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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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What is the ruling on giving advice at the grave and in wedding and condolence halls?

Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : I say, O Shaykh, regarding the ruling on giving advice, advice at the grave.

The Shaykh : Yes

The questioner : And in wedding halls, and in gatherings?

The Shaykh : Yes, giving advice at the grave is a recommended practice (sunnah) according to what came in the Sunnah. However, giving advice does not mean that a person stands up to preach to the people, because that did not come from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), especially if it is made a regular habit, where every time he goes out with a funeral procession, he stands up and preaches to the people.
But giving advice at the grave, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did while standing at the grave of one of his daughters, he said:
There is none of you but has his place written for him in Paradise or in the Hell- Fire. مَا منكم من أحد إلا وقد كُتِب مقعدُه من الجنة والنار
Sahih al-Bukhari 4945
words like the usual, like the words of one who is standing, or he came once when they were in al-Baqi', and when the digging of the grave was not yet finished, he sat down and the people sat around him, and he began to tap the ground with a stick he had with him, then he mentioned the state of a person when he is on his deathbed, and when he is buried, and he spoke words that were advice. This is permissible.
As for standing up as a preacher, that did not come from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
And as for weddings, likewise, it did not come from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he would stand up as a preacher to preach to the people, nor from the Companions as far as we know. Rather, when it was mentioned to him that a woman from the Ansar was being taken to her husband, he said:
Why did you not send with her someone who sings, for the Ansar are a people who like amusement? هلاَّ بعثتم معها مَن يغني، فإن الأنصار قوم يعجبهم اللهو
This indicates that for every occasion there is a suitable speech, and because if a person stands up as a preacher at weddings, he may burden the people. Not everyone accepts it. Some people may not have seen their relatives or friends except on this occasion, so they want to talk to them, ask them questions, and feel at ease with them. If this advice comes when the people are ready to talk to one another, it becomes a burden on them.
And I like the advice to not be burdensome for the people, because if it burdens them, they will dislike it, and they will dislike the preacher.
Therefore, I say: if someone in a wedding gathering asks this man to speak, then at that time he may speak, especially if the man is one whose words the people receive with acceptance.
Likewise, if he sees a wrong, he may stand up and speak about this wrong and warn against it, and say: either you leave it, or we leave.
So for every occasion there is a suitable speech, and I like the people to receive their religion with openness and acceptance. And if we estimate that
10 %10 %
want the advice, and that
90 %90 %
do not want it, whom do we prioritize? We prioritize the ninety percent, so that we do not burden the people. Yes, until your turn comes to you.

The questioner : To me.

The Shaykh : All right, please go ahead.
Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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