The mourning of the Prophet for his son is a sign of his human sentiments...

The mourning of the Prophet for his son is a sign of his human sentiments, which continued even after the death of the child, and manifestation of sentiments and expression of grief was a sign of his kind nature, which showed itself involuntarily throughout his life. As regards his not uttering anything against the pleasure of Allah, was a sign of his faith and resignation to the Divine Will, which none can escape.

Baseless Objection Abdur Rahman bin Awf, who belonged to a family of the Ansar, was surprised to see the Prophet shedding tears. He objected to it saying: "You have been restraining us from weeping for the dead. How is it that you are now shedding tears at the death of your son? " The objector was not only not aware of the sublime basic principle of Islam but was also ignorant of the spirit and special sentiments with which the Almighty has endowed human beings.

All human instincts have been created for particular purposes and it is necessary that everyone of them should manifest itself at its proper time and place. A person who is not moved by the death of his near ones, whose heart does not move, whose eyes do not shed tears, in short, who does not display any reaction on account of being separated from them is nothing more than a stone, and should not be called a human being.

However, a delicate and appreciable point deserves attention here for although this objection was baseless, it tells us that complete freedom and perfect democracy existed in the newly formed society of the Muslims at that time, so that a person could pick up courage to comment upon the action of his absolute ruler with perfect freedom and without any fear or awe and could also get a reply.

The Prophet replied: "I have never said that you should not weep on the death of your dear ones, because it is a sign of kindness and pity and a person whose heart is not moved for others does not become entitled to the blessings of Allah.[^5] I have said that you should not make excessive lamentations on the death of your near ones and neither utter indecent or objectionable words nor tear your dress out of too much grief".[^6] As directed by the Prophet the Commander of the Faithful washed the dead body of Ibrahim and shrouded him.

Then the Prophet and some of his companions escorted the funeral party and buried the child in the Baqi' graveyard.[^7] The Prophet looked into the grave of Ibrahim and saw a pit in a corner thereof.