funeral. I thought that perhaps they have killed him and are going to hide the corpse somewhere. So, I enquired from them, ‘Keeping the right of Allah Almighty upon you in mind, answer my question. Did you kill him yourself? Or did someone else do it? And now where are you going to hide his corpse?’ They replied, ‘Neither did we kill him nor was he murdered, rather we are labourers and his mother will pay us; she is waiting near his grave for us, come and accompany us.’

Due to my curiosity, I accompanied them. When we reached the graveyard, I saw that indeed an old woman was standing near a freshly dug grave. I asked, ‘Dear mother! Why didn’t you bring your son’s funeral here during the day so that other people could also participate in shrouding and burying him?’ She replied, ‘This is the funeral of my beloved son! This son of mine was an alcoholic and a sinner! He would always remain engaged in drinking alcohol and committing other sins. When his death approached, he called me and made a will regarding three things:

1.   When I die, put a rope around my neck and drag me outside the house, and say to the people, ‘This is the punishment of sinners and disobedient people.’

2.   Bury me in the night, because whoever sees my funeral during the day will curse and criticise me.

3.   When you are lowering me into the grave, place one of your white hairs with me, because Allah Almighty expresses Haya from white hairs; perhaps He will protect me from punishment because of this. When he died, I put a rope around his neck and was about to drag him, but I heard a voice from the unseen, ‘O old woman! Do not drag him like this; Allah Almighty has forgiven him due to him being regretful of his sins and due to his repentance.’

When I heard this account of the old woman, I went to his body, offered the funeral Salah and then buried him. I also placed a white hair from his mother’s head with him in the grave. When we were