Is it recommended to ask about the debt of the deceased before praying over him?

The questioner:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner asks: Is asking whether the deceased has a debt, either at the time of his death or before his burial, a recommended practice?

The Shaykh:
This is specific to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), specific to the Messenger, because his intercession is not rejected. If the deceased has a debt, that is a right belonging to a human being, and intercession does not apply to it until the owner of the debt forgives it. This is specific to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). He used to do this in the beginning, when times were tight. When Allah made things easy for him, he stopped asking whether he had a debt. If he had a debt, he paid it off from the public treasury, and if he did not have a debt, he prayed over him. He did not refrain from praying over him after that.

The questioner:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner asks: When the deceased are greeted.

The Shaykh:
That this is specific to the Messenger, because his prayer is an intercession for him (peace and blessings be upon him), and his intercession is not rejected, but it does not remove the right of the created being. Allah knows best. The view is that he refrains from it. As for you, you are not like the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). The Companions were not prevented from praying over him and over the one in debt. He said, "Pray over your companion," which indicates that someone other than the Messenger prays over the one in debt.