Question:
while answering the question “Can we look at the face of a Janazah?”, you mentioned the incident of Jabir (radiyallahu anhu). Actually, it was not Jabir who was killed, but Jabir’s father, Abdullah. When Abdullah (radiyallahu anhu) was killed, Jabir (radiyallahu anhu) tried to look at his father’s face, and the companions stopped him. You said that the Messengerﷺ of Allahuﷻ then commanded that his face be shown to him. However, when we look at the Tamil translation of Sahih Bukhari that you referred to, it says that the Messengerﷺ of Allahuﷻ commanded that the Janazah be lifted (carried). Which is correct?
Answer:
The question is: Can we look at the face of the deceased? I answered that one may look at the face. Although there are many evidences, I mentioned an evidence. What was that evidence? Jabir’s father, Abdullah, was killed in battle. When someone is killed in battle, his body may be mutilated in a gruesome way. That is what happens in war. The body may be severely cut and disfigured.
After he was killed in such a gruesome manner, his body was covered. When it is covered, the son and relatives may be prevented from seeing the face so that they do not become extremely distressed upon seeing it. So, it was covered. Jabir, who was a young man, tried to lift the cloth that was covering his father’s head to see his face. The people around stopped him, saying, “Don’t touch, don’t touch.” He came again and tried; they stopped him again.
At that point — I am reading the Arabic wording — it says that I attempted to remove the cloth, and my people stopped me. I tried again to uncover it, and my people stopped me again. Then it says: “The Messengerﷺ of Allahuﷻ commanded, and it was raised.”
For this phrase, I gave the meaning that the cloth covering the face was raised. That is the subject being discussed. That is what he was trying to uncover. When he tried to uncover it, people stopped him. The word “rufi‘a” means “it was raised.” In the Tamil Bukhari translation, they interpreted it as: the Messengerﷺ of Allahuﷻ commanded, and the Janazah was lifted — meaning it was lifted to be carried for burial. The word “rufi‘a” can linguistically apply to lifting a body or lifting a cloth. If someone is lifted, it is “rufi‘a.” If a cloth is lifted, that too is “rufi‘a.” Even when we raise our hands, it is from the same root.
So, what meaning did I give? The face was covered. The son tried once; he was stopped. He tried again; he was stopped. At that moment, the Messengerﷺ of Allahuﷻ commanded. What were they stopping? They were stopping him from uncovering the face. Immediately after the command, “it was raised.” What was raised? The cloth covering the face was raised. That was the meaning I gave.
Others interpret it as: The Messengerﷺ of Allahuﷻ commanded that the body be lifted for burial. They translate it in a way that does not allow the meaning of uncovering the face. They interpret “it was raised” as “the body was lifted,” meaning Abdullah’s Janazah was carried. So, they argue: since the Prophetﷺ commanded that the Janazah be lifted, how can you say the cloth was lifted to show the face? Which is correct?
The word allows both meanings linguistically. But contextually, he came to uncover the cloth. So, what would the Messengerﷺ of Allahuﷻ command? Naturally, he would command that the cloth be lifted. That meaning fits the context.
Even if the wording allows both meanings grammatically, we must compare with other narrations. When we examine other hadith about the same incident, it becomes clear that it does not refer to lifting the body for burial, but to lifting the cloth covering the face.
For example, in Sahih Muslim, the same incident is narrated. Jabir says: I intended to lift the cloth covering my father’s face. My people stopped me. I tried again; they stopped me. Then the Messengerﷺ of Allahuﷻ lifted it. It explicitly states that the Messengerﷺ of Allahuﷻ himself lifted the cloth. One person cannot lift the entire Janazah alone; several people are required. So clearly, it refers to lifting the cloth.
The wording in Muslim states clearly that the Prophetﷺ lifted the cloth. Therefore, when interpreting the Bukhari narration, it should be understood in the same way. Even if the word linguistically allows “lifting the body,” the clearer narration in Muslim clarifies that it was the cloth that was lifted.
Many English and other language translations also render it as lifting the body. When I checked through comparative translation tools, they too initially interpreted it as lifting the Janazah. But when I presented the Muslim narration and the Arabic text showing that it was the cloth that was lifted, it was acknowledged that the more accurate meaning is that the cloth was lifted. The earlier translation was influenced by other translations.
So, the correct understanding, when all narrations are considered together, is that the face was uncovered. The translation that says the body was lifted is grammatically possible but contextually incorrect when compared with the fuller narration in Muslim. It should be revised.
