Turning the head round to the left, he says:—
“Peace and mercy be to Thee.”
The Takbīr is recited by the Imām aloud, but the Subḥān, the Salām, the Durūd, and the Duʿā, are recited by the Imām and the people in a low voice.
The people then seat themselves on the ground, and raise their hands in silent prayer in behalf of the deceased’s soul, and afterwards addressing the relatives they say, “It is the decree of God.” To which the chief mourner replies, “I am pleased with the will of God.” He then gives permission to the people to retire by saying, “There is permission to depart.”
Those who wish to return to their houses do so at this time, and the rest proceed to the grave. The corpse is then placed on its back in the grave, with the head to the north and feet to the south, the face being turned towards Makkah. The persons who place the corpse in the grave repeat the following sentence: “We commit thee to earth in the name of God and in the religion of the Prophet.”
The bands of the shroud having been loosed, the recess, which is called the laḥd, is closed in with unburnt bricks and the grave filled in with earth. [[GRAVE].] In some countries it is usual to recite verse [57] of the XXth Sūrah of the Qurʾān as the clods of earth are thrown into the grave; but this practice is objected to by the Wahhābīs, and by many learned divines. The verse is as follows:—
“From it (the earth) have We (God) created you, and unto it will We return you, and out of it will We bring you forth the second time.”
After the burial, the people offer a fātiḥah (i.e. the first chapter of the Qurʾān) in the name of the deceased, and again when they have proceeded about forty paces from the grave they offer another fātiḥah; for at this juncture, it is said, the two angels Munkar and Nakīr examine the deceased as to his faith. [[PUNISHMENTS OF THE GRAVE].] After this, food is distributed to beggars and religious mendicants as a propitiatory offering to God, in the name of the deceased person.
If the grave be for the body of a woman, it should be to the height of a man’s chest, if for a man, to the height of the waist. At the bottom of the grave the recess is made on the side to receive the corpse, which is called the lāḥid or laḥd. The dead are seldom interred in coffins, although they are not prohibited.
To build tombs with stones or burnt bricks, or to write a verse of the Qurʾān upon them, is forbidden in the Ḥadīs̤; but large stone and brick tombs are common to all Muḥammadan countries, and very frequently they bear inscriptions.