Burial on Friday
27-12-2004 | IslamWeb
Question:
There is a belief that if a person dies on a Thursday, he should be buried before the next Friday prayers and if one dies on Friday and buried that day itself, there will be no "Azaab" of the "Khabar". Similarly on the 40th day of burial when "Chehullum Faatihah" is conducted, the "Rooh" of the person visits the place. Are these beliefs correct and what are the evidences?
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
This kind of belief is not correct; however, if a Muslim dies on a Friday, this is one of the signs of a good end. At-Tirmithi
reported in his Jaami' that 'Abdullaah Ibn 'Umar 
narrated that the Prophet 
said: "There is no Muslim who dies on a Friday or the night of Friday (which starts on Thursday after sunset) except that Allaah protects him from the punishment of the grave." This narration is regarding the person who dies on a Friday and not a person who dies on Thursday and his burial is delayed to Friday. What should be taken into account is the day a person dies and not the day in which a person is buried. In addition to this it is not permissible to delay the burial from the time of death except if there is a sound religious excuse for that and if there is no risk for the corpse to be transformed (swollen, smelling...). What has been mentioned in the question is not a sound religious excuse.
As regards gathering on the 40th day after the person has died, or on the day of his anniversary, or any other occasion to mourn him, then this is a religious innovation that was not known during the time of the Prophet or of his companions or our righteous predecessors 
. Indeed all good is in following the Sunnah and the way of the companions, and righteous predecessors, may Allaah be pleased and have mercy on them.
Allaah knows best.