The Innovation of Loud Dhikr During Funeral Processions
✍ Written by: Imran Ayyub Lahori
❖ Loud Dhikr While Walking with the Funeral is a Bid‘ah (Innovation)
Raising the voice in dhikr (remembrance of Allah) while accompanying a funeral procession is an innovation (بدعت) in religion.
◈ Scholarly Verdict:
Numerous scholars, including Shaykh al-Albānī رحمه الله, have declared this practice to be bidʿah.
📘 [Ahkām al-Janā’iz: p. 314, al-Ibdāʿ: p. 110, Iqtiḍā’ al-Ṣirāṭ al-Mustaqīm: p. 57, al-Iʿtiṣām: 1/372]
◈ Practice of the Companions:
It is narrated from Qays ibn ʿAbbād رضي الله عنه:
كان أصحاب النبى يكرهون رفع الصوت عند الجنائز
“The Companions of the Prophet ﷺ used to dislike raising voices near funerals.”
📚 [Bayhaqī: 4/74]
◈ Statement of Imām al-Nawawī رحمه الله:
Imām Nawawī said:
What is proper, preferred, and upon which the Salaf (early righteous predecessors) were agreed, is that one should walk in silence with the funeral.
Therefore, recitation, dhikr, or any other vocal expressions should not be raised during the procession.
📘 [Al-Adhkār: 4/283 with Fatḥ al-Rabbāniyyah]
✅ Conclusion
✔ Raising the voice in dhikr or Qur’an recitation while walking with the funeral is against the Sunnah.
✔ The Companions disapproved of it, and silence is the Sunnah practice.
✔ This act is an innovation that should be avoided in order to preserve the dignity and solemnity of the funeral.
