Situation
The narrator shares this hilarious tale from his neighborhood, where an elderly man named Abu al-Hasan Nabali passed away. May Allah forgive him. After his funeral prayer and burial, the coffin was brought back to the nearby mosque. Since it was night and the mosque was closed, the coffin was left outside the door, waiting for the mosque caretaker to store it in its proper place the next morning.
Around 3:30 a.m., a man arrived at the mosque, only to find the door locked. He waited for a while, but it was freezing cold (those chilly winter nights!). Desperate to escape the cold, he decided to open the coffin and sleep inside. Half an hour later, the mosque caretaker showed up, and without noticing anything unusual, he—with the help of a prayer-goer—placed the coffin in its designated spot near the prayer niche.
The muezzin called for prayer, and soon, people gathered for Fajr. About fifty worshippers joined the congregation. I was standing in the first row, and as we reached the second rak‘ah, my gaze fell on the coffin. To my utter shock, I noticed it was moving. A shiver ran down my spine, and I quickly closed my eyes, trying to ignore it. But the movement continued, and I thought, Could it be the spirit of the deceased?
Suddenly, the man inside sat up, poked his head out of the coffin, and innocently asked, “Have you guys finished the prayer yet?”
Chaos ensued. People ran for their lives; I bolted home at the speed of light. When I reached my house, I realized I had run barefoot.
The imam had fainted on the spot. Some people, in their haste, crashed into walls, while others, like me, fled barefoot. A few slipped near the wudu area, and everyone was just running without looking back.
Meanwhile, the man from the coffin chased after us, yelling, “Hey, at least tell me what’s going on!”
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