summon him, and he would attend the preparation, washing, and shrouding of the deceased. Then they saw that this too was burdensome for him, so they would prepare their deceased themselves and carry him on his bier to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), who would offer the funeral prayer outside the mosque.

Offering the funeral prayer in the mosque was not part of his regular practice; rather, he would offer funeral prayers (1) outside the mosque. Occasionally, he would pray over the deceased in the mosque, as he did for Suhayl ibn Baydā’ and his brother (2), but this was not his customary practice.

Abū Dāwūd narrated in his Sunan (3), through Sālih, the freedman of al-Taw’amah, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: “Whoever offers a funeral prayer in the mosque gains nothing.” The wording of this hadith has been transmitted differently. In his transmission of the Sunan (4), al-Khatīb stated that the original reads, “he incurs nothing,” whereas others transmit it as “he gains nothing” (5).