Is it permissible to stipulate that the deceased was a Muslim when making du'a' for them?

Question:
This person says: There is a shaykh who says that if you want to pray over a deceased person, you must stipulate when making du'a' for them that if they were a Muslim, you make du'a' for them. Is this stipulation valid?

Answer:
The default is that the one brought before the Muslims, in the mosques, and in the lands of the Muslims, is a Muslim, and that you make du'a' for the Muslim: "O Allah, forgive him, O Allah, have mercy on him, O Allah, grant him well-being and pardon him," as long as you do not know anything to the contrary about him. However, if you know that he died upon other than Islam, if you know this and verify it, then do not pray over him. Allah the Exalted said to His Prophet: . So if you know and verify that this deceased person died upon other than Islam, do not pray over him. But as long as you do not know, the default for the Muslim in the lands of the Muslims, and for the deceased of the Muslims, is that they died upon the truth. This is one of the obsessions that a Muslim should not open up or engage with, and it is one of the forms of excessive strictness and severity from which we have been warned.