tantawi died in jeddah (or was it riyadh?) not medina - his family thereafter requested he be buried in Baqi’ and the government complied.

“The heart in your body seeks the permission of your Lord to beat. When He grants the permission to beat, the heart beats. When He denies, your heart would stop to beat. When the denial would occur? When your heart would stop to beat? Nobody knows. Be ever ready to face your Lord” - Late Khurram Murad

good point, MashAllah!

This might sound tangential, but Abul hasan Ali Nadwi wrote a book called ‘Appreciation and Interpretation of Religion in the Modern Age’…it was a book of refutation- against certain public statements/thoughts made by a famous, highly thought of moulana. The word ‘moulana’ will probably bring upon a lot of eye rolling from many who box any indian person with a turban into a little ‘deobandi’ section… but the book itself was an important piece- and emphasises the huge trust and burden that an iman/moulana/leader has to bear and carry out so that Islam will be propogated in a manner understood by all, and never be misrepresented. And whilst we may praise our scholars for their Islamic pursuits and sacrifices, i think it is important to remember that we are human. We will make mistakes, but it is up to the rest of the thinking population-those enlightened individuals who can give advice without ego or condescension creeping in- to rectify us, so that Islam can continue unsullied by fear and criticism. If we simply shrug our shoulders and say- The man is deceased- and not alert the crowds who might be led astray- we put the respect of a flawed man above the respect of a perfect Islam. It is a different thing when a man’s deeds or words end when he dies. But a scholar must always be more cautious, for his words have the power to sway many. And by allowing others to be swayed by mistaken fatwas… is actually increasing the trials of the deceased. whew sorry for the long post!