The Ruling on Instructing the Deceased to Say the Two Testimonies

Question:
Following this, there is a letter signed by a group of Muslim sisters. In their letter, they say: We are Muslim sisters who follow the program and are pleased with it. Our sisters have a number of questions. May Your Eminence, the Shaykh, please be kind and address one of their questions. They ask: Is it a condition to instruct the deceased to say the two testimonies? And if no one is present with the deceased, does he utter the testimonies? Because we have heard that the deceased may be distracted from them?
Direct us regarding this matter. May Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
You are to be thanked for your care of this program and for recognizing its value. There is no doubt that it is a very useful and great program. I advise all my brothers and sisters in Allah to take care of this program, to listen to it, and to benefit from it, for it is truly a useful program, and it is run by a group of the best of the scholars of knowledge. So I advise all my brothers and sisters in Allah to listen to this program and benefit from it.
As for what concerns instructing the deceased, it is a recommended practice; because he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So it is recommended to instruct the deceased by saying to him: "Remember Allah," or the one sitting with him says: "There is no god but Allah," so that the sick person may be inspired by it and say the same. And if he dies and is not instructed, there is no harm, as long as he died upon the oneness of Allah. Praise be to Allah, that does not harm him if he died upon the oneness of Allah. Even if no one instructed him, or if he did not say anything at the time of death, he is upon his oneness of Allah and upon the belief with which he died, and great good is hoped for him.
But if he says: "There is no god but Allah," or "I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah," at the time of death, this is a glad tidings of good, and there is great virtue in this. In the hadith, he (peace and blessings be upon him) says: meaning: with faith and righteousness.
As for if he says: "There is no god but Allah," while he is persisting in sins, then this is under the will of Allah and is in danger. If Allah wills, He will forgive him, and if He wills, He will punish him for the sins with which he died, having not repented. This is due to the saying of Allah the Exalted in His great Book in Surat al-Nisa: [Al-Nisa: 48] So He made what is less than associating partners with Allah dependent on His will. He said: meaning: less than associating partners with Allah . This indicates that the one who dies upon sins, such as unlawful sexual intercourse, or theft, or intoxicants, or undutifulness to his parents or one of them, his ruling is that his ruling is suspended by the will of Allah. If Allah the Exalted wills, He will forgive him and pardon him, and if He wills, He will punish him according to the magnitude of the sins with which he died, if he did not repent before death. Yes.

The presenter: May Allah reward you with good, and may He do you good.