The Ruling on Consoling the Relative of a Disbeliever and One Who Abandons Prayer
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. My neighbor passed away. He was one who abandoned prayer. A poor, kind-hearted man. My neighbor passed away while abandoning prayer and consuming riba (usury or interest).
The Shaykh:
Yes.
The questioner:
Is it permissible for me to console his son, who is a righteous young man?
The Shaykh:
Yes, it is permissible to console a Muslim regarding his disbeliever relative. It is permissible to be consoled regarding a disbeliever relative. As for the disbeliever, he has the right to be consoled, but one does not make du'a' (supplication) for the deceased. One does not say, “May Allah forgive my deceased,” as long as he did not pray. One does not supplicate for his forgiveness. Rather, one says, “May Allah make your consolation good, and may Allah console you for your loss,” and nothing more. One does not say, “And may Allah forgive my deceased,” because the deceased is a disbeliever.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. My neighbor passed away. He was one who abandoned prayer. A poor, kind-hearted man. My neighbor passed away while abandoning prayer and consuming riba (usury or interest).
The Shaykh:
Yes.
The questioner:
Is it permissible for me to console his son, who is a righteous young man?
The Shaykh:
Yes, it is permissible to console a Muslim regarding his disbeliever relative. It is permissible to be consoled regarding a disbeliever relative. As for the disbeliever, he has the right to be consoled, but one does not make du'a' (supplication) for the deceased. One does not say, “May Allah forgive my deceased,” as long as he did not pray. One does not supplicate for his forgiveness. Rather, one says, “May Allah make your consolation good, and may Allah console you for your loss,” and nothing more. One does not say, “And may Allah forgive my deceased,” because the deceased is a disbeliever.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 141/74 شرح زاد المستقنع/ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com (57:23)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.