This sermon is about the ceremonies of distribution of alms for a deceased person which are organized forty days after the decease. It was delivered during a ceremony for the paternal aunt of Seydina Issa, a woman named Thiaba Ndoye who had died. She was a good servant of God, a believer, a virtuous woman. She belonged to those who had known Seydina Limamu and had believed in him. Forty days after her death, people, men and women had gathered for the celebration of what is known as the alms of the forty nights. Seydina Issa sent next to them an emissary, Mody Thiané SALL, one of his best companions, a man well known among the Layenes. After greeting the assembly, the emissary declared : Seydina Issa Rohou Laye, son of Seydina Limamu Laye greets you and inquires about your families, your well being, your security He asks you to abandon the practice which consists in celebrating the fortieth night as well as the manifestations related to it(public rejoicing, talks, futilities and other things prohibited by God). God Almighty has said : man will get only what he will have earned through his action and it will be presented to him what he will have done.
It is after listening to this sermon that the Layenes have abandoned this kind of ceremony.

In the name of God the clement, the merciful. May God's blessing and peace be upon Seydina Mohamed, his close friends and his companions All praises belong forever to God. He who has never ceased being  the Eternal Possessor of His Throne, He who is majestic in his power, he the clement who has compassion for His servants. He is the Sovereign who created death and life to test his servants, to know who will accomplish the most beautiful deeds. I attest that there is no other Sovereign than God alone. He has no associate. I attest that Mohamed is His servant and messenger, that he has ordered us to be righteous, fear God and do good at any time and any place, for that only will bring everlasting favour sand high honours in the next world.

I recommend you this as I got it from my father Limamu Laye Al Muntazar. He constantly used to tell his companions : Wherever you are, be constant in righteousness, in good and beautiful actions, and in the purification of your cult to God. Don't be corruptors, for God Almighty doesn't like corruptors.

I recommend you nothing else but this, Oh! you God's servants.

Apart from this, it is Seydina Issa Rohou Laye who greets all the muslims, men and women who have believed in Seydina Limamu Laye and answered his call to God. May God's peace and blessing be upon you and your families.

The aim of this message is to let you know that I order you what God has ordered, and forbids you from doing what he has prohibited. I would have you know that there is a tradition that people have now adopted : it is the gatherings they organize to celebrate the third, eigth and fortieth day after the death of one of them. They say that it is to pray and give alms for the deceased person. On these occasions, they prepare and give a lot of food to the family, to relatives, close friends and neighbours. They organize the ceremony as if it were a wedding ceremony.Sometimes, some people may not have the means to organize such a celebration and they go into debt, or mortgage their estate or other possessions without caring about the licitness or illicitness of their acts.

It is modesty or fear of calomny which induce them to that. They will thus do it out of pride. I recommend you, my companions, men and women to abandon this practice, for it is neither good nor beautiful for virtuous people. This practice doesn't serve the deceased person and is harmful to those who do it for their own pleasure.

As for the deceased person, what can best serve him in his tomb are the good things he did during his lifetime, for God's messenger(may God's blessing and peace be upon him) has said : The alms you have given during your lifetime, even if they represent only a very small portion of the riches you have acquired honestly, are much better than one hundred times the same amount offered for you after you have died. And God the Almighty has talked about of the day when man will see the things he has done with his own hands, and when the unfaithful will say he wished he had become dust.

I equally let you know that recreations and things related to them are forever prohibited by God for every adult man.

May God keep you in peace and righteousness, and may He grant you salvation.

AMEN