Namaz-e-Wahshat

It is Mustahab that on the day of the burial on this night between Maghrib and Isha one should recite two rakats prayer. This is known as Namaz-e-Wahshat because for the dead person the most horrifying and difficult is the first night.

In the first rakat after Surah Hamd recite Ayatul Kursi and in the second rakat after Surah Hamd recite Suarah Qadr 10 times and after the prayer say:

Allaahumma sale a'laa Muhammadinw wa aale Muhammadinw wab a'tha thawaabaha ilaa qabre dhaalikal mayyite falaan bin falaan. Instead of falaan bin falaan mention the name of the dead person.

Sayyid Ibne Tawus has narrated from the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) that the most difficult for the dead person is the first night in the grave, so have pity on your dead ones and give Sadaqah on their behalf so that their difficulty is reduced and if there is nothing to give in Sadaqah you must pray two rakats prayer.

In the first rakat after Surah Hamd recite Surah Tawheed twice and in the second rakat after Surah Hamd recite Surah Takathur 10 times and after the Salaam say:

Allaahumma sale A'laa Muhammadinw wa aale muhammadin wab atha thawaabaha ilaa qabre dhaalikal mayyite falaan ibne falaan

Thus the Almighty this very moment would send thousands of angels to the grave with heavenly garments and they turn the narrowness of the grave into vastness till the time the bugle would be blown and would make the good deeds of the worshipper shine like the sun and elevate him 40 grades.

Fazilat of Namaz-e-Wahshat

Shaykh Thiqatul Islam Noori has narrated directly from Fath Ali Sultanabadi that he says he had the habit that whenever he heard of the death of a family member or a friend he would pray two rakats prayer of the night of burial and gift the Sawab. "No one knew about this practice of mine. One day I met a friend. He said: Last night I had a dream in which I saw a person who had died that day. I asked him about his well being and inquired about the conditions after death. He said that after my death I was in a terrible difficulty because my deeds were very bad. Till the time this person recited two rakat prayer. And he mentioned your name. This two rakat Namaz saved me from the punishment. May Allah have mercy on the parents of this person who did this favour to me.

Marhum Haaj Mulla said: At this time the person asked me what that prayer was? I explained to him the method of this prayer and those things that are beneficial to the dead ones.

They are as follows:

  1. In order to be safe from the Wahshat-e-Qabr (terror of the grave) one should perform the ruku properly. Thus it is related from Imam Baqir (a.s.) that one who performs the ruku properly does not have terror in the grave.
  2. Recite "Laa ilaaha illallaahul Malikul haqqul Mubeen" a hundred times daily. One who recites this is safe from poverty and terror of the grave and affluence pulls him towards itself and the doors of Paradise open up for him.
  3. Recite Surah Yasin before going to bed.
  4. Recite Namaz-e-Lailatul Raghaib which is mentioned in the A'maal of Rajab on the eve of the first Friday of the month of Rajab.

It is narrated from Imam Sadiq (a.s.) that whenever there is narrowness and severity on the dead body the Almighty widens his grave and removes the narrowness and says that this widening is because you had recited Namaz-e-Wahshat for such and such believer brother.