The ruling on inheriting from a father who died in a state of shirk (associating partners with Allah) while being illiterate and ignorant
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
This questioner says that he emigrated from a village where ignorance and illiteracy are widespread, and he went to his homeland
The Shaykh:
Leave it. Ignorance and illiteracy are widespread there. Illiteracy, yes.
The questioner:
And he went to another country where there are scholars, so he learned tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and the Sunnah. Then, when he returned to his village to teach the people, he found that his father had passed away, and he had been a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah) with major shirk (associating partners with Allah), but he was illiterate and ignorant, and no one had alerted him. His question is: Is it permissible for him to inherit from him and to pray over his grave?
The Shaykh:
He is not treated with the treatment of disbelievers because he died in a state of kufr (disbelief) in appearance; he is treated with the treatment of disbelievers. As for the Hereafter, Allah knows best about his state. If it is that the call was not conveyed to him, then he is considered one of the people of the period of ignorance (al-fatra), one of the people of the period of ignorance to whom a Prophet will be sent on the Day of Resurrection to call them to Allah. If they respond, they will enter Paradise, and if they disobey, they will enter the Fire. He is considered one of the people of the period of ignorance if nothing was conveyed to him. Yes. But we treat him with the treatment of a disbeliever: he is not inherited from, he is not buried in the graves of Muslims, no du'a' (supplication) is made for him, and no istighfar (seeking forgiveness) is sought for him. Yes.
This questioner says that he emigrated from a village where ignorance and illiteracy are widespread, and he went to his homeland
The Shaykh:
Leave it. Ignorance and illiteracy are widespread there. Illiteracy, yes.
The questioner:
And he went to another country where there are scholars, so he learned tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and the Sunnah. Then, when he returned to his village to teach the people, he found that his father had passed away, and he had been a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah) with major shirk (associating partners with Allah), but he was illiterate and ignorant, and no one had alerted him. His question is: Is it permissible for him to inherit from him and to pray over his grave?
The Shaykh:
He is not treated with the treatment of disbelievers because he died in a state of kufr (disbelief) in appearance; he is treated with the treatment of disbelievers. As for the Hereafter, Allah knows best about his state. If it is that the call was not conveyed to him, then he is considered one of the people of the period of ignorance (al-fatra), one of the people of the period of ignorance to whom a Prophet will be sent on the Day of Resurrection to call them to Allah. If they respond, they will enter Paradise, and if they disobey, they will enter the Fire. He is considered one of the people of the period of ignorance if nothing was conveyed to him. Yes. But we treat him with the treatment of a disbeliever: he is not inherited from, he is not buried in the graves of Muslims, no du'a' (supplication) is made for him, and no istighfar (seeking forgiveness) is sought for him. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، هل يرث الابن أبيه إذا كان الأب مشركا؟ وهل يصلي على قبره؟ لمعالي الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.