Zād al-Maʿād - Ibn al-Qayyim - (1/645)

Zād al-MaʿādIbn al-Qayyim

she narrated the report concerning it, they fell silent, neither rejecting it nor countering it with another report.”

Al-Khattābī said (1): “It is established that the funeral prayers for Abū Bakr and ‘Umar were offered in the mosque. It is well known that the great majority of the Emigrants and Helpers attended these prayers, and their failure to object is evidence of its permissibility.” He said: “The hadith of Abū Hurayrah—if authentic—may be interpreted as referring to a diminished reward. Someone who offers the funeral prayer in the mosque will generally return to his family without attending the burial, whereas someone who makes his way to the funeral (2) and offers the prayer near the graves attends (3) the burial and earns the reward of two qirāts. He may also be rewarded for the many steps he takes. Thus, someone who offers the funeral prayer in the mosque receives less reward than someone who offers it outside the mosque.”

Another group said that the words “there is nothing for him” mean “there is nothing against him,” so that the two wordings convey the same meaning rather than contradicting one another. This is like Allah’s statement:

“And if you do evil, it is to yourselves” [al-Isrā’: 7],

meaning: to your own detriment.

These, then, are the approaches scholars have taken to these two hadiths. The correct view is what we stated earlier: the Prophet’s sunnah and practice was to offer the funeral prayer outside the mosque, unless there was a valid reason to do otherwise. Both are permissible, but offering it outside the mosque is preferable. And Allah knows best.

(1) In Ma‘ālim al-Sunan (1:312). The passage begins: “I said: The first hadith (the hadith of ‘Ā’isha) is more authentic. Sālih, the client (mawlā) of al-Taw’ama, was judged a weak narrator, and he had forgotten his hadiths toward the end of his life. It has been established that …” (2) Ma‘ālim al-Sunan reads: “al-jabbān (the cemetery).” This could plausibly have been miscopied as “al-janāza (the funeral).” (3) Al-Ma‘ālim reads: “shahida (attended).”

روت فيه الخبر سكتوا، ولم ينكروه، ولا عارضوه بغيره. قال الخطابي (١): وقد ثبت أن أبا بكر وعمر صُلّي عليهما في المسجد، ومعلوم أنَّ عامَّة المهاجرين والأنصار شهدوا الصلاة عليهما، وفي تركهم إنكارَه الدليلُ على جوازه. قال: وقد يحتمل أن يكون معنى حديث أبي هريرة ــ إن ثبت ــ متأوَّلًا على نقصان الأجر. وذلك أنَّ من صلّى عليها في المسجد، فالغالب أنه ينصرف إلى أهله ولا يشهد دفنه، وأنَّ من سعى إلى الجنازة (٢) فصلّى عليها بحضرة المقابر يشهد (٣) دفنَه وأحرَز أجرَ القيراطين، وقد يؤجر أيضًا على كثرة خطاه؛ فصار الذي يصلِّي عليه في المسجد منقوص الأجر بالإضافة إلى من يصلي عليه خارج المسجد. وقالت طائفة: معنى قوله: «فلا شيء له» أي فلا شيء عليه، ليتحد معنى اللفظين ولا يتناقضان، كما قال تعالى: ﴿وَإِنْ أَسَأْتُمْ فَلَهَا﴾ [الإسراء: ٧] أي: فعليها. فهذه طرق الناس في هذين الحديثين. والصواب ما ذكرناه أولًا، وأنَّ سنّتَه وهديَه الصلاةُ على الجنازة خارج المسجد إلا لعذر. وكلا الأمرين جائز، والأفضل الصلاة عليها خارج المسجد. والله أعلم.

(١) في «معالم السنن» (١/ ٣١٢). وصدره: «قلت: الحديث الأول (حديث عائشة) أصح، وصالح مولى التوأمة ضعفوه، وكان قد نسي حديثه في آخر عمره. وقد ثبت أن ... ». (٢) في «معالم السنن»: «الجبان»، ولا يبعد تصحيفه إلى «الجنازة». (٣) في «المعالم»: «شهد».