Question:
If a child dies, can the funeral prayer be performed for him?
Answer:
Performing the funeral prayer for a stillborn or incomplete child is legally valid and permissible. It is mentioned in an authentic hadith:
«عن المغيرة بن شعبة، واحسب ان اهل زياد اخبروني، انه رفعه إلى النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم، قال:” الراكب يسير خلف الجنازة، والماشي يمشي خلفها، وامامها، وعن يمينها، وعن يسارها، قريبا منها، والسقط يصلى عليه، ويدعى لوالديه بالمغفرة والرحمة»
“Mughirah bin Shu’bah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: ‘The rider should walk behind the funeral, and those on foot should walk ahead, behind, to the right, to the left, and close to it. The funeral prayer should also be performed for an incomplete child, and mercy and forgiveness should be prayed for its parents.'”
Allama Albani (may Allah have mercy on him) stated:
“And it is also clear that by ‘incomplete’ is meant a child who has completed four months and in whom the soul has been breathed, then passes away. However, if it is aborted before that, the funeral prayer should not be performed for it, because it cannot be called a deceased.”
This is clarified by the mursal narration of Ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him):
«إن احدكم يجمع خلقه فى بطن امه اربعين يوما، ثم يكون فى ذلك علقة مثل ذلك، ثم يكون فى ذلك مضغة مثل ذلك، ثم يرسل الله الملك فينفخ فيه الروح»
“Indeed, your creation is in stages: for forty days it remains as a drop in the mother’s womb, then for an equal period as a clot, then for an equal period as a lump of flesh, then Allah sends an angel who breathes the soul into it.”
Therefore, if a child has completed four months and the soul has been breathed into it, and it is born incomplete, its funeral prayer can be performed. But if it is aborted before the soul is breathed in, its funeral prayer will not be performed because it cannot be called a deceased. Some scholars have added the condition that the child must be born alive, even if it only breathed once, and they present this narration as evidence:
«اذا استهل السقط صلى عليه و ورث»
“When a newborn child cries, its funeral prayer should be performed and it will also be an heir.” This narration is weak.
