Celebrations commemorating some of the scholars

Praise be to Allaah. 

Among the innovated matters
that have appeared in some Muslim societies are celebrations to commemorate
some of the dead, especially the scholars. These celebrations take place
on the anniversary of the death of the person who is being commemorated,
and they may take place a year or more after his death. 

These celebrations vary from
one person to another. If he was one of the common people or one of
those who was thought to have knowledge even though he was ignorant,
on the fortieth day after his death, his family commemorate his death,
calling it “al-arba’een” (forty). They bring people together
in a special tent or in the house of the deceased, and they bring Qur’aan-readers
to recite Qur’aan, and they prepare a meal like a wedding feast, and
they adorn the place with lights and comfortable furnishings. They go
to great expense, and their purpose in doing this is to show off. No
doubt this is haraam, because it involves wasting the money of the deceased
for no legitimate purpose. It beings no benefit to the deceased himself
and results in loss for his family. This is the case if there is no
one among the heirs who is too young to be in charge of the money, so
what do you think if there is someone like that among them! They may
even finance that by means of a loan which involves riba (interest)
– we seek refuge with Allaah from His Wrath. (al-Ibdaa’, p. 228) 

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (may Allaah have mercy
on him) said:  “One of the things that the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) taught was to offer condolences
to the family of the bereaved, but it is not part of his teachings to
gather together to mourn and read Qur’aan for him (the deceased), whether
that is at the grave or elsewhere. All of that is bid’ah and
a reprehensible innovation.” (Zaad al-Ma’aad, 1/527) 

‘Ali Mahfooz (may Allaah
have mercy on him) said: “What people do nowadays of offering food to
the people who come to offer their condolences, and going to great expense
on the nights of mourning, and subsequent occasions such as Friday nights
and the forty-day anniversary of the death (al-arba’een), all
of that is reprehensible bid’ah which goes against the practice
of the Messenger of Allaah (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and the righteous salaf
after him.” (al-Ibdaa’, p. 230). 

This celebration or commemoration
is an innovation and a bid’ah, which was not narrated from the
Messenger (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) or from his companions (may Allaah be pleased
with them) or the righteous salaf (may Allaah have mercy on them).
The Sunnah in this case is to make food for the family of the deceased
and to send it to them, not for them to have to make food and invite
people to come and eat it. When news of the death of Ja’far ibn Abi
Taalib (may Allaah be pleased with him) came, the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, “Make food for the
family of Ja’far, because there has come to them that which will preoccupy
them.” (Narrated by Ahmad in his Musnad, 1/205. Also narrated
by Abu Dawood in his Sunan, 3/497, Kitaab al-Janaa’iz,
hadeeth no. 3132. Also narrated by al-Tirmidhi in his Sunan,
2/234, Abwaab al-Janaa’iz, hadeeth no. 1003; he said it is a
hasan hadeeth. Also narrated by Ibn Maajah in his Sunan, 1/514,
Kitaab al-Janaa’iz, hadeeth no 1610. Also narrated by al-Haakim
in al-Mustadrak, 1/372, Kitaab al-Janaa’iz; he said, it
is a hadeeth whose isnaad is saheeh although they (al-Bukhaari
and Muslim) did not narrate it, and al-Dhahabi agreed with him in his
Talkhees). 

Jareer ibn ‘Abd-Allaah al-Bajali
said: “We used to consider gathering with the family of the deceased
and making food to be a form of wailing.” (Narrated by Ibn Maajah in
his Sunan, 1/514, Kitaab al-Janaa’iz, hadeeth no. 1612.
Al-Busayri said in Zawaa’id Ibn Maajah (2/35): “This is a saheeh
isnaad; the men of the first isnaad are according to the
conditions of al-Bukhaari, and the men of the second isnaad are
according to the conditions of Muslim.”) 

But if the person whose death
is being commemorated was one of the scholars, on the anniversary of
his death, one or two years later, then they hold special celebrations.
A group of researchers agree to write about his life and character,
or his method of writing, and everything that has to do with him, then
they present that research on that day, and publish his books, or the
most important and most famous of them, and they are distributed in
the marketplaces to keep his memory alive, or so they say, and to make
known the efforts he made to spread and publish knowledge and so on.
 

If he was a king, ruler or
president, this occasion is celebrated and the most senior of those
who are present speak of his legacy and work in government, and some
books about him may be published on this occasion. Some people may go
to his grave and recite wird over it, or recite al-Faatihah
for his soul, All of that is bid’ah for which Allaah has not revealed
any authority. 

There is nothing inherently wrong with
publishing the books of a scholar, or writing his biography or writing
about his methodology, or printing his books. These things should be
done if he deserves that. But that should not be done specifically at
a certain time, or be accompanied by celebrations, festivals and speeches
etc. The same applies to kings and rulers. 

Celebrations held to commemorate
the death of scholars, rulers and some common folk are an innovation,
and that is sufficient to condemn them. 

There was no one who had more knowledge
than the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him), and there was no one whose way of calling others
to Islam was better. No one had a nobler status or a higher rank than
he did (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him), for he is the best of all creation. But despite
that the Sahaabah did not commemorate his death, even though no person
has ever been more dearly loved than the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was loved by the Sahaabah
(may Allaah be pleased with them) or the Taabi’een or the righteous
salaf (may Allaah have mercy on them). If there had been any good in
doing so, they would have done it before us. 

Respecting the scholars is
not done by holding celebrations in their memory; it is done by striving
to benefit from the things they have written, by publishing and reading
and commenting etc. 

This applies if they are
deserving of that, by virtue of their having lived according to the
way of the righteous salaf, and kept away from the way of the deviant
sects or the influence of the west, etc. 

The memory and narrations
of the scholars of the righteous salaf and those who came after them,
and the knowledge that they presented to the people, have been preserved.
The scholar may have died and departed from this world, but his knowledge
remains and is passed down by the people from one generation to the
next. 

Because of the benefit that
people gain from their knowledge, they pray for mercy for them and pray
that they may be rewarded. This is the greatest way in which their memory
can be kept alive. 

But organizing celebrations
in their memory, or seeking blessing by visiting the places where they
lived and taught, and their relics, or circumambulating their graves
– all of that is bid’ah, some of which may even reach the degree of
shirk. We seek refuge with Allaah from that. 

If these scholars, whose
memories are celebrated and from whom people seek blessing by visiting
the places where they lived and taught, were alive, they would denounce
these things that are being done. 

But some people have been
misled by their own whims and desires and by the Shaytaan, and by those
who advocate bid’ah for worldly purposes or to gain leadership over
the people. So they have slipped in the maze of bid’ah from which there
is no escape apart from returning to the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah
of His Messenger (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him), and adhering to them, and to that on which the
scholars of this ummah are agreed, and giving up all newly-invented
innovations which are evil in and of themselves and which lead to even
greater evils and disasters. 

We ask Allaah to guide us
and them to the Straight Path, the path of those with whom Allaah is
pleased, the Prophets, the Siddeeqeen, the martyrs and the righteous.
May He keep us far away from the path of those with whom He is angry
and those who have gone astray, for He is Able to do all things.