Criticism of Jurisprudential Verdict of Burial Night (Horror Prayer) in the Thoughts of Fourth Period (Mota'akhkher Al-Mota'akhkherin) and Contemporary Jurisprudents

Human being, who is terrified with any resonant voice, is suddenly confronted with thousands of unfamiliar phenomena upon his arrival to hereafter. In the narratives, this is interpreted as the first night of the grave. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) solved the problems of dead person in this scary step of human life; he recommended that the survivors should give alms on behalf of the departed, while poor survivors are recommended to hold a prayer called “horror prayer” for the dead person. The principle of this issue does not exist in the second-period jurisprudence (known as “motaqaddemin jurisprudence” that lasted from 329 to 543 Hijri), and third-period jurisprudence (known as “mota'khkherin jurisprudence” that lasted from 543 to 940 Hijri) and it has been incompletely raised in fourth-period jurisprudence (known as “mota'akhkher al-mota'akhkherin jurisprudence” lasted from 940 to 1205 Hijri). Therefore, both poor and rich people are recommended to hold a “horror prayer” for the departed, so having or not having wealth is completely ignored. Hence, not only all righteous people, but also all jurisprudential books written in third and fourth periods, as well as all Islamic law books (Taudhih Al-Masa'il) written in the contemporary period consider the horror prayer as the only recommended deed for burial night. While studying historical-jurisprudential origins of this issue and analyzing the narratives and quotes by means of ijtihad, the current paper tries to examine the original tradition of Islam that is related to this sensitive step of human life. I hope that my paper is accepted by jurisprudential community, so the Islamic law books (Taudhih Al-Masa'il), speech of Islamic missionaries and deeds of righteous people can be reviewed also in this regard.