Crying for departing with righteous person Fatwa No: 341113
- Fatwa Date:19-2-2017
Assalaamu alaykum. I live abroad. In the country in which I live, a Muslim preacher visits from my own country. I used to go to his lectures with my husband. He was a very good speaker me, and my husband likes his speeches very much. My question is: of the last day of his speeches, he was giving a lecture in the masjid; by the time the speech finished, my eyes were full of tears. Is this ok? It happened naturally. I was wondering why I had to cry because an unrelated person was leaving this country. Is it normal? Please answer my question. May Allaah reward you.
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
It seems that you cried because you would miss the lectures of this preacher when he leaves. If this is the case, then your crying is praised and it proves that you have a pious heart that loves goodness. Anas reported:
"After the death of the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, Abu Bakr said to ‘Umar 'Let us visit Umm Ayman like the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, used to visit her.' When we arrived at her house, she wept. They (Abu Bakr and ‘Umar) asked her, 'What makes you weep? Do you not know that what Allah has in store for His Messenger, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is better (than this worldly life)?’ She said, 'I am not weeping because I do not know that what Allah has in store for His Messenger, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is better, but I weep because the Revelation from heaven has ceased.' This reply moved them both to tears, and they began to weep along with her." [Muslim]
An-Nawawi said, "It is deduced from this hadeeth that it is allowed to cry for the death of the righteous and the friends, even if it is known that they are in a better place and a better state (than they were in the worldly life)."
Allah knows best.