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Offering Funeral prayer while not being present at the funeral

Answered as per Shafi'i Fiqh by Shafiifiqh.com

Question:

Assalamu Alaikum

I am Sri Lankan living in Toronto, Canada. We have our own Masjid in Toronto. We do pray Gha’ib Janaza prayers for Janazas happening in Sri Lanka or any where else in the world. A question has been raised often about the authenticity of this practice, can you please clarify and let us know any Sharia proof for this practice.

JazakAllah khayran

Answer:

Wa alaykum salam wa rahmatuLlahi wa barakatuHu,

In both Bukhari v. 1, p. 318 and Muslim v. 7, p. 21, the Prophet Muhammad performed the funeral prayer for the Ethiopian king, Najashi (rahmatullah ‘alayh). Based on this, the Shafi’is ruled that the funeral prayer may be performed for one absent from the country [balad], as the Prophet Muhammad was in Hejaz and Najashi in Ethiopia when it took place. (Sharh al-Muhadhdhab v. 5, p. 251-53)

Not only is this ruling the relied-upon position of the Shafi’i School, more decisively, it is the practice of Allah’s Messenger (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) as established in the ahadith sahihah (authentic narrations), like what Imams Bukhari and Muslim related.

In conclusion, the practice mentioned in the question is valid and is the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam).

And Allah knows best.

This answer was collected from Shafiifiqh.com which was a repository of Islamic answers as per the Shafi’i madhhab. The website no longer functions. At its peak, many ‘ulama were involved with the site including Shaykh Mawlana Taha Karaan, Shaykh Abdul-Fattah ibn Abdullah, and Shaykh AbdurRagman Khan.

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