Sharai matter on Offering Funeral absentia (Salat al Ghaiab)

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ. الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَالْعَاقِبَةُ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ وَصَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ خَاتَمِ النَّبِيِّينَ وَعَلَى جَمِيعِ الأَنْبِيَاءِ وَالْمُرْسَلِينَ.

All Praise is due to Allah, we praise Him and we seek help from Him. We ask forgiveness from Him. We repent to Him; and we seek refuge in Him from our own evils and our own bad deeds. Anyone who is guided by Allah, he is indeed guided; and anyone who has been left astray, will find no one to guide him. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, the Only One without any partner; and I bear witness that Muhammad, peace and blessings on him, is His servant, and His messenger.

Brothers & Sisters Funeral Prayer is a communal obligation (fard kafaayah). Offering Funeral prayer in absentia is a matter of dispute, considering the Saheeh hadith we have adopted the most authentic opinion on this as agreed by Majority of scholars. So, we have set the rules, and it required to tick all the boxes for absentia funeral prayer at Irlam Mosque.

Funeral prayer in absentia can be prayed if following conditions applied and the soundest views on this matter are following:

1. That the funeral prayer should not offered in absentia except for one for whom it has not been offered.
2. The funeral prayer should not be offered in absentia except if a person dies in a land where there is no one to offer the prayer for him.

For strong evidence, Abu Dawood used a heading in al-Sunan that referred to this meaning when he said: “Chapter on offering the funeral prayer for a Muslim living among the Kuffar & mushrikeen in another land.

3. That the funeral prayer may be offered in absentia for one who has benefited the Muslims, such as a scholar from whose knowledge the people benefited, or a businessman from whose wealth the people benefited, or a Mujahid from whose jihad the people benefited, and so on. Another matter of decision to make about the Such Individuals is totally depends upon Local Mosque authority and Opinion of Majority of scholars.
4. If Muslims may die in groups and there is no one to pray for them, as happens nowadays, and there is certainty that no one has offered the funeral prayer for them, then pray for them but remember even one family member have offered the funeral prayer then it is not permissible to offer in absentia.
5. Funeral Prayer must be offered and lead by the Family Member.
6. Must be organized and announced for gathering crowd for deceased intercession & forgiveness.

Abdullah ibn Abbas reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ , said, “A Muslim man does not die while forty men pray over him, who do not associate any partners with Allah, but that Allah will accept their intercession for him.” Muslim 948

Hadeeth indicates that it is prescribed to offer the funeral prayer in absentia, It is proven in Bukhari & Muslim that the Prophet ﷺ came out to his companions the day the Negus, the king of Abyssinia (may Allah have mercy on him), died; told them the news of his death and he lined them up in rows and offered the funeral prayer.

But some of the scholars, such as the Hanafis and Maalikis said that this applied only to the Messenger (ﷺ), and it is not prescribed for anyone else to offer the funeral prayer in absentia.

The scholars who say that it is prescribed to offer the funeral prayer in absentia differed as to whether this should be done in all cases or not. All of them quoted the fact that the Prophet (ﷺ) offered the funeral prayer for the Negus in absentia as evidence.

The Shaafa’is and Hanbalis are of the view that it is prescribed to offer the funeral prayer in absentia for everyone who dies away from his hometown, even if the funeral prayer is offered for him in the place where he dies.

But Al-Shaafa’i imposed a valid restriction on offering the funeral prayer in absentia, which is that the one who offers the funeral prayer for the deceased should be one of those who would have offered the prayer for him the day he died.

The second view of Imam Ahmed, Shaykh al Sadi and favoured by fatwa issued by standing committee as mentioned above is that it is prescribed to offer the funeral prayer in absentia if the deceased had benefited the Muslims in some way, such as a scholar, a mujaahid or a rich man from whose wealth the people benefited, and so on.

The third view narrated from Imam Ahmed, Ibne Taymiya and his student Ibn al Qayyim is that it is prescribed to offer the funeral prayer in absentia so long as the funeral prayer has not been offered for the deceased in the place where he died. If the funeral prayer has been offered for him, then it is not prescribed to offer the funeral prayer for him in absentia.

There follow some comments of the scholars on this issue: 

Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said in al-Majmoo’ (5/211): Our view is that it is permissible to offer the funeral prayer for one died away from his hometown.

Shaykh Abdul Azeez ibn Baaz view if the deceased was of a special status, like a righteous leader or scholar, or someone similar, then there is no harm in praying Salaat Al-Ghaa’ib (Janaazah Prayer in absentia) for him. We should not pray Salaat al-Ghaa’ib over everyday people, since a large number of people (Companions) died in Makkah and elsewhere, while the Prophet (may Allaah raise his rank and grant him and his family peace) did not perform Salaat al-Ghaa’ib for them.

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said: But some of the scholars imposed a valid restriction and said: so long as the one who has been buried died at a time when the one who is praying for him was qualified to pray.

So, it is not prescribed for us to offer the funeral prayer over the grave of the Prophet ﷺ. We have never known any of the scholars saying that it is prescribed for a person to offer the funeral prayer at the grave of the Prophet (ﷺ) or at the graves of the Sahaabah, rather what is prescribed is to stand and say du’aa’ for them.

The scholars differed concerning offering the funeral prayer in absentia. Abu Haneefah and Maalik and their followers were of the view that it is not prescribed, and they responded to the story of the Negus and the prayer that was offered for him by noting that this was something that applied only to the Prophet (ﷺ).

Al-Shaafa’i and Ahmad and their followers are of the view that it is prescribed, and they quote two saheeh hadeeths as evidence. Whether or not a thing applies only to the Prophet (ﷺ) requires evidence, and there is no evidence in this case. Shaykh al-Islam adopted a middle path and said: If the funeral prayer has not been offered for the absent one, as in the case of the Negus, then it may be offered, but if the funeral prayer has been offered for him, then the communal obligation (fard kafaayah) no longer applies to the Muslims.

This view was also mentioned in a saheeh narration from Imam Ahmad, which was classed as saheeh by Ibn al-Qayyim in al-Hadiy, because some of the Companions died at the time of the Prophet (ﷺ) when they were away from him, and there is no proof that he offered the funeral prayer for any of them in absentia.

Shaykh al-Islam narrated that Imam Ahmad said: If a righteous man dies, then the funeral prayer may be offered for him, and he quoted as evidence the story of the Negus. This view was favoured by our shaykh ‘Abd al-Rahmaan al-Sa’di (may Allah have mercy on him), and this is what is done in Najd, where they offer the funeral prayer for any virtuous person who benefited the Muslims, and they leave anybody else. The prayer in this case is mustahabb.

Al-Khattaabi said:  The funeral prayer should not be offered in absentia except if a person dies in a land where there is no one to offer the prayer for him. Al-Rooyaani, a Shaafa’i scholar, favoured this view, and Abu Dawood used a heading in al-Sunan that referred to this meaning when he said: “Chapter on offering the funeral prayer for a Muslim living among the mushrikeen in another land.”

Al-Haafiz said: This is possibly correct. Fath al-Baari. 

The Standing Committee (8/418) was asked: Is it permissible for us to offer the funeral prayer for the deceased in absentia as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did for his beloved the Negus, or did that apply only to him?

They replied:  It is permissible to offer the funeral prayer in absentia because the Prophet did that, and this does not apply only to him, because his companions (may Allah be pleased with them) also prayed for the Negus with him, and because the basic principle is that things do not apply only to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), but that should be done only for those who made a contribution to Islam, not for everyone.

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: He replied: If you are certain that no one has offered the funeral prayer for them, then pray for them, because the funeral prayer is a communal obligation, but probably his family have offered the funeral prayer for him, because the funeral prayer may be offered by one person. Whatever the case, if you are certain that nobody has offered the funeral prayer for him, then you have to offer the prayer for him, because it is a communal obligation which must be discharged. From Majmoo’ Fataawa al-Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (17/149).

O Allah, we seek refuge in You from a heart that does not humble itself, from a supplication that is not heard from a soul that is not satisfied, and from knowledge that does not benefit. Indeed, Allah is All Hearing, Answering.

And Allah knows best.

By Imam Sheikh Syed Mahboob Rasool