- The principle of taking lawful means is affirmed here, and among the greatest of those means is supplication, especially when it satisfies all the conditions for acceptance and is offered by someone whose prayers are normally answered.
Scholarly disagreement
The jurists unanimously agree that it is recommended to perform the funeral prayer at the grave for anyone who missed the prayer at the time of burial. They disagreed, however, about the period during which this remains permissible:
• The Ḥanafīs and Mālikīs allow it so long as the body has not changed or decomposed. Whether decomposition has begun is determined by experts and is not tied to a set number of days, for this varies with circumstances, climate, and location.
• The Shāfiʿīs permit it provided the corpse has not decayed.
• The Ḥanbalīs fix the period at one month; after that, performing the prayer is prohibited.
Imām Aḥmad said, “That is what I have most often heard.”
Ibn al-Qayyim states in Zād al-Maʿād that the Prophet ﷺ prayed at a grave one night after burial, another time three nights later, and yet another time a month later, without ever setting a fixed limit.
The stronger opinion is that the criterion is simply whether the deceased passed away while you were already legally obliged to perform the funeral prayer. If he died before you reached that stage, you do not pray over him—otherwise a person today could validly pray for those who died centuries ago.