Reconciling: {And no bearer of burdens shall bear the burden of another} and “The deceased is punished by the weeping of his family”

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Question:
From Anbar, Iraq, this is a letter sent by our brother Abu Bakr al-Hayti—apparently. Our brother says in his letter: There is a hadith in the book of al-Bukhari, narrated from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him):

The deceased is punished because of his family's weeping over the death

أن الميت يعذب ببكاء أهله عليه

Sahih Muslim 927a

And another hadith from our lady Aisha, the Mother of the Believers (may Allah be pleased with her), in which she rejects this statement and says: “The Qur'an is sufficient for you:

and no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another

وَلا تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ أُخْرَى

[Al-An'am: 164].” So what is your answer, may Allah reward you, regarding this issue? Is the deceased punished by the weeping of his family over him? Or is it

there is not for man except that [good] for which he strives

لَيْسَ لِلإِنسَانِ إِلَّا مَا سَعَى

[Al-Najm: 39]

and no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another

وَلا تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ أُخْرَى

[Al-An'am: 164]?

Answer:
There is no contradiction between the hadiths, nor between the verse mentioned by Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her)

and no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another

وَلا تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ أُخْرَى

[Al-An'am: 164]. It is established from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in the hadith of Ibn Umar, the hadith of al-Mughirah, and others, in the two Sahihs—not in al-Bukhari alone, but in both Sahihs, al-Bukhari and Muslim, and in others—that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

That the deceased is punished by the wailing over him

إن الميت يعذب بما يناح عليه

And in the other narration:

by the weeping of his family over him

ببكاء أهله عليه

The meaning of weeping here is wailing, which is raising the voice.
As for weeping that is the shedding of tears from the eyes, this does no harm. What causes harm is wailing, which is raising the voice. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) intended by this to prevent people from wailing over their dead, and to bear with patience and refrain from wailing. There is no harm in the shedding of tears from the eyes, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said when his son Ibrahim died:

The eye weeps and the heart grieves, but we say only what our Lord is pleased with, and we are grieved over being separated from you, Ibrahim.

العين تدمع والقلب ليحزن ولا نقول إلا ما يرضي الرب وإنا بفراقك يا إبراهيم لمحزونون

Mishkat al-Masabih 1722

.
So the deceased is punished by the wailing of his family over him. As for the manner of the punishment, Allah knows best the manner of the punishment that befalls him due to this wailing. This is an exception to the saying of the Exalted:

and no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another

وَلا تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ أُخْرَى

[Al-An'am: 164]. The Qur'an and the Sunnah do not contradict each other; rather, one confirms the other and explains the other. The verses are general, and the hadith is specific. The Sunnah specifies the Qur'an and clarifies its meaning. Thus, the punishment of the deceased by the wailing of his family over him is an exception to the noble verse, and there is no contradiction between it and the hadiths. As for the statement of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), this was from her ijtihad (independent legal reasoning), her eagerness for good, and her understanding. What the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said takes precedence over her statement and her opinion.

Source binbaz.org.sa

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

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