Is it permissible to travel to pray over a funeral?
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The questioner : May Allah reward you, O Shaykh: If a scholar from among the scholars of the Muslims passes away, is it prescribed for anyone, or is it permissible for anyone, to travel to attend his burial or to pray over him?
The Shaykh : By Allah, I dislike this. I dislike anyone traveling just to pray over a person, because there is a difference between someone who dies in the town, where you go from your neighborhood to his and pray over him, and traveling. For this reason, traveling to visit graves is forbidden, while visiting graves within the town is a recommended practice. Also, if we were to open this door, people here in the Kingdom would compete and vie with one another to go pray over the deceased, because matters are facilitated for us, praise be to Allah, with cars, airplanes, and easy routes. People would compete and vie in this, even though the intended purpose is for the deceased to benefit from the prayer. The deceased can benefit from what? From supplication, anywhere. But suppose a person travels to ward off talk and gossip, meaning that if he did not attend, there would be talk about why this man did not attend? In that case, we might say: He did not travel in order to pray over the deceased, because he knows that any supplication benefits the deceased, but rather in order that the hypocrites not speak ill of people's reputations. If a person considers this, we might say, if Allah wills, there is nothing wrong with it. Yes.
The Shaykh : By Allah, I dislike this. I dislike anyone traveling just to pray over a person, because there is a difference between someone who dies in the town, where you go from your neighborhood to his and pray over him, and traveling. For this reason, traveling to visit graves is forbidden, while visiting graves within the town is a recommended practice. Also, if we were to open this door, people here in the Kingdom would compete and vie with one another to go pray over the deceased, because matters are facilitated for us, praise be to Allah, with cars, airplanes, and easy routes. People would compete and vie in this, even though the intended purpose is for the deceased to benefit from the prayer. The deceased can benefit from what? From supplication, anywhere. But suppose a person travels to ward off talk and gossip, meaning that if he did not attend, there would be talk about why this man did not attend? In that case, we might say: He did not travel in order to pray over the deceased, because he knows that any supplication benefits the deceased, but rather in order that the hypocrites not speak ill of people's reputations. If a person considers this, we might say, if Allah wills, there is nothing wrong with it. Yes.