English Translation

'Abdallah b. Abu Mulaika said:A daughter of Hadrat 'Uthman b. ‘Affan died in Mecca and we went to attend her funeral. Ibn ‘Umar and Ibn ‘Abbas were present and I was sitting between them. ‘Abdallah b. ‘Umar told ‘Amr b. Hadrat 'Uthman who was opposite him to make the people stop weeping, for the Beloved Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) had said that the dead is punished because of his people’s weeping for him. Ibn ‘Abbas then said that ‘Umar used to say something of that nature, and told of an occasion when he had gone from Mecca with ‘Umar and they saw a party of riders under the shade of a gum-acacia tree when they came to al-Baida,. ‘Umar told him to go and see who these riders were, and when he looked he saw that Suhaib was among them, so he told ‘Umar and he asked him to call him. He therefore returned to Suhaib and told him to come over and attach himself to the Commander of the Faithful. Then when ‘Umar was smitten Suhaib entered weeping and saying, “Alas for the brother! Alas for the companion!” ‘Umar asked Suhaib if he was weeping for him when God’s messenger had said that the dead would certainly be punished because of some of the weeping of his family for him. Ibn ‘Abbas said that when ‘Umar died he mentioned that to ‘A’isha and she said, “God have mercy on ‘Umar! I answer by God that God’s messenger never said the dead will certainly be punished because of his family’s weeping for him; what he said was that God will increase the punishment of the infidel because of his family’s weeping for him.” She added, “What the Qur’an says is enough for you: ‘No bearer of a burden will bear another’s burden.’ ” (Qur’an, vi, 164; xvii, 15; xxxv, 18; xxxix, 7) Thereupon Ibn ‘Abbas said, “God is He who has caused laughter and weeping.” (Cf. Qur’an, liii, 43) Ibn Abu Mulaika said that Ibn ‘Umar remained silent. (Bukharl and Muslim.)