457 – Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that “the Prophet ﷺ used to forbid naʿy (publicly proclaiming a person’s death).” Narrated by Ahmad and by al-Tirmidhi, who graded it ḥasan. (1)

458 – Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that “The Prophet ﷺ announced the death of the Negus on the very day he died, then went out with the Companions to the prayer-ground, lined them up, and pronounced four takbīrs over him.” Agreed upon. (2)

• Status of Ḥadith 457:
The ḥadith is ḥasan; indeed, al-Tirmidhi said: ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ, and Ibn Ḥajar also graded it sound in Fatḥ al-Bārī.

• Vocabulary:
– naʿy: to inform people of someone’s death and spread the news publicly, for example by calling out among the people that so-and-so has died so that they may attend the funeral.
– al-Najāshī: a title borne by the kings of Abyssinia; this particular king’s name was Aṣḥamah b. Abhar.

• Points derived from the two ḥadiths:

1. Ḥadith 457 contains a prohibition of the form of naʿy practised in the pre-Islamic period: when a nobleman died they would dispatch a rider to proclaim his death among the various tribes. That specific practice is what the Prophet ﷺ forbade and declared unlawful.