- Offering the funeral prayer for him after his death is forbidden, and it is likewise impermissible to ask that he be granted forgiveness or mercy. The Most High says: “Do not ever offer the funeral prayer for any of them who dies, nor stand at his grave; they rejected Allah and His Messenger and died while defiantly disobedient” [Q 9:84]. He also says: “It is not for the Prophet and those who believe to seek forgiveness for the idolaters—even though they may be close relatives—after it has become clear to them that they are companions of the Blaze. Abraham’s plea for his father’s forgiveness was only because of a promise he had made to him; but when it became clear to him that his father was an enemy to Allah, he disavowed him. Abraham was indeed tender-hearted, forbearing” [Q 9:113–114].
For anyone to pray for forgiveness and mercy for a person who has died upon disbelief—regardless of the cause of that disbelief—is a transgression in supplication, a form of mockery toward Allah, and a departure from the path of the Prophet and the believers.
How could someone who believes in Allah and the Last Day ask forgiveness and mercy for one who died in unbelief while being an enemy of Allah? The Exalted says: “Whoever is an enemy to Allah, His angels, His messengers, Gabriel, and Michael—then indeed, Allah is an enemy to the disbelievers” [Q 2:98]. In this noble verse Allah makes clear that He is the enemy of every disbeliever.
Accordingly, the believer is duty-bound to disavow every unbeliever, for the Most High says: “And when Abraham said to his father and his people, ‘Indeed, I am free of whatever you worship, except for the One—”