Funeral Prayer of the Prophet ﷺ
Source: Fatawa Ameen Puri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Ameen Puri
Question:
What is said regarding the funeral prayer of the Prophet ﷺ?
Answer:
The funeral prayer of the Prophet ﷺ was performed, but no one led the congregation. Instead, the Companions prayed individually (فرداً فرداً).
❀ Sayyidunā Sālim bin ʿUbayd (رضي الله عنه), one of the Aṣḥāb al-Ṣuffah, narrates:
قالوا : يا صاحب النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم : هل نصلي على النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم؟ قال : نعم، قالوا : وكيف يصلى عليه؟ قال : يدخل قوم فيكبرون ويدعون، ثم يخرجون، ويجيء آخرون،
“The Companions asked: O Companion of the Prophet ﷺ, will the funeral prayer of the Prophet ﷺ be performed? He replied: Yes. They asked: How will we perform his funeral prayer? He replied: A group will enter, recite takbīr and supplicate, then they will leave, and another group will enter.”
(Sunan Ibn Mājah: 1234, Shamāʾil al-Tirmidhī: 396, Musnad ʿAbd bin Ḥumayd: 365, Al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr of Ṭabarānī: 7/65, Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah by al-Bayhaqī: 7/299 – with a ḥasan chain. Imām Ibn Khuzaymah (1415, 1624) declared it “ṣaḥīḥ”)
❀ Regarding Sayyidunā Abū ʿUsayb (رضي الله عنه):
إنه شهد الصلاة على رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، قالوا : كيف نصلي عليه؟ قال : ادخلوا أرسالا أرسالا، قال : فكانوا يدخلون من هذا الباب، فيصلون عليه، ثم يخرجون من الباب الآخر .
“He was present at the funeral prayer of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. People asked: How should we perform his funeral prayer? Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (رضي الله عنه) said: Enter group by group. Thus, people would enter from one door, perform the funeral prayer of the Prophet ﷺ, and then exit from the other door.”
(Musnad Aḥmad: 5/81, ḥadīth 21047 – with a ṣaḥīḥ chain)
❀ Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr (رحمه الله, 774 AH) states:
عليه فرادى لم يؤمهم أحد عليه ، أمر مجمع عليه لا خلاف فيه .
“The Companions performed the Prophet’s ﷺ funeral prayer individually, and no one led them. This is a unanimously agreed-upon matter without any difference of opinion.”
(Al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah: 8/134)
