472 – Abu Saʿīd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet ﷺ said, “When you see a funeral, stand up; and whoever is following it must not sit down until it is laid down.” The two Shaykhs agreed upon it (1).

What is taken from the ḥadīth

1. The apparent sense of the ḥadīth is that one must stand for a passing funeral, in deference to the reality of death. Muslim narrates (960): “Death is an awesome matter; so when you see a funeral, stand up.” Standing, then, is an act of reverence for Allah’s decree and for those who carry it out among mankind and the angels who are near to Him.

2. Concerning the phrase, “Whoever follows it must not sit until it is laid down,” al-Nawawī said: The majority of jurists hold that remaining standing is recommended, and authentic reports establish that recommendation until the bier is placed on the ground.
   In “Sharḥ al-Zād wa Ḥāshiyatih” it is stated: “It is disliked for someone accompanying the funeral to sit before it is placed in the earth for burial—except for one who is far away—because waiting while standing until it reaches him and is set down is burdensome. Abu Dāwūd relates from al-Barāʾ: ‘We went out with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in a funeral. When we reached the grave the niche had not yet been dug, so he sat down and we sat with him.’”

Scholarly disagreement
The majority of scholars—including the four imams—maintain that standing for a funeral is no longer recommended. They hold that this ruling was abrogated by what Imām Aḥmad (624) and Abu Dāwūd (3175) transmit from ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him): “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ commanded us to stand for funerals…"