The Ruling on Offering Condolences to the Families of Sinners

Q: Sometimes a person dies, either by intentional suicide, or a drunkard who consumed an intoxicant containing a large amount of intoxication leading to death, or a person who was attacked to get rid of his evil. Is it permissible to console the mother of the deceased due to one of these causes, or others who are related to him, since I often hesitate whether to go or not?

A: There is no harm in offering condolences; rather, it is recommended, even if the deceased was a sinner by suicide or otherwise. It is also recommended for the family of one who was killed by retaliation (qisas) or a fixed punishment (hadd), such as a married adulterer, and likewise for one who drank an intoxicant until he died from it. There is no barrier to consoling his family regarding him, and no barrier to supplicating for him and others like him among the sinners for forgiveness and mercy. He is to be washed and prayed over, but the prominent Muslims, such as the ruler and the judge and the like, do not pray over him. Rather, some people pray over him as a means of deterring from his evil deed.
As for one who died after others attacked him, he is an oppressed person. He is to be prayed over and supplicated for if he was a Muslim. Likewise, one who died by retaliation—as mentioned above—is to be prayed over and supplicated for, and his family is to be consoled regarding him, if he was a Muslim and nothing occurred from him that necessitates his apostasy. And Allah is the possessor of success.