Principles & Benefits
of
Sending Salat and Salam on the Prophet
<< Indeed Allaah and His Angels send Salat on the Prophet. O you who believe, Send Salat upon him, and send complete Salam upon him.>>
Part Twelve
Reading Salat in the Janazah Prayer
Translated & Compiled
By
Abbas Abu Yahya
A series on issues regarding sending the Salat and the Salam upon the Prophet.
Reciting Salat in the Janazah [Funeral] Prayer
1 – Shamsuddeen Muhammad bin Abee Bakr Ibn Qayyim aj-Jawzeeyah (d.751 A.H.) -Rahimullaah- said:
‘Sa’eed bin al-Musayib said: ‘Indeed the Sunnah in the Salatul-Janazah is to read the Fatiha al-Kitab, and send Salat upon the Prophet –sallAllaahu alayhi wa Salam–, then make sincere Dua’ for the deceased until one finishes from the prayer, and it is only read once, then say Salam silently to yourself.’[1]
2 – Shaykh Albaani said:
‘Then the person praying the Janazah prayer makes the second Takbeer[2], and he sends Salat upon the Prophet –sallAllaahu alayhi wa Salam– and this is based to the hadeeth of Abu Umamah, where it is mentioned that a man from the Companions of the Prophet –sallAllaahu alayhi wa Salam– informed him:
‘The Sunnah of the prayer upon a deceased is that the Imam says Takbeer, then he recites Soorah al-Fatiha silently to himself after the first Takbeer, then he sends Salat upon the Prophet –sallAllaahu alayhi wa Salam–, and after the third Takbeer he makes sincere Dua’ for the deceased. After that he does not recite anything from the Qur’aan, then he gives Salam silently to himself on his right-hand side [when he finishes from the prayer]. The Sunnah is that the person behind the Imam should do that what the Imam does.’
Collected by Shafia’ee in ‘al-Umm’ and al-Bayhaqi from the same chain and by Ibn Jarood from Zuhri from Abu Umamah, and Zuhri said at the end of it: ‘Muhammad al-Fihri narrated to me from Dahhak bin Qays that he said the like of what Abu Umamah said.
Shafia’ee -Rahimullaah- said: ‘The Companions of the Prophet –sallAllaahu alayhi wa Salam– never used to apply the term ‘Sunnah and the truth’ except to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allaah –sallAllaahu alayhi wa Salam– In-shaa-Allaah Ta’ala.’
Collected by al-Hakim, and from him al-Bayhaqi except that he said: ‘A man from the Companions of the Prophet –sallAllaahu alayhi wa Salam– informed me.’ The rest of the wording was the same.
Then al-Hakim additionally mentioned:
‘Zuhri said: Abu Umamah narrated this to me while Ibn al-Mussaib was listening, and he did not reject this from him.’
Al-Hakim said: ‘It is Saheeh according to the conditions of Bukhari and Muslim.’ Dhahabi agreed and it is as they said it is.
Albaani continues:
‘What is apparent from the saying of the Messenger –sallAllaahu alayhi wa Salam– after mentioning the recitation of Soorah al-Fatiha is: ‘Then he sends Salat upon the Prophet –sallAllaahu alayhi wa Salam. This takes place after the second Takbeer and not before it, since if saying ‘Salat’ occurred before the recitation, then the saying of Salat would not take place during these Takbeerat but it would have occurred before the Takbeerat, as is clearly understood. This is the opinion of the Hanafiya and Shafa’iyya and others, in opposition to Ibn Hazm and Shawkaani.
As for a specific wording of the Salat upon the Prophet –sallAllaahu alayhi wa Salam– during the Janazah prayer, I have not come across anything like that in the authentic[3] Ahadeeth. What is apparent is that there is no specific format of the ‘Salat’ upon the Prophet –sallAllaahu alayhi wa Salam– in the Janazah prayer. Instead, what is used is the formats which are well established in the Tashahhud during the obligatory prayer[4].’[5]
[1] [Taken from: ‘Jala al-Afhaam fee Fadl Salat wa Salam ‘ala Muhamamd Khair al-Anaam’ p.518 no.373/121]
[2] Saying ‘Allaahu Akbar’
[3] Shaykh Albaani said in the footnote for this point:
‘It has been narrated from Ibn Mas’ood that the format is similar to the Salat al-Ibraheemiyya; however its Sanad is very weak (da’eef Jiddan), so it cannot be acted upon. As-Sakhawee mentioned it in ‘al-Qowl al-Badeea’, & Ibn Qayyim said in ‘Jelaal al-Afhaam’: ‘It is recommended that one sends Salat upon the Prophet -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam- in the Janazah prayer just as one sends Salat upon him in the Tashahhud, because the Prophet -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam- taught this to his Companions when they asked him how to send the Salat upon him.’
[Taken from ‘Ahkam al-Janaiz’ p. 155 no. 79]
[4] Shaykh Albaani said in the footnote for this point:
‘These are seven different formats which I have presented in Sifat as-Salah an-Nabi -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam-.’
[5] [Taken from ‘Ahkam al-Janaiz’ p. 155 no. 79]