Ruling on Reciting the Kalimah Aloud Behind a Funeral
Source: Fatāwā Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri
Question:
What is the ruling on reciting the kalimah aloud behind a funeral?
Answer:
Reciting dhikr, kalimah, or Qur’an aloud in front of or behind the funeral procession is an innovation (bidʿah). There is no basis for it in the Qur’an or Sunnah. It is not established from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, the Rightly Guided Caliphs رضي الله عنهم, the Companions رضي الله عنهم, the Tābiʿīn رحمهم الله, the Imams of the religion رحمهم الله, nor from the pious predecessors رحمهم الله.
If reciting aloud during the funeral procession were an act of virtue or if it benefited the deceased in any way, the Companions رضي الله عنهم and the Salaf رحمهم الله — who best understood the Qur’an and Sunnah and lived accordingly — would certainly have practiced it. The four Imams also never deemed it permissible or recommended.
Several scholars have explicitly declared that loud dhikr during the funeral procession is impermissible and an evil innovation:
❀ Al-ʿAllāmah Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Ṭaḥṭāwī رحمه الله (d. 1231 AH) states:
Do not raise your voices with recitation and dhikr during the funeral. Do not be deceived by the large number of people who do so. Ignorant people loudly and lengthily recite during funerals, but this is unanimously impermissible. It is not allowed for anyone who has the ability to forbid it to remain silent. People must remain quiet. Similarly, the customary funeral adhkār are a vile innovation.
(Ḥāshiyat al-Ṭaḥṭāwī, p. 332)
❀ Al-ʿAllāmah Idrīs ibn Baykarn ibn ʿAbdullāh al-Turkumānī رحمه الله (d. 800 AH) writes:
من البدع ما يفعل بين يدي الميت من قراءة وذكر وحمل خبر وخرفان، الكل لا يرضى الواحد الديان
From the innovations is the recitation and dhikr done before the deceased, carrying bread and a young goat; none of this is pleasing to the One True God.
(Kitāb al-Lumaʿ fī al-Ḥawādith wa al-Bidaʿ, p. 232)
He further writes:
كذلك الذكر جهرا يكره فعله خلف الجنازة، وليس فيه أجر للذاكر ولا للميت
Similarly, loud dhikr behind the funeral is disliked. It brings no reward to the one making dhikr nor to the deceased.
(Kitāb al-Lumaʿ fī al-Ḥawādith wa al-Bidaʿ, p. 216)
In Fatāwā ʿĀlamgīriyyah and other works, it is stated:
Those accompanying the funeral are required to remain silent. Raising the voice with dhikr or Qur’an recitation is disliked. If one wishes to remember Allah, he should do so silently in his heart.
(Fatāwā ʿĀlamgīriyyah 1/162; Fatāwā Qāḍī Khān 1/92, quoted in Jāʾ al-Ḥaqq by Naʿīmī 1/408)
Another scholar writes:
Loud dhikr, Qur’an recitation, or statements like “every living shall die” during the funeral are innovations.
(Fatāwā Sirājiyyah, p. 23)
