- Rebels who rise up against the legitimate ruler without right.
- Highway robbers who strip travelers of their wealth.
- Gangs that band together to tyrannize people through force and usurpation.
- Armed militants who terrorize towns and villages—this falls under ḥirābah and banditry.
Such individuals are to be washed, but the funeral prayer is not offered for them, as a humiliation for them and a deterrent to others.
The Mālikīs maintain that the imam does not lead the funeral prayer for anyone executed for a ḥadd penalty or for retributive killing (qiṣāṣ). Their proof is that the Prophet ﷺ did not pray over Māʿiz, yet he did not forbid others from doing so.
The Shāfiʿīs, on the other hand, hold that the prayer is performed for every Muslim, no matter the gravity of his sin or impiety. Al-Nawawī said in Sharḥ al-Muhadhdhab: “One stoned for fornication, one executed in retaliation, the aggressor killed while attacking, the child born of illicit intercourse, and the embezzler of war-booty—all are to be washed and prayed over, with no disagreement among us.”
Their evidence is the report in Muslim (1695) that the Prophet ﷺ prayed over the man stoned for fornication, and Jābir’s narration in Bukhārī (6434) that he ﷺ prayed over Māʿiz after stoning him.
Al-Bayhaqī said: “The sound position is that the funeral prayer may be offered for every upright or sinful person, for everyone who says ‘Lā ilāha illā Allāh.’ Any ḥadith contradicting this view is weak.”
The Ḥanbalīs state that the prayer is to be offered for every disobedient Muslim except the embezzler of war-booty and the one who takes his own life. For these two, the imam and his deputy are not to lead the prayer—this being a punishment for them and a warning to others—though other Muslims may still pray over them.
Their proof: for the suicide, the very ḥadith under discussion; for the embezzler, the report narrated by Imam Ahmad (21167) and Abū Dāwūd (27101) from Zayd ibn Khālid: a man from Juhaynah was killed at Khaybar and the Prophet ﷺ said, “Offer the prayer for your companion, for he has embezzled while striving in the cause of Allah.”
Imam Ahmad said: “We know of no instance in which the Prophet ﷺ omitted the funeral prayer for anyone except…"