With regard to the deceased, we hope for Allah’s mercy for the righteous, and we fear for the sinful. Our fear for the sinful entails that we supplicate to Allah for him, so long as his wrongdoing did not amount to disbelief.

If a person dies while known for sins that do not lead to disbelief, then we fear for him, but we pray that Allah forgive and pardon him, for he is in need of that.

He said: “We do not testify except for one for whom the Prophet ﷺ testified”—that is, to Paradise or to Hell. Testifying that someone is in Paradise or Hell is of two types:

The first type is testimony concerning a category: that is, we testify that every believer and every pious person is in Paradise, for Allah said: “Prepared for the righteous.” [Al ‘Imran 3:133] This is not specific to any particular individual; rather, it applies to the category as a whole. Likewise, we testify that every disbeliever is in Hell. Allah Most High said concerning Hell: “Prepared for the disbelievers.” [Al ‘Imran 3:131]

The second type is testimony concerning a specific individual: namely, to testify for a particular person. We do not testify except for one for whom the Prophet ﷺ testified, such as the ten given glad tidings of Paradise: Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthman, ‘Ali, and six gathered together in a verse:

Sa‘id, Sa‘d, Ibn ‘Awf, and Talhah;
‘Amir of Fihr, and the praised al-Zubayr.

Also included are Sa‘d ibn Mu‘adh, Thabit ibn Qays ibn Shammas, ‘Abdullah ibn Salam, Bilal, and other Companions, may Allah be pleased with them. We testify that they are in Paradise because the Prophet ﷺ testified for them.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, also included anyone upon whom the ummah, or the great majority of it, has agreed in praise.