A duty upon the living
Masjid poster
The Funeral Prayer
صلاة الجنازةজানাযার সালাত
Scholarly review: pending
This text comes from the Sabīl print library. Its scholarly review is still in progress; every item will carry its reviewers’ names and the date once two scholars have signed it.
The Funeral Prayer
صَلَاةُ الْجَنَازَة
Ṣalātul-janāzah
When death comes
1Close the eyes, and say a good word — the angels say āmīn to what is said
2Cover the body with a clean sheet
3Hasten the burial — settle debts without delay
4Wash the body, shroud it, pray over it, bury it
5No wailing, no striking the cheeks, no tearing of clothes. Tears are permitted; the tongue is not
Muslim · ṣaḥīḥ; Bukhārī · ṣaḥīḥ. These four are farḍ kifāyah — binding on the community until some undertake them.
Washing & shrouding
Washed an odd number of times — three, five, or more — beginning with the right and the places of wuḍū.
Camphor or scent in the final washing. The hair of a woman is loosened, washed, and plaited in three.
Men are washed by men, women by women; a spouse may wash a spouse.
A martyr of the battlefield is neither washed nor prayed over — he is buried in the clothes he died in.
Shrouded in three white sheets for a man, five for a woman. One who dies in iḥrām is shrouded in his two garments, the head left bare.
Bukhārī, Muslim · ṣaḥīḥ
Standing to pray
The imām stands at the head of a man, at the middle of a woman.
The rows are made odd in number — three, five, seven — and straightened.
There is no bowing, no prostration, and no sitting. The whole prayer is made standing.
It is prayed without adhān and without iqāmah.
After the burial
السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ أَهْلَ الدِّيَارِ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُسْلِمِينَ وَإِنَّا إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَلَاحِقُونَ أَسْأَلُ اللَّهَ لَنَا وَلَكُمْ الْعَافِيَةَ
As-salāmu ‘alaykum ahlad-diyāri minal-mu’minīna wal-muslimīna wa innā in shā’allāhu lalāḥiqūna as’alullāha lanā wa lakum al-‘āfiyah
The whole narration
Sulaiman b. Buraida narrated on the authority of his father that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to teach them when they went out to the graveyard. One of the narrators used to say this in the narration transmitted on the authority of Abu Bakr:" Peace be upon the inhabitants of the city (i. e. graveyard)." In the hadith transmitted by Zuhair (the words are):" Peace be upon you, the inhabitants of the city, among the believers, and Muslims, and God willing we shall join you. I beg of Allah peace for us and for you
The translation is the open dataset’s own, shown as it stands: no translator is named, its rights are not verified, and nobody has checked it against the Arabic.
Shown whole, from Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim · No. 2257. In print this text is set shorter.
Said on entering. Visit the graves — they remind you of the hereafter.
Do not sit upon a grave, nor build over it, nor take it as a place of prayer.
Three things reach him still: an ongoing charity, knowledge benefited from, and a righteous child who supplicates for him.
Muslim · ṣaḥīḥ; Bukhārī · ṣaḥīḥ
إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ
Innā lillāhi wa innā ilayhi rāji‘ūn
To Allah we belong, and to Him we return.
Q 2:156
Four takbīrs, standing
01Raise the hands, say the takbīr, then recite al-Fātiḥah
اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ
Allāhu akbar
Recited quietly. Some add a short passage after it.
Bukhārī · ṣaḥīḥ
02Takbīr, then the ṣalāt upon the Prophet ﷺ
اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَىٰ مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَىٰ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ، كَمَا صَلَّيْتَ عَلَىٰ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَعَلَىٰ آلِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، إِنَّكَ حَمِيدٌ مَجِيدٌ. اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ عَلَىٰ مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَىٰ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ، كَمَا بَارَكْتَ عَلَىٰ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَعَلَىٰ آلِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، إِنَّكَ حَمِيدٌ مَجِيدٌ
Allāhumma ṣalli ‘alā Muḥammadin wa ‘alā āli Muḥammad, kamā ṣallayta ‘alā Ibrāhīma wa ‘alā āli Ibrāhīm, innaka Ḥamīdun Majīd. Allāhumma bārik ‘alā Muḥammadin wa ‘alā āli Muḥammad, kamā bārakta ‘alā Ibrāhīma wa ‘alā āli Ibrāhīm, innaka Ḥamīdun Majīd
O Allah, send blessings upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad as You sent blessings upon Ibrāhīm and the family of Ibrāhīm — You are Praiseworthy, Glorious. O Allah, bestow favour upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad as You bestowed favour upon Ibrāhīm and the family of Ibrāhīm — You are Praiseworthy, Glorious.
Shown whole, from Adhkār of the Prayers. In print this text is set shorter.
The same words said in the tashahhud of every prayer.
03Takbīr, then supplicate for the deceased
اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لَهُ وَارْحَمْهُ، وَعَافِهِ وَاعْفُ عَنْهُ، وَأَكْرِمْ نُزُلَهُ، وَوَسِّعْ مُدْخَلَهُ، وَاغْسِلْهُ بِالْمَاءِ وَالثَّلْجِ وَالْبَرَدِ، وَنَقِّهِ مِنَ الْخَطَايَا كَمَا يُنَقَّى الثَّوْبُ الْأَبْيَضُ مِنَ الدَّنَسِ
Allāhumma-ghfir lahu wa-rḥamh, wa ‘āfihi wa-‘fu ‘anh, wa akrim nuzulah, wa wassi‘ mudkhalah, wa-ghsilhu bil-mā’i wath-thalji wal-barad, wa naqqihi minal-khaṭāyā kamā yunaqqath-thawbul-abyaḍu minad-danas
O Allah, forgive him and have mercy on him, pardon him, honour his arrival, widen his entry, and cleanse him of his sins as a white garment is cleansed of dirt. For a woman, lahā in place of lahu; for more than one, lahum.
Muslim · ṣaḥīḥ. This is the heart of the prayer — the whole standing is for this supplication.
04Takbīr, a short pause, then the salām
السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa raḥmatullāh
Turned to the right, and to the left. The prayer is complete.
05For a child who has not reached maturity
اللَّهُمَّ اجْعَلْهُ فَرَطًا وَذُخْرًا لِوَالِدَيْهِ، وَشَفِيعًا مُجَابًا
Allāhumma-j‘alhu faraṭan wa dhukhran li-wālidayh, wa shafī‘an mujāban
O Allah, make him one who goes ahead, a treasure for his parents, and an intercessor whose plea is answered.
Shown whole, from Janāzah. In print this text is set shorter.
O Allah, make him one who goes ahead, and a treasure stored up, for his parents. There is no asking of forgiveness for one who bore no sin.
06At the graveside
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ وَعَلَىٰ سُنَّةِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ
Bismillāhi wa ‘alā sunnati rasūlillāh
Said as the body is lowered, laid on its right side facing the qiblah. Three handfuls of earth from each who is present. Then stand a while and ask forgiveness for him — he is being questioned now.
Abū Dāwūd · ṣaḥīḥ
07If you arrive after the burial
The prayer is not missed. It is prayed at the grave itself, in the same four takbīrs, standing — as he ﷺ prayed over the woman who used to sweep the masjid, after they had buried her by night and had not told him.
The one who was buried without a prayer has a right upon whoever comes to know of it. It is prayed at the grave for up to a month after the burial, and some allow it longer.
Bukhārī, Muslim · ṣaḥīḥ
08Ṣalāt al-ghā’ib — for one who died elsewhere
When a Muslim dies in a land where no one prayed over him, he is prayed over in absence, facing the qiblah, in the same four takbīrs — as he ﷺ prayed over the Negus on the day he died in Abyssinia.
Where the funeral prayer has already been offered in the land he died in, the scholars differ; the safer practice is to supplicate for him rather than to repeat it.
It is prayed in the masjid or at the place of burial. There is no fixed hour for it, and it is not delayed to gather a larger congregation.
Bukhārī, Muslim · ṣaḥīḥ
Whoever prays over a funeral has one qīrāṭ, and whoever stays until the burial has two — each like the mountain of Uḥud.
Bukhārī, Muslim · ṣaḥīḥ
Offering condolence
Say أَعْظَمَ اللَّهُ أَجْرَكَ وَأَحْسَنَ عَزَاءَكَ وَغَفَرَ لِمَيِّتِكَ — may Allah make great your reward, make beautiful your consoling, and forgive your deceased. Then feed the family; do not ask them to feed you.
Abū Dāwūd, Tirmidhī · ḥasan.
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