Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Please can you tell me if you are not present at a funeral and cannot be so due to certain factors then is it possible to pray the funeral where you are with jammat or alone?
Walaikum assalam,
Among the conditions for the validity of the funeral prayer in the Hanafi school is for the dead body to be present. [Maraqi, Radd al-Muhtar]
As such, it is not valid to pray the funeral prayer, whether alone or in a group, in absentia.
But, of course, one should make much dua for the deceased, recite Qur’an and donate the reward and, most importantly, pay off any debts and expiatory payments (such as for unperformed prayers and fasts) the individual may have
Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani