Ruling on Remaining Standing Until the Funeral Bier is Placed Down
✍ Written by: Imran Ayyub Lahori
❖ Initial Instruction: Do Not Sit Until the Bier is Placed Down
It was initially commanded that those accompanying the funeral should not sit until the body is placed down.
◈ Evidences for Remaining Standing:
➊ The Prophet ﷺ said:
فمن تبعها فلا يجلس حتى توضع
“Whoever follows the funeral should not sit until it is placed down.”
📚 [Bukhari: 1310; Kitāb al-Janā’iz: Bāb man Tabiʿa Janāzah fa-lā Yaqʿud ḥattā tuḍaʿ ʿan manākib, Muslim: 959, Tirmidhī: 1043, Nasā’ī: 4/44, Aḥmad: 3/41]
➋ It is narrated from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī رضي الله عنه that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
إذا تبعتم الجنازة فلا تجلسوا حتى توضع
“When you follow a funeral, do not sit until it has been placed down.”
📚 [Ṣaḥīḥ: Ṣaḥīḥ Abū Dāwūd: 6/27; Kitāb al-Janā’iz: Bāb al-Qiyām lil-Janāzah, Abū Dāwūd: 3173]
➌ It is narrated from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī and Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنهما:
ما رأينا رسول الله شهد جنازة قط فجلس حتى توضع
“We never saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ participate in a funeral and sit before it was placed down.”
📚 [Ṣaḥīḥ: Ṣaḥīḥ Nasā’ī: 1809; Kitāb al-Janā’iz: Bāb al-Amr bil-Qiyām lil-Janāzah, Nasā’ī: 1918]
❖ These Instructions Were Later Abrogated (منسوخ)
The ruling of remaining standing until the bier is placed down was later abrogated, as supported by the following narrations:
◈ Evidences of Abrogation:
➊ The Prophet ﷺ would remain standing until the body was placed into the grave, but then a Jewish scholar passed by and remarked,
“We also do this.”
Upon hearing this, the Prophet ﷺ said:
فجلس النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم وقال اجلسوا خالفوهم
“The Prophet ﷺ then sat and said, ‘Sit down and oppose them (the Jews).'”
📚 [Ḥasan: Ṣaḥīḥ Abū Dāwūd: 2719; Kitāb al-Janā’iz: Bāb al-Qiyām lil-Janāzah, Abū Dāwūd: 3176, Tirmidhī: 1020, Ibn Mājah: 1545]
➋ Ismāʿīl ibn Masʿūd ibn Ḥakam Zurqī narrates from his father:
“I attended a funeral in Iraq and saw some men standing, waiting for the bier to be placed down. Then I saw ʿAlī رضي الله عنه gesture towards them and say:”
اجلسوا فإن النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم قد أمرنا بالجلوس بعد القيام
“Sit down! For the Prophet ﷺ had commanded us to sit after initially commanding us to stand.”
📘 Shaykh Al-Albānī رحمه الله said: Reported by Ṭaḥāwī: 1/282, with a ḥasan chain — Ahkām al-Janā’iz: p. 101
➌ Another narration states:
قام رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم مع الجنائز حتى توضع وقام الناس معه ثم قعد بعد ذلك وأمرهم بالقعود
“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to stand with the funeral until it was placed down, and the people would stand with him. Later, he began to sit and instructed the people to sit as well.”
📚 [Bayhaqī: 4/27, Ahkām al-Janā’iz by Al-Albānī: p. 101]
✅ Conclusion
✔ Initially, it was commanded to remain standing until the funeral bier was placed down.
✔ However, this ruling was later abrogated, and the Prophet ﷺ himself began to sit before burial, instructing others to do the same — especially to oppose the Jewish tradition.
✔ Today, sitting before the bier is placed is permissible, and the earlier practice has been abrogated with clear narrations.
