If you pray over a funeral and wish to follow it to the burial, do you have the right to ask whether this deceased person died upon Islam or not?

The questioner : May Allah bless you. Regarding the issue, as long as there is discussion about funerals and matters related to funerals, if you are, for example, near a funeral or you prayed in the mosque and there was a funeral, and you wish to follow this funeral, to follow it and take the reward, if Allah wills, do you have a legal right to ask whether this deceased person died upon Islam, died upon shirk (associating partners with Allah), or died upon other than the religion of Islam?

The Shaykh: No.

The questioner : Or do you follow him based on the apparent?

The Shaykh : The apparent, yes.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : But the question, or the answer to the question, completes this answer, which is the principle. However, many principles and rules may arise that take another path through the door of restriction or specification. So I am depicting a picture for you now: A person named Zayd saw a funeral coming out of the mosque or entering the mosque, so he wants to pray over it or accompany it. He has no prior knowledge about this deceased person, and the knowledge he has about him may prevent him from praying over him. So in such a picture, he may have the right to ask someone he thinks knows this deceased person, for example, was his condition good? Did he repent? Did he return? Did he go back? To the end of it. Such a picture, and there may be other pictures for it, where it can be said that he asks. But as for the rule, he does not ask, because rulings proceed based on the apparent, as we have mentioned more than once. Is this clear?

The questioner : May Allah bless you.

The Shaykh : May Allah bless you.