commit major shirk, a condition that invalidates their prayer. Therefore, the intended meaning also includes the lesser forms of shirk, for the word “anything” (shayʾan) is an indefinite noun occurring in a negative construction; such usage embraces both the small and the great, so it covers major and minor shirk alike. Indeed, an intercessor must be free of every defect that could mar his creed, which demonstrates the gravity of shirk in all its forms.
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It is recommended that the funeral prayer be offered in no fewer than three rows, even if the entire congregation numbers only six worshippers. Ibn Baṭṭah relates from Abū Umāmah that “the Messenger of Allah ﷺ attended a funeral while he was the seventh of seven people. He instructed them to form three rows behind him: three in the first, two in the second, and one in the third. He then prayed over the deceased and departed.” Al-Tirmidhī (1028) and al-Ḥākim (1/516)—who graded it sound—narrated, on the authority of Mālik ibn Hubayrah, that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever is prayed over by three rows of people has guaranteed it,” meaning that the deceased attains the promised intercession.
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The person for whom the funeral prayer is offered must be a Muslim, for a disbeliever is not eligible for intercession, and asking forgiveness for him constitutes an overstep and an injustice in supplication. Allah the Exalted says, “So the intercession of the intercessors will be of no benefit to them” (Q 74:48). The mention of “man” in the hadith is simply conventional wording; the ruling applies equally to men and women.