Light on the Path-051b
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : This message reached us from the sender Salim Abd al-Latif. He says in it regarding following the funeral: I worked for two years in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and I was worshipping Allah until the day of my travel to Morocco. There, I asked the imam of the mosque and said to him, "Why do you not go with the funeral to the cemetery?" He answered me and said, "It is not permissible to go with the funeral because it is forbidden." This imam leads the congregation in the mosque and is not married. Is it permissible for him to lead the congregation or not? Please inform us, for I am in confusion. Thank you. His question contains two parts: the first is about following the funeral, and the second is about leading the prayer for one who is not married.
The Shaykh : Following the funeral is a recommended practice (sunnah) because it is a right of a Muslim over another Muslim, and it carries a great reward. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Sahih Muslim 945a And in another narration: .
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : A person should strive to follow funerals, even if that happens more than once or twice in a day, because the more he does it, the more reward he gains. For this reason, when Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) was informed of this hadith, he said: "We have indeed missed out on many small grains of sand", and then he began to follow funerals (may Allah be pleased with him).
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : As for the statement of the imam mentioned by the questioner that following the funeral is forbidden, I do not know what the reason for his saying this is, because I find it unlikely that any Muslim would be ignorant of the ruling on this matter.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : To the point where he thinks it is forbidden. I do not think anyone would think that.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Perhaps the imam sees that this deceased person is not a Muslim. It is well known that following the funeral of a non-Muslim is forbidden and not permissible.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So perhaps he sees it that way. But I say to this imam and others: if a funeral is presented and a person is in doubt about whether the deceased is a Muslim—whether from foreigners about whom we know nothing except that he is a Muslim, or from citizens among whom hypocrisy has become widespread and apostasy has become widespread, such as abandoning the prayer, for example—
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : then if a person is presented with a funeral in this state of doubt, there is a way for him to be saved from it. That is by making a condition. He says, when he steps forward to pray over the deceased and wants to make supplication for him: "O Allah, if he was a believer, then forgive him, have mercy on him, and grant him well-being," and so on.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : He makes an exception and sets a condition. Evidence for this is that making a condition in supplication is found in the Qur'an. In the verses of the mutual oath-swearing (li'an), the man says:[An-Nur 24:7] and the woman says: [An-Nur 24:9].
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So the supplication was made conditional, and so it is here. Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned about his teacher, the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, that he saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in a dream and asked him about several things, one of which was that deceased people whose status he did not know were presented to the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him in the dream: "Stick to the condition, O Ahmad". Ahmad is the name of the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah.
The questioner : Yes, yes.
The Shaykh : "Stick to the condition" means that he should make a condition when making supplication for him: "If he was a believer, then forgive him and have mercy on him." And by this, he is saved from the doubt or the sin if he prayed over him while he was not a Muslim.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So we have answered the first part, which is following the funerals.
The questioner : Yes, yes.
The Shaykh : And we have clarified that it is a recommended practice (sunnah) and that it carries a great reward. Yes.
The Shaykh : Following the funeral is a recommended practice (sunnah) because it is a right of a Muslim over another Muslim, and it carries a great reward. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
He who attends the funeral till the prayer is offered for (the dead), for him is the reward of one qirat, and he who attends (and stays) till he is buried, for him is the reward of two qirats. It was said: What are the qirats? He said: They are equivalent to two huge mountains.
من شهِد الجنازة حتى يصلى عليها فله قيراط ومن شهدها حتى تُدفن فله قيراطان قيل وما القيراطان يا رسول الله قال مثل الجبلين العظيمينThe smaller of them is like Mount Uhud.
أصغرهما مثل أحدThe questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : A person should strive to follow funerals, even if that happens more than once or twice in a day, because the more he does it, the more reward he gains. For this reason, when Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) was informed of this hadith, he said: "We have indeed missed out on many small grains of sand", and then he began to follow funerals (may Allah be pleased with him).
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : As for the statement of the imam mentioned by the questioner that following the funeral is forbidden, I do not know what the reason for his saying this is, because I find it unlikely that any Muslim would be ignorant of the ruling on this matter.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : To the point where he thinks it is forbidden. I do not think anyone would think that.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Perhaps the imam sees that this deceased person is not a Muslim. It is well known that following the funeral of a non-Muslim is forbidden and not permissible.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So perhaps he sees it that way. But I say to this imam and others: if a funeral is presented and a person is in doubt about whether the deceased is a Muslim—whether from foreigners about whom we know nothing except that he is a Muslim, or from citizens among whom hypocrisy has become widespread and apostasy has become widespread, such as abandoning the prayer, for example—
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : then if a person is presented with a funeral in this state of doubt, there is a way for him to be saved from it. That is by making a condition. He says, when he steps forward to pray over the deceased and wants to make supplication for him: "O Allah, if he was a believer, then forgive him, have mercy on him, and grant him well-being," and so on.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : He makes an exception and sets a condition. Evidence for this is that making a condition in supplication is found in the Qur'an. In the verses of the mutual oath-swearing (li'an), the man says:
that the curse of Allah be upon him if he should be among the liars.
وأن لعنة الله عليه إن كان من الكاذبينthat the wrath of Allah be upon her if he was of the truthful.
وأن غضب الله عليها إن كان من الصادقينThe questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So the supplication was made conditional, and so it is here. Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned about his teacher, the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, that he saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in a dream and asked him about several things, one of which was that deceased people whose status he did not know were presented to the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him in the dream: "Stick to the condition, O Ahmad". Ahmad is the name of the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah.
The questioner : Yes, yes.
The Shaykh : "Stick to the condition" means that he should make a condition when making supplication for him: "If he was a believer, then forgive him and have mercy on him." And by this, he is saved from the doubt or the sin if he prayed over him while he was not a Muslim.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So we have answered the first part, which is following the funerals.
The questioner : Yes, yes.
The Shaykh : And we have clarified that it is a recommended practice (sunnah) and that it carries a great reward. Yes.