The Deceased Await your Visits

Always remember to visit the deceased members of your family. Visiting the graves is the manner of the Beloved Rasool (Sall Allahu alaihi wa Sallam), The Sahaba e Kiraam and the pious predecessors. When visiting the graves, it firstly reminds us of our death and secondly, our visits benefit our deceased family members. They find comfort and solace in our visits and look forward to us visiting them.

Ibn Abi Duniya and Baihaqi reported from Uthman bin Saudah (His mother was known as Raahiba due to immense Ibaadat) who said, ‘When my mother passed away, then I would visit her on the eve of every Friday, and I would then make Dua e Maghfirat for her and for all the dwellers of the graves. One night, I saw her in my dream, and I asked her, How are you today? She said, my dear son! The discomfort of death is intense, but Alhamdulillah I am in a very blessed Barzakh. In it I lay a bed of flowers and I use a pillow of ‘Sandas’ and ‘Istabraq’ (silken fabric). I said, Do you have any need? She said, Yes. I said, What is it? She said, Never stop visiting me, because by you coming I feel peace, and when you visit, then the other deceased give me glad tidings saying, a visitor is coming from your home, and they too become happy (and excited).

Sometimes when we visit the graves, we go to the graves of a deceased because we partook in his Janaazah Namaaz, and we accompany the Mayyit to the cemetery. After the deceased has been buried we leave, but we seldom take note that we should make Dua for our deceased family members who rest in the same graveyard. We should try to go to their graves whilst at that particular graveyard, even if it is for a few short moments. When we go to the cemetery where our relatives and friends are resting and we do not visit them or pay attention to them, it saddens them and they are aware of this.

Hazrat Hafiz Ibn Rajab (radi Allahu anhu) states, Ali bin Abdus Samad reported to me with his own merit from Asad bin Musa that,  ‘One of my friends passed away and I saw him in my dream one day. He said to me, Subhaan’Allah! You visited the grave of such and such person and you sat there, and then made Dua e Maghfirat for him, but why did you not visit me? I said, How did you know this, and how did you see this whereas you are pressed under such a huge amount of sand? So he said, Do you not understand how water can be seen when it is inside a (transparent) bottle.’

Subhaan’Allah! The first narration also proves that the deceased are aware of our visits even before we visit them, and the second narration shows how clearly they are able to observe us.