468 – Abu Hurayrah — may Allah be pleased with him — reported that the Prophet ﷺ said:

“Hasten with the funeral; for if the deceased was righteous, you are bringing him to something better. But if he was otherwise, you are removing an evil from your own shoulders.” Agreed upon (1).

Lexical considerations
• israʿū (hasten): an imperative of isrāʿ, denoting a gait faster than normal walking yet short of running.
• fa-in taku (if it is): originally takun; the final nūn is dropped for ease. The pronoun refers to the bier.
• ṣāliḥah (righteous): in the accusative as the predicate of taku.
• fa-khayr (then [it is] good): nominative as the predicate of an omitted subject, i.e., “then it is something good toward which you are leading him.”
• ilayhi (to it): the pronoun relates to “the good,” meaning the reward that awaits him.
• fa-sharr (evil): parsed in the same way as khayr.

Points derived from the ḥadith

1. The command to quicken the pace when conveying the bier from the prayer area to the grave. The sunnah is a brisk, steady walk without breaking into a trot.
2. Al-Muwaffaq (Ibn Qudāmah) stated that this command indicates recommendation, a point on which the jurists are unanimous; Ibn Ḥazm stood alone in deeming it obligatory.
3. More than one scholar has stressed that the haste must not become excessive, such that the bier is shaken and the followers are harmed. The sunnah of hastening should therefore be balanced with gentleness toward both the deceased and the mourners.