SECTION OF THE DEAD · 70 – A PERSON WHOSE NON-BELIEVER RELATIVE HAS DIED
According to the narration of Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), he said:
(When my father, Abu Talib, passed away, I said to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, “Your elderly and misguided uncle has died.”) The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, commanded me, "Go and bury your father, and do not speak until you return to me." So I went and buried him and came to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, who ordered me to perform *ghusl* (ritual purification). I performed *ghusl*, and he then commanded me to supplicate [118].
COMMENTARY
The matter of how Abu Talib died is a point of contention. Some scholars have attempted to prove that Abu Talib died in faith. A work specifically written on this subject is entitled *Asna al-Matālib fī Imān Abu Tālib*. However, authentic narrations and this honorable hadith indicate that Abu Talib did not die in faith. Allah knows best.
The aforementioned work was translated by me. My esteemed colleague, Professor Hasan Basri Çantay, gave me the text of the work and said, "Translate it, and I will publish it as an original work." I translated it and delivered it to him. He made corrections in some places and said he would have it published. The translation may be found in my colleague’s library.