the deceased is a child, and whether that be before the burial or after it, while encouraging the bereaved to remain patient by promising him reward and by supplicating for both the deceased and the afflicted. Ibn Mājah (1601) records on the authority of ʿAmr b. Ḥazm that the Prophet ﷺ said, “No believer consoles his brother in a calamity without Allah clothing him, on the Day of Resurrection, in garments of honor.”

The Shaykh said: One may say to the bereaved, “May Allah magnify your reward, grant you a worthy consolation, and forgive your deceased.” No wording is mandatory; rather, a person should invoke whatever will be of benefit.

Al-Muwaffaq remarked: “I know of no fixed formula for offering condolences.”

Second: Pronouncing the istirjāʿ—“Indeed, we belong to Allah and to Him we shall return”—when struck by misfortune is a Sunnah by consensus, as Allah the Exalted says: “And give glad tidings to the patient: those who, when calamity strikes them, say, ‘Indeed, we belong to Allah and indeed to Him we will return.’ Upon such people rest blessings from their Lord and mercy, and it is they who are rightly guided” (Q 2:155–157).

Ibn Kathīr comments: “By uttering these words they console themselves for what has befallen them, recognize that they are Allah’s possession and that He disposes of them as He wills, and know that not even an atom’s weight will be lost with Him on the Day of Judgment. Their acknowledgment that they are His servants who will return to Him in the Hereafter produces this state within them.”

Third: Ibn ʿAqīl and others report a consensus that it is forbidden to be pleased with a sinful act, whether committed by oneself or by another, for one is obliged to remove the sin to the extent possible, and being content with it is even more blameworthy.

Fourth: Ibn ʿAqīl also stated that wailing, enumerating the deceased’s virtues, and displaying excessive anguish are prohibited, for such behavior resembles lodging a complaint against an oppressor, whereas Allah—exalted is He—is perfectly just and free to dispose of His creation as He wills; they are His dominion, and His dealings with them proceed according to His wisdom.