Islam permits such expressions of joy or relief.
Abu Qatada bin Rib’i reported the Messenger (saw) said: "(The death of) a wicked person relieves the people, the land, the trees, and the animals from him." (Muslim; Bukhari 6512)
Similar incidents have been narrated from the companions’ lives.
Sa’id Ibn Mansur reported in his Sunan that Abu Bakr (ra) prostrated out of joy and thankfulness when he heard the news that Musaylimah the Liar had been killed.
Ali (ra) prostrated when he found out that Dhu’l Thadiyah, one of the prominent figures among the Khawarij, had been killed. (Ahmed)
One of the teachers of Imam Abu Hanifah, Hammad ibn Sulayman, is reported to have said:
I delivered the good news to Ibrahim Al-Nakha’i (the well known scholar and tabi’i who met many companions of the Prophet (saw) including Anas ibn Malik and A’ishah) surrounding the death of al Hajjaj ibn Yusuf (the Umayyad general who killed Abdullah bin Zubair), who then prostrated in thanks to Allah, weeping out of joy.” (Dhahabi, Siyar a’lam al Nubalaa (The Lives of Noble People) 4/542; Ibn Sa’d, Tabaqat 6/280)
Ibn Kathir comments about one of the head innovators after his death:
Allah relieved the Muslims from him, in this year during the month of Dhul Hijjah. He was buried in his own home, then transferred to the burial ground of Quraish, so to Allah belongs praise. When he died, all of Ahl al-Sunnah rejoiced, every single one of them showed their gratitude to Allah. (Al Bidayah wa al-Nihaya)
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