The Polytheists’ Conception of Mourning

The Polytheists’ Conception of Mourning

Mourning for days, refusing to smile and removing all sources of joy from life is a custom that belongs to the society of ignorance. For Muslims, death means the end of the test in this world, the passage to our eternal abode and, most important of all, meeting with our beloved Lord. Muslims do not, therefore, mourn when someone dies. On the contrary, they rejoice that someone they love has gone to God and say, “Insha’Allah, our Lord has been pleased with him.” Mourning is a superstitious custom among people who fail to grasp the wisdom of destiny, who do not submit willingly to it, who cannot see the beauty in God’s creation and who do not realize that this world is indeed a transitory place.

Therefore, when someone dies, Muslims advise one another not to mourn. They advise one another not to grieve or  be sad or unhappy. When death comes, Muslims advise one another to welcome what God has ordained in destiny with joy and fortitude because grieving, may God forbid, means not being content with the destiny appointed by Him. It means rebellion against what God has created, may He forbid.

Some people who say, “How can you be having fun while people are dying in Syria, Palestine and Egypt” forget this fact. What a Muslim must do in the face of the losses and sufferings in Syria, Egypt and Palestine is not to grieve, but rather strive to bring those sufferings to an end. The people who express that idea themselves have fun at weddings, laugh at TV chat shows and enjoy watching films, despite all the pain in the world.

Death is not the end for a believer: It means joining God, our One True Friend and Beloved. The believer treats the death of someone he loves with the same joy that he welcomes his own death. The idea that one must be saddened in the face of death is one that belongs to the society of ignorance. Such people are unable to properly appreciate the power and might of God; they grieve since they think that death is the end.

That is why there are many superstitious traditions of mourning in societies and especially in formerly pagan cultures. For example, when someone died in ancient Egypt women in the house of the deceased would rub mud over their heads and faces and beat their bare breasts after tying their clothes to their bodies with thread. Similar customs were found among the Assyrians, Persians, Greeks and Romans. Judaic mourning customs included tearing the clothes, wearing coarse cloth, sitting on the floor, rubbing ashes on the head, fasting, tearing out the hair and weeping and beating oneself. In some cultures, professional mourners would be hired to weep and lament, and this would go on for several days.

The pagans of Mecca are known to have mourned in a similar way when someone died. Our Prophet (saas) forbade Muslims to mourn:

Ibnu Abbas relates: "The Messenger of God (saas) said: MOURNING IS A DOING FROM THE SOCIETY OF IGNORANCE...."

Ibnu Umar relates: "THE MESSENGER OF GOD (saas) FORBADE A WOMAN WHO WAS WEEPING LOUDLY TO FOLLOW THE DECEASED."

Cerir Mevla Muaviye relates: "Hazrat Muaviye preached a sermon in Homs and reminded the congregation that the Messenger of God had forbidden mourning."

The way that Rasulullah (saas) wept for a brief moment when his son Ibrahim died is a sign of his affection and compassion. Those people who misinterpret our Prophet’s (saas) fine moral virtue and wish to maintain the pagan customs of the Time of Ignorance are thus behaving  wrongly.

We have created all things in due measure. (Surat al-Qamar, 49)

Say: ‘Nothing can happen to us except what God has ordained for us. He is Our Master. It is in God that the Muslims should put their trust.’ (Surat al-Tawba, 51)

But you will not will unless God wills. God is All-Knowing, All-Wise. (Surat al-Insan, 30)

No leaf falls without His knowing it. There is no seed in the darkness of the earth, and nothing moist or dry which is not in a Clear Book.  (Surat al-An'am, 59)

No misfortune occurs except by God’s permission. Whoever has faith in God – He will guide his heart.     God has knowledge of all things. (Surat at-Taghabun, 11)

2014-05-01 02:34:31 

It is polytheism to grieve for someone who enters paradise

It is polytheism to grieve for someone who enters paradise (05.04.2014)

It is polytheism to grieve for someone who enters paradise

Excerpt from Mr. Adnan Oktar's Live Conversation on A9TV dated April  05th, 2014

(Response to a viewer) Serhat, you are looking at the matter wrongly right from the start. "In sending little Pamir off to paradise,” you say. If you are sending someone off to paradise, how can you grieve for them? Paradise is a place of joy and eternal happiness and delight. It is wrong to think of grief if you are sending a child off to a place where everything is as good as can be. That means ascribing equals to God. It means that one does not like what God has done. It means one thinks one knows better than Him. Hundreds of people die every day. Mourning people who die is challenging God. And that is polytheism. Mothers and fathers may weep out of emotion at what has happened, but not out of rebellion against God. That would mean abandoning the faith. Our Prophet (pbuh) wept when his son Abraham died. “You too, O the Messenger of God?” they said. “I am not weeping out of grief, but out of fervor,” he said. The fervor of faith. Because Abraham was very cute and sweet. He wept because of the love he felt for him, not out of grief.

People lose relatives every day. People close to us die, too. But if we were to declare a week’s mourning for all of them, the world would literally turn into hell. You would live and die in mourning. Not a day would pass without mourning someone. Go to the cemeteries and look. Hearses arrive every day. People are martyred in Syria and Afghanistan every day. Everyone thinks his own child is lovely. Everyone loves his own child. But to mourn them all would mean the whole world challenging God, may He forbid. That would be very ugly. A believer must always be full of joy, and content with whatever God commands.

Hazrat Mawlana told people to celebrate when he died. Seb-i Aruz, the Nuptial Night. That is why the dervishes whirl to the sound of flutes. (To the viewer) So you really must get rid of this polytheistic way of thinking. Mourning is a wrong way of thinking. I have now told you what would befit you. I hope you will now think right.

When Almighty God takes a child’s soul, He does it with goodness, for the best, and raises it into His Sight for the best. Where is the logic behind mourning? You do not weep when a child enters the world, so why weep when he leaves it? You did not end him into the world, and you did not take him from it. There is no point in weeping when he enters the world, or when he leaves it. He Who sent him will take him back into His Presence when He chooses. Since there is no question of Almighty God asking our opinion, or of us asking any questions, we must accept our Lord’s destiny and see the goodness in it.

Serhat asked, and I have replied. But people are often curious and ask about this. They generally believe they should mourn. Though they do so out of the best of intentions. Their uncle dies the following day and they believe they should mourn. Then a friend’s son dies and they think they should mourn for him. People are martyred in Afghanistan and they think they should mourn for them. Many people are confused about what to do. The idea of mourning is completely wrong. It is God Who sends us into this world, and God Who takes us into His Presence. We must surrender to destiny.

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