✿ Written by: Imran Ayub Lahori
◈ Recite Sūrah al-Fātiḥah and Another Sūrah After the First Takbīr
➊ Funeral Prayer Is a Form of Salah
Since the funeral prayer is also a form of ṣalāh, like other prayers, reciting Sūrah al-Fātiḥah in it is essential. As the Prophet (ﷺ) said:
لَا صَلَاةَ لِمَنْ لَمْ يَقْرَأْ بِفَاتِحَةِ الْكِتَابِ
“There is no prayer for the one who does not recite Sūrah al-Fātiḥah.”
[Bukhārī: 756 – Kitāb al-Adhān: Bāb Wujūb al-Qirāʾah lil-Imām wa al-Maʾmūm]
➋ Practice of ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās (رضي الله عنهما)
He led a funeral prayer and:
فَقَرَأَ الْفَاتِحَةَ وَقَالَ: لِتَعْلَمُوا أَنَّهَا مِنَ السُّنَّةِ
“He recited Sūrah al-Fātiḥah and said: This is so you may know that it is from the Sunnah.”
[Bukhārī: 1335 – Kitāb al-Janāʾiz; Abū Dāwūd: 3198; al-Tirmidhī: 1027; al-Nasāʾī: 1988]
◉ In Sunan al-Nasāʾī, it is narrated:
فَقَرَأَ بِفَاتِحَةِ الْكِتَابِ وَسُورَةٍ وَجَهَرَ، فَلَمَّا فَرَغَ قَالَ: سُنَّةٌ وَحَقٌّ
“He recited Sūrah al-Fātiḥah and another sūrah aloud, and when he finished, he said: It is Sunnah and true.”
[Ṣaḥīḥ: Aḥkām al-Janāʾiz, p. 151; al-Nasāʾī: 1978 – Kitāb al-Janāʾiz]
✅ Scholarly Opinions Supporting Recitation
- Imām al-Shāfiʿī (رحمه الله)
- Imām Aḥmad (رحمه الله)
- Isḥāq (رحمه الله)
→ They all hold the view that recitation after the first takbīr is prescribed (mashrūʿ).
❌ Opposing Views
- Imām Abū Ḥanīfah (رحمه الله)
- Imām Mālik (رحمه الله)
→ They believe that no recitation should be done in the funeral prayer.
[Al-Mabsūṭ: 2/64; Sabil al-Salām: 2/752]
🖋️ Endorsements by Later Scholars
- ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Mubārakpūrī (رحمه الله): The view of Imām al-Shāfiʿī and his companions is the correct one.
[Tuḥfat al-Aḥwadhī: 3/94] - Amīr Ṣanʿānī (رحمه الله): Also supports this view.
[Sabil al-Salām: 2/753] - Shaykh al-Albānī (رحمه الله): Gives preference to this opinion. He further states:
“It is astonishing that the Ḥanafīs reject the recitation, which is authentically proven, yet consider the reading of thanāʾ (Subḥānaka Allāhumma)—which is not proven—as a Sunnah in the funeral prayer.”
[Aḥkām al-Janāʾiz, p. 153]
✅ Conclusion:
After the first takbīr in the funeral prayer, it is Sunnah and correct to recite Sūrah al-Fātiḥah and another sūrah, in line with the practice of the Prophet (ﷺ) and the Companions, particularly ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās (رضي الله عنهما). The majority of verifying scholars and later authorities have upheld this position as sound.
