unknown, and no one knows of him; then one person prays over him, and that suffices.

A similar case is what some Bedouin people ask about. They say, “We used to bury young children without performing the funeral prayer over them.”

We say to them: Let one of you pray over those who were buried, and that will suffice. Even if a single woman prays over one of the deceased, it suffices, because a communal obligation is discharged by one person.

We stipulated that the person be legally accountable, because the funeral prayer is an obligation, and an obligation can only be fulfilled by one who is legally accountable.

As for the manner of praying over the deceased, the author, may Allah have mercy on him, explained it in his statement: “It is sunnah for the imam to stand opposite his chest and opposite her middle.”

Accordingly, it is recommended for the imam to stand opposite a man’s chest and opposite a woman’s middle.

The correct view, however, is that he stands opposite the man’s head, not his chest, because this is established by the sunnah (1).

And he stands opposite her middle—that is, the woman’s middle—because the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, “stood opposite the middle of a woman who had died in childbirth” (2).

The wisdom behind this is that her middle is the location of the buttocks and private parts; thus, the imam stands there in order to shield the worshippers behind him from looking at her. This is one aspect of the wisdom, and Allah knows best.