How the one who joins the funeral prayer late should act.

The questioner : How should the one who joins the funeral prayer late act?

The Shaykh : I mean, does he follow the imam, or does he start from the beginning? What do you say about this issue?
The student: He starts from the beginning.

The Shaykh : He starts from the beginning; there is no harm in that. It has a basis for the sake of order, and for the sake of preserving the recitation of al-Fatihah, because there is no prayer for one who does not recite it. However, this is countered by the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): . The apparent meaning of this is that I am to follow the imam. One might distinguish this by saying that this applies when the actions of the follower contradict the actions of the imam, as in the prayer with bowing and prostration. But in the funeral prayer, there is no contradiction, so even if the late-joining follower starts from the beginning of the prayer, there is no conflict. I am hesitant about this because, on one hand, we say that it is necessary to recite al-Fatihah, so we would start by reciting al-Fatihah. On the other hand, the most important thing intended in the prayer for the deceased is supplication for the deceased. If he starts by reciting al-Fatihah and that happens to be the imam’s last takbir, the supplication for the deceased is missed. So I am hesitant about this. But if a person could say: I combine the recitation with the supplication for the deceased; I recite al-Fatihah, I pray upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and I supplicate for the deceased, even in the last takbir, meaning the one considered the third, if someone said this, it would not be far-fetched, because specifying a particular action for each takbir is not a condition.