Ibn Majah

Benefits and Issues:

➊ Whether it is the congregational funeral prayer or any other prayer, the greater the number of participants, the more virtuous it becomes. Therefore, Muslims should participate in funeral prayers in as large a number as possible, so that each worshipper may attain greater reward.

➋ In the first hadith, the forgiveness of the deceased is mentioned upon one hundred people offering the funeral prayer, while in the second hadith, forty people are mentioned. It is possible that initially Allah, the Exalted, promised forgiveness for the deceased through the supplication of one hundred people. Later, as an additional favor upon the Ummah of Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), glad tidings of forgiveness were given through the supplication of forty people.

➌ This promise is for the funeral prayer performed by such Muslim individuals who do not commit shirk (associating partners with Allah), because in the narration of Sahih Muslim, these words are present: “Whoever among the Muslims passes away, and forty such men participate in his funeral who do not associate anything with Allah, then Allah accepts their intercession for him.” (Sahih Muslim, Al-Jana’iz, Chapter: Whoever forty people pray over him and intercede for him, Hadith: 948)

Hadith Commentary: Benefits and Issues:
This hadith shows that in the funeral prayer (salat al-janazah), it is not merely the large number of participants that is sought and a cause of mercy and blessing, but rather that those performing the funeral prayer should be Muslims who are people of tawhid (monotheism).
They should supplicate and intercede for the deceased with sincerity of intention.
As for Qudayd and ‘Usfan, these are two locations at some distance from Makkah al-Mukarramah, one before and one after Rabigh, and the narrator is uncertain as to at which of these two places this incident occurred.

Benefits and Issues:
➊
Those who wish for their supplications to be accepted,
and especially desire that their prayers regarding the deceased be granted,
should keep away from shirk (associating partners with Allah).
And they should fulfill the requirements of faith (iman) and piety (taqwa).

➋
For participation in the funeral prayer, those who are people of tawhid (monotheists, free from shirk and innovation) should be especially informed.
So that the deceased may truly benefit.
What benefit is there if millions of polytheists and innovators gather? And the greater the number of monotheists (people of tawhid) in the funeral, the more preferable it is.

Benefits and Issues:
➊ From this hadith, the virtue of a greater number of people participating in the funeral prayer is established.
➋ In the hadith, the intercession of forty monotheists is mentioned. In some narrations, the number is one hundred. [سنن ابن ماجه ، الجنائز ، حديث : 1488]
And in some, the mention is of three rows. [سنن ابي داود ، الجنائز ، حديث : 3166]
However, this narration is weak, though some scholars have declared the narration of Malik bin Hubayrah to be hasan and thus established this issue. As Imam Shawkani and others have also established the virtue of three rows from this hadith. See: [نيل الاوطار : 62/4]
From this hadith, it is understood that in response to the questioners, the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) mentioned the number according to the situation and context. And some scholars have written regarding this: It is possible that at first Allah, the Exalted, promised forgiveness for the deceased through the supplication of one hundred individuals, and later, as an additional favor upon the Ummah of Muhammad, gave the glad tidings of forgiveness through the supplication of forty individuals. And Allah knows best.