May anyone say that a deceased person is in hell?

No. No human being may say of another that they are in hell. God alone decides this, and He can forgive every sin.

Sometimes people say of someone who has died that he is now in hell. Some think this is what Islam teaches. It is not. The Holy Qur’an does warn against deeds that can lead a person to ruin. But it leaves the judgement of each individual entirely to God.

The first verse above says that Allah can forgive all sins. He is not bound by any list that we humans draw up. If He wishes to forgive, He forgives. Who, then, could tell Him whom to punish and whom to spare?

Besides, no one knows another person’s heart. We see only part of someone’s life. We do not know what they regretted, what good they did quietly, or what passed through them in their final moments. God knows. We do not.

Whoever still passes judgement on another’s eternal fate is in fact putting himself in God’s place. He behaves as if he had God’s knowledge and God’s power. That is far more serious than the fault he accuses the dead person of. For according to the Holy Qur’an, setting oneself up as equal to God is the gravest of all sins.

The right way is restraint. One may warn against evil deeds. But about the person himself one stays silent and leaves him to God’s mercy, just as the hadith above teaches.