Visiting the one who abandons prayer
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Visiting the one who abandons prayer
Question: What is the ruling on visiting the one who abandons prayer while he is ill, or attempting to treat him and striving in that, or following his funeral procession if he dies?
Answer: As for the matter of visiting him and striving for his treatment, if it is hoped that the visit will be a cause for his guidance and his call to repentance and turning back from what he is upon, then this is a good thing. You visit him, advise him, and call him to repentance, perhaps Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) will bestow it upon him, and you will be a cause for that. If he dies, his end will be sealed with good, and if Allah cures him of his illness, you will be a cause for his uprightness and his guidance for the rest of his life.
Likewise, striving for his treatment, if this leads to or it is hoped from it that it will affect his behavior, his repentance, and his turning back from what he is in, then this is a good thing.
As for following his funeral procession if he dies, and you know that he never prays, that he abandons prayer finally and intentionally, then it is not permissible for you to follow his funeral procession; because by that, he has died upon disbelief, and a disbeliever’s funeral procession is not followed by a Muslim, nor is prayer performed over him, nor is he buried in the graves of Muslims if it is established that he never prays, and that he abandoned prayer intentionally and died upon that, then he has died the death of a disbeliever, may Allah protect us from that, so it is not permissible to follow his funeral procession.
Question: What is the ruling on visiting the one who abandons prayer while he is ill, or attempting to treat him and striving in that, or following his funeral procession if he dies?
Answer: As for the matter of visiting him and striving for his treatment, if it is hoped that the visit will be a cause for his guidance and his call to repentance and turning back from what he is upon, then this is a good thing. You visit him, advise him, and call him to repentance, perhaps Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) will bestow it upon him, and you will be a cause for that. If he dies, his end will be sealed with good, and if Allah cures him of his illness, you will be a cause for his uprightness and his guidance for the rest of his life.
Likewise, striving for his treatment, if this leads to or it is hoped from it that it will affect his behavior, his repentance, and his turning back from what he is in, then this is a good thing.
As for following his funeral procession if he dies, and you know that he never prays, that he abandons prayer finally and intentionally, then it is not permissible for you to follow his funeral procession; because by that, he has died upon disbelief, and a disbeliever’s funeral procession is not followed by a Muslim, nor is prayer performed over him, nor is he buried in the graves of Muslims if it is established that he never prays, and that he abandoned prayer intentionally and died upon that, then he has died the death of a disbeliever, may Allah protect us from that, so it is not permissible to follow his funeral procession.