After Wael Al-Ibrashi’s tweet spread… What happens to our accounts after death, and what is the ruling on using them by heirs?

Monday 23/October/2023 – 12:59 PM

Wael Al-Ibrashy’s tweet after his death spread across the X-Twitter platform previously with lightning speed on the platform, and citizens also shared it on social media sites and searched for Wael Al-Ibrashy’s tweet through Internet engines.

Citizens were surprised by a tweet by the late journalist Wael Al-Ibrashi Through his verified page on the A person’s accounts after his death, and what is the ruling on using them by the heirs.

Cairo 24 is keen to provide the latest news, services and information of interest to followers, in the following lines we will present to you the conditions or what the heirs must do regarding the account of the deceased, as well as the ruling on disposing of social media accounts after the death of their owners.

After Wael Al-Ibrashi’s tweet spread… What happens to our accounts after death?

All popular social media platforms, such as Facebook, A verified person who is a first-degree relative of the deceased in order for the account to be disabled. The X platform has set steps to disable the deceased’s account by his heirs, which are as follows:

• A request to remove a deceased user’s account is submitted via the following link: HereFor the X platform, through one of his first-degree relatives.
• The applicant then waits for an email from the X platform that includes the required instructions and information about the deceased, such as the identity card and a copy of the certificate of loyalty.
• The X platform noted that this step is important to prevent fake reports, and that the information about the deceased is completely confidential and will be removed after review.
• Finally, the platform stated that it does not allow anyone to enter the account regardless of their relationship to the deceased person.

Ruling on using social media accounts after the death of their owners

The Jordanian Fatwa House received a question regarding the ruling on using social media accounts after the death of their owners, and the Jordanian Fatwa House responded as follows:

The impermissibility of impersonating others is an established legal, ethical, and legal principle. It is not permissible to impersonate the deceased, or speak on his behalf, because every speech or action that occurs in reality is attributed to the person who said it or did it, and this principle is one of the principles of obligation. God Almighty says: { That no female bearer of faith should bear the burden of another, and that man will not have anything except what he strives for, and that his striving will be seen.} [النجم: 38-40]And God Almighty says: {Every soul is a hostage for what it has earned} [المدثر: 38].

What is worth taking into consideration in this issue is the site’s policy followed upon the death of the account holder. If it allows the management of the account to be transferred to others, then there is nothing wrong with that according to Sharia, provided that it is not in a way that includes impersonating the identity of the deceased, and that one of the heirs does not monopolize the management of the account, especially if his management It harms others, provided that all legal provisions are adhered to in managing the account, taking into account public morals and ethics, and announcing the death of the original account holder and that management of the account has been transferred to someone else.

However, if the site’s policy does not allow the transfer of account management, then that resolves the matter, as it is not permissible to defraud to keep the account after the death of its owner.

Fatwa: It is permissible for the heirs to manage the commercial accounts

In these provisions, a distinction should be made between personal accounts on the one hand, and commercial accounts that are valuable or have copyrights or innovations and generate financial income or are capable of financial benefit from their content. The latter constitute a legal inheritance that passes to the heirs according to the legal shares, because the trade name is a protected right. Legally, it has a material value in contemporary jurisprudence. The Islamic Fiqh Academy issued Resolution No. 43 (5/5) regarding moral rights, which stated: “First: The trade name, trade title, trademark, authorship, invention or innovation are private rights. For their owners, in contemporary custom, they have a significant financial value so that people can finance them, and these rights are respected according to Sharia law, so it is not permissible to violate them.

Accordingly; A person has his own legal personality during his life and after his death, and this is a principle established by Sharia and law, and adherence to it is a moral obligation that stems from the person’s responsibility towards others. The basic principle is that no one should dispose of the account of the deceased on social networking sites and elsewhere, and it is not permissible to violate this principle except in Specific and controlled circumstances that do not violate the established principle, provided that this does not cause harm to others. God only knows.

It should be noted that the journalist Wael Al-Ibrashi passed away from our world on January 9, 2022, at the age of 58. Since his death, the Wael Al-Ibrashi account has been managed on the X platform to publish news follow-ups on local and international events, and to publish videos about the late journalist Wael Al-Ibrashi.