Walking with the funeral and staying with it until burial

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him) that Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) said to Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him): "O Abu al-Hasan, tell us about walking with the funeral: which way of doing it is more virtuous?" Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "By Allah, the virtue of the one who walks behind it over the one who walks in front of it is like the virtue of the obligatory prayer over voluntary worship." Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "By Allah, ever since I attended a funeral which Sayyiduna Abu Bakr and Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) also attended, I saw both of them walking in front of it (so how can this be?)." At this, Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "May Allah forgive them both. Indeed, the best people of this Ummah after its Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) are Abu Bakr and Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both); then Allah knows best where goodness lies. If you saw the two of them doing that, they did it despite knowing that the virtue of walking behind the funeral over walking in front of it is exactly like the virtue of the obligatory over the voluntary, just as we know that before tomorrow there is a night; but the two of them liked to create ease and room for the people and disliked hardship for them, because they knew that their action would be followed." Abu Sa'id (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: "O Abu al-Hasan, tell me about carrying the bier: is it obligatory upon the one who attends it?" He said: "No, but it is a good deed; whoever wishes may take part and whoever wishes may leave it. When you are with a funeral, keep it in front of you and make it a sign set before your eyes, for it is only an admonition, a reminder and a lesson. Then, if you intend to carry it, place the rear leg on the left side of the bier on your right shoulder. When you reach the graveyard, stand and do not sit, for you are witnessing a tremendous matter. Indeed, I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: 'Your brother, your brother! He used to compete with you in the world and was greedy for it; he strove to build palaces in the expanses of the earth, (but now) he has been placed in a grave, on his side, at the bottom of a pit.' So stand and do not sit until you have thoroughly poured earth over him. If people do not leave you alone, and they will not leave you alone, and they say: 'By Allah, this is of no importance,' still stand and do not sit until he is lowered into his grave, even if they quarrel with you over it."
I (Ibn Hajar) say: This chain is extremely weak.

It is narrated from Abdullah bin Yasar that Sayyiduna Amr bin Hurayth (may Allah be pleased with him) visited Sayyiduna al-Hasan (may Allah be pleased with him) in his illness while Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was sitting with him. Amr bin Hurayth (may Allah be pleased with him) asked him: "What do you say about walking in front of the funeral?" Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "The virtue of the one who walks behind the funeral over the one who walks in front of it is like the virtue of the obligatory prayer over the voluntary prayer." He said: "But I saw Sayyiduna Abu Bakr al-Siddiq and Sayyiduna Umar al-Faruq (may Allah be pleased with them both) walking in front of the funeral." At this, Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Those two (chose to walk in front because they) disliked putting the people into any difficulty or hardship."
Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated from this report only the story of the sick-visit and did not mention its final part.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) that he heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Whoever's fast falls on a Friday, and on that same day he visits a sick person, attends a funeral and frees a slave, Paradise becomes obligatory for him."
Haywah corroborated it (mutaba'ah) through Ibn Abi Amr al-Khawlani from al-Walid bin Qays, and Imam Ibn Hibban also recorded it.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, the first reward given to the believing servant after his death is that all those who followed his funeral (that is, walked behind his bier) are forgiven."
Imam Abd bin Humayd recorded it; its chain contains Marwan bin Salim, who is matruk (abandoned), so this narration is weak.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever prays the funeral prayer over a deceased person, it is as though he fasted one day in the path of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, and that one day is equal (in reward) to seven hundred days; and whoever attends the funeral of a Muslim man, it is as though he fasted one day in the path of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, and that one day is equal to seven hundred days."
Takhrij and grading: Imam al-Bazzar recorded this hadith in his Musnad; its chain contains a narrator named Mindal bin Ali al-Kufi, who is da'if (weak) according to the majority of hadith scholars, and because of him this narration is weak in its chain.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Zayd bin Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever prays the funeral prayer will have one qirat of reward, and whoever walks with the funeral until it is buried will have two qirats of reward."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), as a marfu' report, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There is no Muslim who attends the funeral of another Muslim except that he will have one qirat of reward; then if he stays there until the funeral prayer has been performed, he will have two qirats of reward, and each qirat is like the mountain of Uhud."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Thawban (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever follows a funeral and carries (by giving his shoulder to) all four sides of the bier of the deceased, forty of his sins are forgiven in return, and all of them are major sins."
This narration is weak.

It is narrated from Humayd bin Abd al-Rahman that he said: "I saw Sayyiduna Sa'd bin Abi Waqqas (may Allah be pleased with him) at the funeral of Sayyiduna Abd al-Rahman bin Awf (may Allah be pleased with him), standing between the two front poles (of the bier) and he had placed the bier upon the upper part of his shoulders (the top of his back)."
Imam Abu Ya'la recorded it, and all its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Zayd bin Arqam (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, Allah Almighty loves silence on three occasions: at the recitation of the Noble Qur'an, while advancing against the enemy on the battlefield, and at a funeral."
Its chain contains an unnamed (unknown) narrator, because of which this chain is technically weak; however, maintaining silence and dignity on these occasions is supported by other texts of the Shari'ah.

It is narrated from Ubayd, the freed slave of al-Sa'ib, that he saw Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) and Ubayd bin Umayr (may Allah have mercy on him) walking in front of a funeral in the upper part of Makkah; the two of them would go ahead of the funeral and sit down, and when the funeral passed by them, they would both stand up.
Imam Musaddad bin Musarhad (may Allah have mercy on him) recorded this athar (report), which indicates the permissibility of walking in front of the funeral and of sitting to wait when needed.

It is narrated from Abd al-Rahman, the freed slave of Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), that Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) made this bequest (at the time of his death): "When I die, do not pitch any tent or canopy over me (my bier or grave), do not follow my funeral with fire, and hasten in carrying me (to the graveyard)."
Imam Abu Dawud al-Tayalisi recorded this narration in his Musnad, and its chain is strong.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that we went out with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) for a funeral, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) saw some women there and asked: "Will you carry the bier?" They said: "No." He (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "Will you lower it into the grave?" They said: "No." So he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Then go back burdened with sin, not rewarded."
Imam Abu Ya'la recorded this hadith in his Musnad, and there is weakness in its chain because of a narrator named al-Harith bin Ziyad.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah and Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), addressing us in a sermon, said: "Whoever walks with a funeral, then for every step he takes until he returns, one hundred thousand good deeds are written for him, one hundred thousand of his sins are erased, and he is raised one hundred thousand degrees; then if he also prays its funeral prayer, seventy thousand angels are appointed over him who keep seeking forgiveness for him until he returns; and if he also attends its burial, they (the angels) keep seeking forgiveness for him until he is raised again from his grave (on the Day of Resurrection)."
This hadith is mawdu' (fabricated).