Praise be to Allaah.
The view that nothing of the sort was narrated at all is not
correct, and the view that it is Sunnah is also not correct.
There is no report that the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) used to stand at the graveside or in the graveyard
when the janaazah (body prepared for burial) was brought then exhort the
people and remind them as if he were delivering a khutbah on Friday. This is
what we have heard of people doing, but this is bid’ah and may lead in the
future to things that are more serious. It may lead to the speaker referring
of the deceased person who has been brought. For example, if the deceased
was an evildoer, the speaker may say, “Look at this man, yesterday he used
to play, yesterday he used to mock, yesterday he used to do such and such,
but now he is in his grave and being brought to account.” Or he may say
concerning a businessman: “Look at So and so, yesterday he was enjoying
palaces and cars and servants and so on, and now he is in his grave.”
We think that there should not be a preacher delivering a
khutbah at the graveside, because this is not Sunnah. The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not stand after burying the
deceased, or when waiting to bury the deceased, and address the people, and
we have not heard of anyone doing this among those who came before us, who
were closer to the Sunnah than us. Neither have we heard of this from the
khulafa’ who came before them. The people at the time of Abu Bakr, ‘Umar,
‘Uthmaan and ‘Ali did not do this, as far as we know, and the best of
guidance is the guidance of those who came before, if it is in accordance
with the truth. With regard to the exhortation that is like regular talk in
a gathering, there is nothing wrong with that, because it is narrated in
al-Sunan that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) went out to Baqee’ al-Gharqad (the graveyard of Madeenah) where some
people were burying one of their number who had died. The deceased had not
yet been placed in the lahd (niche in the side of the grave) and they were
still digging his grave. He sat down and his companions sat around him, and
he started telling them about what happens to a person when he is dying and
after he has been buried. He spoke to them in a quiet manner, not in the
manner of a khutbah.
It is also narrated in Saheeh al-Bukhaari and
elsewhere that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
said: “There is no one among you for whom his place in Paradise or in Hell
has not been decreed.” They said: “O Messenger of Allaah, shall we not rely
on that?” He said: “No; strive hard, for each person will be enabled to do
that for which he was created.”
The point is that the kind of exhortation where a man stands
and delivers a speech at the burial or afterwards is not Sunnah and is not
appropriate for the reasons I have mentioned. As for exhortation that does
not take the form of a khutbah or speech, such as when a man sits and his
companions sit with him, and he says a few words appropriate to the
occasion, this is good and is following the example of the Messenger of
Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him)
Liqaa’aat al-Baab il-Maftooh by Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 2/55-56.