The Meaning of the Hadith: “The Dead Person Is Punished by the Crying of His Family Over Him”

Question:
May Allah reward you. A message from Algeria from a questioner named Ayn Ayn. He says: I hope you will explain the hadith, the meaning of which is that are rewarded. The hadith is authentic, and it contains the prohibition of crying over the dead, meaning raising the voice in wailing. As for mere crying without wailing and without raising the voice, this does

Answer:
no harm, because it is not within a person’s ability to prevent it. What is forbidden is raising the voice in crying and wailing, and displaying distress over the deceased. This is what is prohibited, and this causes the dead person to be punished because of it. However, the scholars have expressed their views on the nature of this punishment. Is it literal, such that the dead person is actually punished? Because water is forbidden, and one is punished for what is forbidden, so how is he punished when he did not do it, and this is not his action? They said, and Allah knows best, that this applies to the one who is wailed over before his death, because they used to bequeath this in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance. The poet said: “When I die, cry for me as I am worthy of, and tear your chest, O Umm Ma‘bad.” This is a bequest. So if he bequeaths this, it becomes difficult [for him]; because he was pleased with what is wrong. It was also said that the meaning of the punishment is pain, that the dead person is punished, meaning he feels pain from what was wailed over him, and he is distressed and does not accept it. Yes.