Re: Chaihlam: 40 Days of Mourning - Important Question
Yes we do. I dont know where half of our customs come from honestly, and nobody else does either - or so it is revealed when i ask around.
Re: Chaihlam: 40 Days of Mourning - Important Question
AOA
the prophet(saw) after the death of his uncle hazrat abu talib and his(saw) wife bibi Kadija(r) named the whole year "the year of grief". What does this imply?
Re: Chaihlam: 40 Days of Mourning - Important Question
just curious whats a memon?
Re: Chaihlam: 40 Days of Mourning - Important Question
Mesmerized, one can grief in one's heart. Maybe the Prophet was grieving for his loved one's inside his heart for a year. But he definitely did not take off a full year and not go anywhere or do anything in honor of these deaths!
Memon = a South Asian ethnicity. Except we don't have our own province. Like you have gujratis, you have punjabis, etc. There are also memons. A group that migrated out of Sindh (Thatta) centuries ago and travelled all over the place, the most of which somehow landed in Gujrat. That group was broken up into Bhoris, Khojas, and Memons. (The difference was religious, I believe, since Memons are sunni, khojas are agakhani, and bhoris have their own bhora faith - all subsets of Islam, although one would argue about khojas)
Re: Chaihlam: 40 Days of Mourning - Important Question
PCG : Memons are also the largest business community in Pakistan.
Re: Chaihlam: 40 Days of Mourning - Important Question
I don't think that's a good defining character, since many of us have nothing to do with business - but that's a thread topic for culture section, not religion. Lets stay on topic.
Re: Chaihlam: 40 Days of Mourning - Important Question
Sorry PCG for going off topic.
chelum, soyam, teeja etc are all inventions and have nothing to do with Islam. There is no hadeeth that calls for it. The prophet(saw) did not do it for the deceased in his family and his sahaabi never engageed in this activity so we can only conclude that these concepts are mere inventions(bidaa) and we should shun such practices.
Re: Chaihlam: 40 Days of Mourning - Important Question
PCG - get this - we don’t celebrate eid for a year after a death in the family!!! It is absolutely ridiculous but my parents follow the traditions set forth by their ancestors. After my grandmother passed away in Jan of 2003, we were not supposed to celebrate Eid ul Adha or Eid ul Fitr after that - it was totally ridiculous!! We celebrated Eid ul Fitr though cuz we thought (the young’uns) it was totally dumb!
Just last night, they were surprised by the fact that someone is getting married on the 10th of Muharram!! I was like the day of Ashoora is not a day of mourning and just an innovation in Islam after the death of Imam Hussain (ra). Their reply was that we should out of respect for Shi’as mourn on that day. To that my reply was, but Imam Hussain (ra) and the people who died w/ him were all Shaheeds so we should be glad that they will receive Jannah for their good deeds. Argh, it is such a failed attempt to try and persuade them from their traditions.
I believe the 40 day mourning came from the Hindus as well because I recently heard that one of our friend’s F-I-L passed away and they will not do anything celebratory for 40 days.
Our extended family does a lot of Bida’a as well like nayaz which drives me nuts 
Re: Chaihlam: 40 Days of Mourning - Important Question
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Our extended family does a lot of Bida'a as well like nayaz which drives me nuts
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Is 'Namaz' Bida'ah; Seems a Persian word like 'Nayaz' ?
Re: Chaihlam: 40 Days of Mourning - Important Question
the word I used is Nayaz which is when my family makes a special type of sweet and read Quranic ayahs over it. Usually to celebrate the death anniversary of a relative or some well renowned saint.
Re: Chaihlam: 40 Days of Mourning - Important Question
Must have some good things to eat in “Nayaz” food. What Quranic Ayahs they recite before Nayaz food, usually I recite only Bismilla in the beginning and Alhumdullah at the end of any food. what I have been taught Bismillah and Alhumdullah is for Barakah. Don’t know what is the purpose of reciting Quranic ayahs before that Nayaz food; seems useless if it is not for Barakah (barkat).
Anyway its a excellent trick to take money out of the greedy pockets for poor, kids, neighbors & students and their teachers. If it is not so, it might go to that dead saint to makes his dead body happy. Allah gave him death but arrange food for lots of people. plus money circulation in the village for economical growth. Fresh death brings more food, otherwise people just rely on Phulian and Mukharain (sweetened boiled-dried rice) every Thursday.
But a thing to note; where there people are not practicing it, I mean ‘Nayaz’. Poor people are still living and having some food every night. May be they have sufficient food in that area or maybe their food is oily. They is why they send Qurbani meat every year to those areas where people are not practicing “Niyaz”. Its not because of their mental attachment, its because their goats and sheep got finished during the war time, and they are still not working on it.
Re: Chaihlam: 40 Days of Mourning - Important Question
I know this is an old thread but after reading this I had to reply. The Prophet(SAW) did not mourn for a whole year nor is there any reference for this belief.. neither did he name the year so (but I could be wrong about this.. Aam ul Huzn or “year of grief” is called so because that was the year that brought great sadness in the Prophet’s(SAW) life..
Let me explain it like this… if for example.. in 2015 you get a dream job.. then get married.. have a child.. buy a home/car and a lot of good things happen to you and you say this year is the “year of happiness” for me.. it does not mean you celebrated all year long.. it just means this year brought you happiness.. similarly.. the Prophet(SAW) did not call the year.. “Year of grief” because he was mourning all year long.. but because he lost 2 people whom He(SAW) cared for the most and they cared for him.. and also his tribe boycott him that year.. so the year brought him a lot of pain..
And Allah knows best.
Re: Chaihlam: 40 Days of Mourning - Important Question