When a person dies and his family cries over him, does this crying torment the deceased in his grave? And what is your opinion on collecting the deceased's pictures and keeping them? Is this permissible?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : The questioner asks: When a person dies and his family cries over him, does this crying torment the deceased in his grave? And what is your opinion on collecting the deceased's pictures and keeping them? Is this permissible or not?
The Shaykh : These are two questions.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : The first question is about crying over the deceased. Crying over the deceased is divided into two categories.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : One category is due to nature, and a person cannot suppress it; the deceased is not tormented by this. The other category is artificial, where a person gives free rein to himself to continue crying; the deceased is tormented in his grave by this, because it is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)Sahih Muslim 927a But this torment is not a punishment; rather, it means pain and grief, because the word "torment" may be applied to this, as in the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) Sahih al-Bukhari 5429 And the second part?
The questioner : Regarding keeping the pictures of the deceased.
The Shaykh : As for keeping the pictures of the deceased, it is not permissible. Rather, it is obligatory to burn them as soon as he dies, because the soul's attachment to the deceased is stronger than its attachment to the living. It is feared that a man will go and look at the picture of the deceased to renew his grief and sorrow over him. Even if he is highly respected, he might hang his picture on the wall, and harm and corruption would result from that. Therefore, I see that as soon as the deceased dies, his pictures must all be burned and none should remain.
The questioner : May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh : These are two questions.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : The first question is about crying over the deceased. Crying over the deceased is divided into two categories.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : One category is due to nature, and a person cannot suppress it; the deceased is not tormented by this. The other category is artificial, where a person gives free rein to himself to continue crying; the deceased is tormented in his grave by this, because it is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)
The deceased is punished because of his family's weeping over the death
أن الميت يُعذّب ببكاء أهله عليهTraveling is a kind of torture
إن السفر قطعة من العذابThe questioner : Regarding keeping the pictures of the deceased.
The Shaykh : As for keeping the pictures of the deceased, it is not permissible. Rather, it is obligatory to burn them as soon as he dies, because the soul's attachment to the deceased is stronger than its attachment to the living. It is feared that a man will go and look at the picture of the deceased to renew his grief and sorrow over him. Even if he is highly respected, he might hang his picture on the wall, and harm and corruption would result from that. Therefore, I see that as soon as the deceased dies, his pictures must all be burned and none should remain.
The questioner : May Allah reward you.