Ibn al-Qayyim said: As for the shuffling, step-by-step pace that people use nowadays, it is a disliked innovation that contradicts the sunnah and merely imitates the People of the Book.

Shaykh al-Islam [Ibn Taymiyyah] stated: In the Prophet’s time ﷺ the deceased was carried out by men to the cemetery. They neither rushed nor dawdled but walked with dignity, raising no voices—neither with recitation nor anything else. This is the sunnah by the unanimous agreement of the Muslims.

The command to hasten the funeral embraces every stage—preparation, shrouding, and burial—and is broader than simply walking briskly with the bier. Abu Dawud records (3159) that the Prophet ﷺ said, “It is not fitting that the corpse of a Muslim remain among his family.” This applies unless a delay brings a clear benefit, such as allowing relatives to arrive or when the death is under criminal investigation and the body must be retained as evidence. If a manifest benefit exists, delaying is permissible, especially now that refrigerated facilities can preserve the body from decay.

The ḥadith establishes the reality of reward and punishment in the Hereafter—an article of faith known necessarily in the religion; praise be to Allah.

It urges keeping company with the righteous and avoiding the wicked.

Shaykh al-Islam also said: Anyone who outwardly professes Islam is subject to its outward rulings—marriage, inheritance, ritual washing, funeral prayer, burial in Muslim cemeteries, and the like.

A human being consists of soul and body. The soul is the essence: it bears responsibility and is addressed by divine commands and prohibitions. The body is merely its garment and outward form. When the soul leaves, the body is of no benefit; keeping it among the family as a corpse serves no purpose, for the longer it remains the more it disfigures and decays. Hence the Sacred Law commands that it be buried without delay.