What is the religious significance of ‘chaleeswaaN’?
The word “chaleeswaaN” refers to that typically, around 40th day after someone dies, there is a gathering of people to do eesaal-e-sawaab for the deceased.
I know there is a period of iddat for the widow.. but is it 40 days, and is the “chaliswaaN” inspired from the period of Idaat?
Or is this a cultural thing in sub-continent? Do muslims in other parts of the world (Arabs, East Asia etc) also do a “ChaliswaaN”? If its religiously mandated, what are the do’s and don’ts?
Is it a sect-neutral issue for muslims, or do different sects have different takes on this topic?
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*Originally posted by Faisal: *
What is the religious significance of 'chaleeswaaN'?
The word "chaleeswaaN" refers to that typically, around 40th day after someone dies, there is a gathering of people to do eesaal-e-sawaab for the deceased.
I know there is a period of iddat for the widow.. but is it 40 days, and is the "chaliswaaN" inspired from the period of Idaat?
Or is** this a cultural thing in sub-continent?** Do muslims in other parts of the world (Arabs, East Asia etc) also do a "ChaliswaaN"? If its religiously mandated, what are the do's and don'ts?
Is it a sect-neutral issue for muslims, or do different sects have different takes on this topic?
Jazak Allah
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It is more of a cultural thing.....shikh abdul haq muhadais and shah abdul aziz muhadis has called it bidah..(these are two aaalims whom both sects agree upoun).......
I have another question its some what related to this issue as well, what’s the concept behind reading sura-al fatiha at death? I could hardly find any co relation in it.
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*Originally posted by Faisal: *
The word "chaleeswaaN" refers to that typically, around 40th day after someone dies, there is a gathering of people to do eesaal-e-sawaab for the deceased.
Faisal, according to my limited knowledge of Islam. Chaliswaan has no significance in Islam. It is not part of Islam. It was probably got integrated into our culture from Hinduisim. I know a lot of people treat it as a religious matter, but it really is not. If you want to do something nice for deceased you can pray, offer fatiah. Reading Quran and asking Allah to send the "ajar" or "sawaab" goes against the principles of Islam. Person has already passed away, there book is closed and only thing you can do is ask Allah for his mercy and deceased "maghfirat". That is how I view it.
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*Originally posted by Kaleem: *
Reading Quran and asking Allah to send the "ajar" or "sawaab" goes against the principles of Islam. Person has already passed away, there book is closed and only thing you can do is ask Allah for his mercy and deceased "maghfirat". That is how I view it.
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I realize that there are people who subscribe to this view. And I am sure they have a reasonable basis to believe what they do. Personally, I do not subscribe to this opinion, howeever. But that is a matter of faith where we can agree to disagree.
The point of this post, in reality, was on the question of 40 days. Why 40? Why not 50 or 30 or 10? I thought this might be derived from the concept of "iddat" for the widow. Seems to me, based on some of the responses here that this tradition of 40th day is probably an influence of hinduism. Not sure if thats true or not, but I am most interested in knowing whether muslims in other parts of the world believe in having a "ChaliswaaN" or a gathering 40 days after the death of a muslim to remember him/her and pray for him/her?
It is also interesting how Afghans do it. I happened to attend one such gathering a few weeks ago. This Afghan gentleman died. He had 10 kids. Turns out that the Afghans (atleast this family) had a tradition of subtracting the number of kids from the total of 40 days to determine when the "ChaliswaaN" will take place. So in this particular case, they had this gathering on the 30th day.
It is also interesting how Afghans do it. I happened to attend one such gathering a few weeks ago. This Afghan gentleman died. He had 10 kids. Turns out that the Afghans (atleast this family) had a tradition of subtracting the number of kids from the total of 40 days to determine when the "ChaliswaaN" will take place. So in this particular case, they had this gathering on the 30th day.
Wallah o Aalim
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What about people with 41 children (dont knock it..its been known to happen..)
Just to clarify… I am asking about the significance of 40 days according to Earth’s calendar. I will leave NeScio to worry about the 40 Moon days or 40 days on Neptune. I am sure he will soon enlighten us on his conclusions about those calendars. :k:
Kaleem… On the issue of “isaal-e-sawaab” I disagree with you. On the issue of “ChaliswaaN” I am still not sure, as that is why I started the thread. Seems more likely that it is not an Islamic concept but more of an Indo-Pak cultural addition. Whether its right or not, is not really what I am planning to discuss. Each of us has their own views and they are free to subscribe to those views.
Well, what I understood is, that the ChaliswaaN of a person can be held earlier than 40 days. This depends on how many kids that person has. So if someone has 3 kids, his/her chaliswaaN can be held on the 37th day. If someone has 5 kids, the chaliswaaN may be held on the 35th day. So basically they subtract the number of kids from 40 and can have an earlier chaliswaaN.
I am not sure if this is a wide-spread Afghan practice, or something which that family had adopted. I found it interesting, bcz I had never heard anything like that before. Then again, I have not attended many ChaliswaaN's anyway.
This is 101% worng. may be some afghans do it but not in my family i have never heard of it. before..By the way i will ask some of my family if this is right..but yaar i dont think it is correct anyway
In islam 40 days are considerd to be of some importent by many..it is the period of 40 days that a humans nature can be changed......(like doing one ibadah consistently for 40 days can give u istiqamat on the ibadah)
like we all have read...40 namzain in harmain
hadrat yunus remined in water ..40
it is after 40 days that the killing of etus becomes haram..kion kay rooh dal di jati hay..
and many others instances ..giving the significance of 40 days
that is why sufia give chilla of 40 days to their students/patients.
But i dont know the significance of 40 days in this particular instance......
LH, please read the whole post. The person who is dead is dead. His book for “naiki” or “baddi” is closed. You reading Quran or asking Allah to send the Sawaab to him/her is not going to work. Every one is going to be judged according to their own “Amal” not by relatives reciting Quran 1000 times on the chaliswaan. It is not going to help the deceased in my opinion. Again, I ask you please read the whole post and do not take statements out of context.
Kaleem.. with all due respect, this is your opinion. You are most definitely not alone in these views, either ... but this view is not shared by a majority of muslims (shias or sunnis).
Faisal, yaar that is exactly what I said. Its my opinion. However, i am going to open up another thread related to this topic.."Isaal Sawwab". I will love to hear your side of the argument.
