The Ruling on Hanging Boards Depicting the Order of Events After Death
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The questioner:
What is the ruling on hanging boards that depict the order of what happens to a servant after his death, from the time he enters the grave until he enters Paradise or Hellfire thereafter, knowing that these boards do not bear the ministry’s seal?
The Shaykh:
These boards must be smashed, and the one who hangs them or writes them must be seized and punished and disciplined. This is not permissible. This is an innovation. This is an innovation without precedent. What is in the books, what is in the Book and the Sunnah of promise and warning, is sufficient; this is enough instead of writing boards.
Perhaps the matter will develop and boards will be hung stating that so-and-so is a wali (close friend of Allah) from among the awliya (close friends of Allah), and that he saves people, and that he opens the door. Nothing is to be written on graves, nor in graveyards, nor on the gates of graveyards. Nothing is to be written ever. Nor is the Hereafter to be depicted as some ignorant people have done, depicting the Hereafter, Paradise, and Hellfire on a board.
This is the Paradise, this is the Hellfire, this is the Sirat, and this is the Scale, and they put them on boards. All of this is nonsense. All of this is nonsense. Matters of the Hereafter and matters of the unseen are not to be depicted or written on boards. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: It came in some of the words of the Salaf (the earliest generations) (may Allah have mercy on them) that the Scale has a tongue. The question is: What is the authenticity of this? And is there any evidence for it from the Book and the Sunnah?
The Shaykh:
It is a Scale.
What is the ruling on hanging boards that depict the order of what happens to a servant after his death, from the time he enters the grave until he enters Paradise or Hellfire thereafter, knowing that these boards do not bear the ministry’s seal?
The Shaykh:
These boards must be smashed, and the one who hangs them or writes them must be seized and punished and disciplined. This is not permissible. This is an innovation. This is an innovation without precedent. What is in the books, what is in the Book and the Sunnah of promise and warning, is sufficient; this is enough instead of writing boards.
Perhaps the matter will develop and boards will be hung stating that so-and-so is a wali (close friend of Allah) from among the awliya (close friends of Allah), and that he saves people, and that he opens the door. Nothing is to be written on graves, nor in graveyards, nor on the gates of graveyards. Nothing is to be written ever. Nor is the Hereafter to be depicted as some ignorant people have done, depicting the Hereafter, Paradise, and Hellfire on a board.
This is the Paradise, this is the Hellfire, this is the Sirat, and this is the Scale, and they put them on boards. All of this is nonsense. All of this is nonsense. Matters of the Hereafter and matters of the unseen are not to be depicted or written on boards. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: It came in some of the words of the Salaf (the earliest generations) (may Allah have mercy on them) that the Scale has a tongue. The question is: What is the authenticity of this? And is there any evidence for it from the Book and the Sunnah?
The Shaykh:
It is a Scale.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 352 - ما حكم تعليق اللوحات التي فيها ترتيب ما يحصل للعبد بعد موته؟ - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.