Prohibition of Mentioning the Virtues of the Deceased on the Pulpit
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
One of the young men from among the people of good passed away. He was well-known throughout the town, and the people of the town loved him greatly. So, one of the brothers, in the Friday sermon, delivered a sermon about death, and in the second part of the sermon, he mentioned our deceased brother by name and some of his characteristics. Is this matter prescribed? This happened five days after the person’s death. Is it a prescribed matter or a prohibited one?
This is not prescribed, and it opens the door to evil; because people will stand up to praise every person they wish to praise. Then, if a person dies who deserves praise in the eyes of some people but was not praised, there will be talk about it. So, I see that this is an exercise of independent legal reasoning in an inappropriate place, and that the one who loves the person should ask Allah for forgiveness for him after his death without announcing it on the pulpits. Thus, there are two things to be wary of:Rather, there are things to be wary of: The first is that this is not the practice of the Salaf (the earliest generations). We have not heard that anyone, when a man who is praised for his good deeds dies, stands on the pulpit and praises him.
Second: That it opens the door to evil.The door to evil: It is that every preacher who loves a person stands up and preaches about him.And he says: This is deserving of being praised on the pulpits.
Third: That if a person who is worthy of praise dies and the one on the pulpit does not speak about him, there will be back-and-forth discussion: “Why did you preach about so-and-so on the pulpit yesterday, but you do not preach about this one?” This would result in harm.
The questioner: I saw a consensus among the people of the town regarding their love for him and their praise of him.
The Shaykh: They pray for him, but as for announcing it on the pulpits, as long as the Salaf (the earliest generations) had people who died whom they undoubtedly loved, and they did not do this on the pulpits.
This is not prescribed, and it opens the door to evil; because people will stand up to praise every person they wish to praise. Then, if a person dies who deserves praise in the eyes of some people but was not praised, there will be talk about it. So, I see that this is an exercise of independent legal reasoning in an inappropriate place, and that the one who loves the person should ask Allah for forgiveness for him after his death without announcing it on the pulpits. Thus, there are two things to be wary of:Rather, there are things to be wary of: The first is that this is not the practice of the Salaf (the earliest generations). We have not heard that anyone, when a man who is praised for his good deeds dies, stands on the pulpit and praises him.
Second: That it opens the door to evil.The door to evil: It is that every preacher who loves a person stands up and preaches about him.And he says: This is deserving of being praised on the pulpits.
Third: That if a person who is worthy of praise dies and the one on the pulpit does not speak about him, there will be back-and-forth discussion: “Why did you preach about so-and-so on the pulpit yesterday, but you do not preach about this one?” This would result in harm.
The questioner: I saw a consensus among the people of the town regarding their love for him and their praise of him.
The Shaykh: They pray for him, but as for announcing it on the pulpits, as long as the Salaf (the earliest generations) had people who died whom they undoubtedly loved, and they did not do this on the pulpits.