at its height midway till it passes the meridian, and when the sun draws near to setting till it sets, or as he said.

Ammar client of al-Harith ibn Nawfal told me that he attended the funeral of Umm Kulthum, and her son. The body of the boy was placed near the imam. I objected to it. Among the people there were Ibn Abbas, AbuSa'id al-Khudri, AbuQatadah and AbuHurayrah. They said: This is the sunnah (established practice of the Prophet).

I was in the Sikkat al-Mirbad. A bier passed and a large number of people were accompanying it. They said: Bier of Abdullah ibn Umayr. So I followed it. Suddenly I saw a man, who had a thin garment on riding his small mule. He had a piece of cloth on his head to protect himself from the sun. I asked: Who is this important man? People said: This is Anas ibn Malik. When the bier was placed, Anas stood and led the funeral prayer over him while I was just behind him, and there was no obstruction between me and him. He stood near his head, and uttered four takbirs (Allah is Most Great). He neither lengthened the prayer nor hurried it. He then went to sit down. They said: AbuHamzah, (here is the bier of) an Ansari woman. They brought her near him and there was a green cupola-shaped structure over her bier. He stood opposite her hips and led the funeral prayer over her as he had led it over the man. He then sat down. Al-Ala' ibn Ziyad asked: AbuHamzah, did the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say the funeral prayer over the dead as you have done, uttering four takbirs (Allah is Most Great) over her, and standing opposite the head of a man and the hips of a woman? He replied: Yes. He asked: AbuHamzah, did you fight with the Messenger of Allah? He replied: Yes. I fought with him in the battle of Hunayn. The polytheists came out and invaded us so severely that we saw our horses behind our backs. Among the people (i.e. the unbelievers) there was a man who was attacking us, and striking and wounding us (with his sword). Allah then defeated them. They were then brought and began to take the oath of allegiance to him for Islam. A man from among the companions of the Prophet (ﷺ) said: I make a vow to myself that if Allah brings the man who was striking us (with his sword) that day, I shall behead him. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) kept silent and the man was brought (as a captive). When he saw the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), he said: Messenger of Allah, I have repented to Allah. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) stopped (for a while) receiving his oath of allegiance, so that the other man might fulfil his vow. But the man began to wait for the order of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) for his murder. He was afraid of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) to kill him. When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) saw that he did not do anything, he received his oath of allegiance. The man said: Messenger of Allah, what about my vow? He said: I stopped (receiving his oath of allegiance) today so that you might fulfil your vow. He said: Messenger of Allah, why did you not give any signal to me? The Prophet (ﷺ) said: It is not worthy of a Prophet to give a signal. AbuGhalib said: I asked (the people) about Anas standing opposite the hips of a woman. They told me that this practice was due to the fact that (in the days of the Prophet) there were no cupola-shaped structures over the biers of women. So the imam used to stand opposite the hips of a woman to hide her from the people. Abu Dawud said: The saying of the Prophet (ﷺ) "I have been commanded to fight against the people until they say: There is no god bu Allah" abrogated this tradition of fulfilling the vow by his remark: "I have repented".

I prayed behing the Prophet (ﷺ) over a woman who died in childbirth, and he stood opposite her waist.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) passed a grave dug freshly. They arranged a row and uttered four takbirs over it. I asked al-Sha'bi: Who told you ? He replied: A reliable person whom 'Abd Allah b. 'Abbas attended.

Zaid b. Arqam used to utter four takbirs (Allah is Most Great) over our dead person (during prayer). He uttered five takbirs on a dead person. So I asked him. He replied: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to utter those. Abu Dawud said: I remember the tradition of Ibn al-Muthanna in a more guarded way.

I prayed over a dead person along with Ibn 'Abbas. He recited Surat al-Fatihah and he said: This is the Sunnah.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: When you pray over the dead, make a sincere supplication for him.

I was present with Marwan who asked AbuHurayrah: Did you hear how the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to pray over the dead? He said: Even with the words that you said. (The narrator said: They exchanged hot words between them before that.) Abu Hurairah said: O Allah, Thou art its Lord. Thou didst create it, Thou didst guide it to Islam, Thou hast taken its spirit, and Thou knowest best its inner nature and outer aspect. We have come as intercessors, so forgive him. Abu Dawud said: Shu'bah made a mistake in mentioning the name of 'Ali b. Shammakh. He said in his version: 'Uthman b. Shammas. Abu Dawud said: I heard Ahmad b. Ibrahim al-Mawsili say that Ahmad b. Hanbal said: In every meeting which I attended with Hammad b. Zaid he forbade to narrate this traditions from 'Abd al-Warith and Ja'far b. Sulaiman.

When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) prayed over a dead person, he said: O Allah, forgive those of us who are living and those of us who are dead, those of us who are present and those of us who are absent, our young and our old, our male and our female. O Allah, to whomsoever of us Thou givest life grant him life as a believer, and whomsoever of us Thou takest in death take him in death as a follower of Islam. O Allah, do not withhold from us the reward (of faith) and do not lead us astray after his death.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) led us in prayer over bier of a Muslim and I heard him say: O Allah, so and so, son of so and so, is in Thy protection, so guard him from the trial in the grave. (AbdurRahman in his version said: "In Thy protection and in Thy nearer presence, so guard him from the trial in the grave) and the punishment in Hell. Thou art faithful and worthy of praise. O Allah, forgive him and show him mercy. Thou art the forgiving and the merciful one." AbdurRahman said: "On the authority of Marwan ibn Janah."

A negress (or a youth) used to sweep the mosque. The Prophet (ﷺ) missed him, and when he asked about him the people told him that he had died. He said: Why have you not informed me ? He said: Lead me to his grave. So they led him and he prayed over him.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) gave the people news of death of Negus on the day on which he died, took them out to the place of prayer, drew them up in rows and said: "Allah is Most Great" four times.

On the authority of his father: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) commanded us to proceed to the land of Negus. Mentioning the rest of the tradition he said that Negus said: I bear witness that he is the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), and it is he about whom Christ son of Mary gave good news. It I were not in the land which I am, I would come to him and carry his shoes.

When Uthman ibn Maz'un died, he was brought out on his bier and buried. The Prophet (ﷺ) ordered a man to bring him a stone, but he was unable to carry it. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) got up and going over to it rolled up his sleeves. The narrator Kathir told that al-Muttalib remarked: The one who told me about the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: I still seem to see the whiteness of the forearms of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) when he rolled up his sleeves. He then carried it and placed it at his head saying: I am marking my brother's grave with it, and I shall bury beside him those of my family who die.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Breaking a dead man's bone is like breaking it when he is alive.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The niche in the side of the grave is for us and the excavation in the middle is for others.

Ali, Fadl and Usamah ibn Zayd washed the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and they put him in his grave. Marhab or Ibn AbuMarhab told me that they also made AbdurRahman ibn Awf join them. When Ali became free, he said: The People of the man serve him.

That 'Abd al-Rahman b. 'Awf alighted in the grave of the Prophet (ﷺ). He said: I still seem to see the four of them.

Al-Harith left his will that Abdullah ibn Yazid should offer his funeral prayer; so he prayed over him. He then put him in the grave from the side of his legs and said: This is a Sunnah (model practice of the Prophet).

We went out with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) to the funeral of a man of the Ansar, but when we reached the grave, the niche in the side had not yet been made, so the Prophet (ﷺ) sat down facing the qiblah, and we sat down along with him.

When the Prophet (ﷺ) placed the dead in the grave, he said: In the name of Allah, and following the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). This is Muslim's version.

I said to the Prophet (ﷺ): Your old and astray uncle has died. He said: Go and bury your father, and then do not do anything until you come to me. So I went, buried him and came to him. He ordered me (to take a bath), so I took a bath, and he prayed for me.

The Ansar came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) on the day of Uhud and said: We have been afflicted with wound and fatigue. What do you command us? He said: Dig graves, make them wide, bury two or three in a single grave. He was asked: Which of them should be put first? He replied: The one who knew the Qur'an most. He (Hisham) said: My father Amir died on the day and was buried with two or one.

"And deepen (the graves)."

This tradition has also been transmitted by Sa'd b. Hisham b. 'Amir with a different chain of narrators.

'Ali said to me: I am sending you on the same mission as the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) sent me that I should not leave a high grave without leveling it and an image without obliterating it.

We were with Fudalah b. 'Ubaid at Rudis in the land of Rome. One of our Companions dies, Fudalah commanded us to dig his grave; it was (dug and) levelled. He then said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) commanding to level them. Abu Dawud said: Rudis is an island, in the sea.

I said to Aisha! Mother, show me the grave of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and his two Companions (Allah be pleased with them). She showed me three graves which were neither high nor low, but were spread with soft red pebbles in an open space. Abu 'Ali said: It is said that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) is forward, Abu Bakr is near his head and 'Umar is near is feet. His head is at the feet of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).

Whenever the Prophet (ﷺ) became free from burying the dead, he used to stay at him (i.e. his grave) and say: Seek forgiveness for your brother, and beg steadfastness for him, for he will be questioned now. Abu Dawud said: The full name of the narrator Buhair is Buhair b. Raisan.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: There is no slaughtering (at the grave) in Islam. 'Abd al-Razzaq said: They used to slaughter cows or sheep at grave.

One day the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) went out and prayed over the martyrs of Uhud like his prayer over the dead, and then returned.

The Prophet (ﷺ) prayed over the martyrs of Uhud after eight years like a man who bids farewell to the living and dead.

I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) forbid to sit on the grave, to plaster it with gypsum, and to build any structure over it.

'Uthman said: "or anything added to it." Sulaiman b. Musa said: "or anything written on it." Musaddad did not mention in his version the words "or anything added to it." Abu Dawud said: The word "and that" (wa an) remained hidden to me.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: Allah's curse to be on the Jews, they made the graves of their Prophets mosques.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: It is better that one of you should sit on the live coals which burns his clothing and come in contact with his skin than that he should sit on a grave.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: Do not sit on the graves, and do not pray facing them.

Bashir's name in pre-Islamic days was Zahm ibn Ma'bad. When he migrated to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). He asked: What is your name? He replied: Zahm. He said: No, you are Bashir. He (Bashir) said: When I was walking with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) he passed by the graves of the polytheists. He said: They lived before (a period of) abundant good. He said this three times. He then passed by the graves of Muslims. He said: They received abundant good. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) suddenly saw a man walking in shoes between the graves. He said: O man, wearing the shoes! Woe to thee! Take off thy shoes. So the man looked (round), When he recognized the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), he took them off and threw them away.

The Prophet (ﷺ) as saying: When a servant (of Allah) is placed in his grave, and his Companions depart from him, he hears the stepping sound of their shoes.

A man was buried with my father. I had a desire at heart for that (place for my burial). So I took him out after six months. I did not find any change (in his body) except a few hair that touched the earth.

People with a bier passed by the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). They (the companions) spoke highly of him. He said: Paradise is certain for him. Then some people with another (bier) passed by him. They spoke very badly of him. He said: Hell is certain for him. He then said: Some of you are witness to others.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) visited his mother's grave and wept and cause those around him to weep. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) then said: I asked my Lord's permission to pray for forgiveness for her, but I was not allowed. I then asked His permission to visit her grave, and I was allowed. So visit graves, for they make one mindful of death.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: I forbade you to visit graves, but you may now visit them, for in visiting them there is a reminder (of death).

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) cursed women who visit graves, those who built mosques over them and erected lamps (there).

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) went out to the graveyard and said: Peace be upon you, inhabitants of the dwellings who are of the community of the believers. If Allah wills we shall join you.

To the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was brought man wearing ihram who was thrown by his she-camel and has his neck broken and had died. He then said: Shroud him in his two garments, was him with water and lotus leaves, but do not cover his head, for he will be raised on the Day of Resurrection saying the talbiyah. Abu Dawud said: I heard Ahmad b. Hanbal say: There are five rules of the law (sunan) in this tradition: "Shroud him in his two garment," that is, the dead should be shrouded in his two garments. "Wash him with water and lotus leaves," that is, washing all times should be with lotus leaves. Do not bring any perfume near him. The shroud will be made from the property (of the dead).