FUNERAL PRAYER

FUNERAL PRAYER

Q.   Is the funeral prayer Fard or Wajib or Masnun?

  Funeral prayer is a sufficing command. The entire locality shall be absolved of the bonus even if as few as one or two persons have said it. But if no one has said it, the entire locality shall be presumed to have sinned.

Q.   What are the preconditions to the funeral prayer?

  The preconditions are as follows:

             i.     The dead person having been a Muslim;

           ii.     The dead body being clean;

         iii.     The shroud of the body being clean;

          iv.     The Satr being covered;

            v.     The dead body being placed before the one who is offering the Salat.

As for those who join the Salat, the same preconditions will operate (excepting the condition regarding timings) as have been discussed in respect of other kinds of Salat.

Q.   What is the complete formula for the funeral prayer?

  It is like this: Forming a row by standing for the prayer. If the assembly is large, it is better to form three, five or seven rows. After the rows have been properly formed, one should affirm the intention as follows: “I hereby offer the funeral Salat for the sake of Al-lah to pray for His mercy on this deceased person, behind this Imam”.

Then the Imam will call the Takbir aloud and those behind him shall say it outside the hearing of others. While doing so, they shall raise their hands to both their ears and fold the hands below the navel. The Imam and his followers then shall say the Thana at a low pitch. It is better to interpolate the words JAL-LA THANA’UKA after TA’ALA JAD-DUKA.

Then the Imam shall call the second Takbir aloud and the followers will do it a lower pitch without anyone raising their hands. The entire assembly including the Imam will then recite the two Daruds meant for usual Salats at a low pitch. Then they shall call Takbir for the third time in the manner of the second.

If the dead body is of an adult the Imam and the assembly will recite the following formula:

AL-LAHUM-MA-GHFIR LIHAY-YINA WA MAY-YITINA WA SHAHIDINA WA GHA’IBINA WA SAGHIRINA WA KABIRINA WA ZAKARINA WA UNTHANA. AL-LAHUM-MA MAN AHYAITAHU MIN-NA FA AHYIHI ‘ALAL-ISLAM WA MAN TAWAF-FAITAHU MIN-NA FATAWAF-FAHU ‘ALAL-IMAN.

(O Al-lah accord peace to the living, the dead, the present, the absent, the young, the old, the male and the female from amongst us. O Al-lah, those whom thou woudst keep alive keep them on Islam and strike dead whom thou woudst on Iman.)

If the dead body is of a male minor the following formula should be recited:

AL-LAHUM-MAJ’ALHU LANA FARTA(N)W-WA-J’ALHU  LANA AJRA(N)W-WA ZUKHRA(N)W-WAJ’ALHU LANA SHAFI’A(N)W-WA MUSHAF-FA’AN.

(O Al-lah make him [the deceased child] a forerunner for our salvation and make it [the affliction of his separation] a thing of reward and a deposit for us and make him the one who will intercede on our behalf and whose intercession is accepted by thee.)

If the dead body is of a female minor, the same formula should be repeated with the changes of gender in the Arabic text at three places: WAJ’ALHU  is to be changed to WAJ’ALHA and SHAFI’A(N)W-WA MUSHAF-FA’AN  to SHAFI’ATA(N)W-WA MUSHAF-FA’ATAN.

This done the Imam will say the fourth Takbir aloud and those behind him shall say it at a low pitch. After it, the Imam will turn his face for Salam first to the right and then to the left.

Q.   What things should we do after the completion of Salat?

  Immediately on completion of Salat, the bier should be carried for burial. While doing so, the verse or the formulas that one feels like repeating, may be said at a low pitch. Saying it aloud is undesirable. We should give thought to the dead person’s immediate next stage, i.e., the grave and the reckoning he or she shall be subjected to and to the transience of this world. We should also pray for salvation and peace for the dead. On reaching the graveyard the dead body should be consigned to the grave.