Hadithcore
Sahih al-Bukhari, 1380
sahih

Narrated Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri:

Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "When the funeral is ready (for its burial) and the people lift it on their shoulders, then if the deceased is a righteous person he says, 'Take me ahead,' and if he is not a righteous one then he says, 'Woe to it (me)! Where are you taking it (me)?' And his voice is audible to everything except human beings; and if they heard it they would fall down unconscious . "

حَدَّثَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ، حَدَّثَنَا اللَّيْثُ، عَنْ سَعِيدِ بْنِ أَبِي سَعِيدٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، أَنَّهُ سَمِعَ أَبَا سَعِيدٍ الْخُدْرِيَّ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ يَقُولُ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏

‏ إِذَا وُضِعَتِ الْجَنَازَةُ فَاحْتَمَلَهَا الرِّجَالُ عَلَى أَعْنَاقِهِمْ، فَإِنْ كَانَتْ صَالِحَةً قَالَتْ قَدِّمُونِي قَدِّمُونِي‏.‏ وَإِنْ كَانَتْ غَيْرَ صَالِحَةٍ قَالَتْ يَا وَيْلَهَا أَيْنَ يَذْهَبُونَ بِهَا‏.‏ يَسْمَعُ صَوْتَهَا كُلُّ شَىْءٍ إِلاَّ الإِنْسَانَ، وَلَوْ سَمِعَهَا الإِنْسَانُ لَصَعِقَ ‏

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References2 variants
In-Book Reference
Book 23, Hadith 132
USC-MSA web (English) reference
Vol. 2, Book 23, Hadith 462 (deprecated numbering scheme)
Sharh · explanationclick to expand
The Prophet ﷺ would often mention death, andemphasise its torments, naming it the destroyer of pleasures. This was to highlight the enormity of this moment,and to prepare the believers for death. In this hadeeth, the Prophet ﷺ explains that when the deceased is placed into his coffin and lifted on the shoulders of men [to progress to the grave], the funeral speaks- if the deceased was a righteous person, it would say ”Take me quickly, take me quickly,” due to its joy of the glad tidings that it witnessed. However, if the deceased was not a righteous person, it would express its sorrow by saying, “woe to me, where are you taking me!”which was a plea to leave it and to not bury it.Itsays thisbecause itsaw the torment and punishments that awaited the deceased in his grave, due to his bad deeds during his lifetime. The reason it uses the third person pronoun (i.e., it) although it means “woe to me!”is because the deceased disliked attributing woefulness to himself, or because he wants to disassociate himself from his self after realising its status. Thereafter, the Prophet ﷺ mentions that all the creation can hear it except humans, and that they would die if they heard it. This refers to the dismaying sound of crying and screaming that comes from the deceased, when perceiving his punishment. The Prophet ﷺelucidatedthat no person can hear this appalling sound, due to Allah’s Mercy, andbecause He wants to keep them alive in this worldly life, where they experience tests and trials. It has been said that the dismaying sound only comes from the deceased who are not righteous. As for those who were righteous, their speech will be gentle, kind, and moderate, and thus, it would not occur that his voice would shock anyone who hears it. It has been said that this speech occurs after the soul departs the body, and that Allah then enables the body to speak. However, the correct view is that [this happens] while the body and the soul are together. We understand, from this hadeeth, that the righteous deceased sees glad tidings before he is buried, and vice versa, and this hadeeth serves as a sign of the truthfulness of the prophethood of the Prophet ﷺ..
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