children of Adam.” This report is not authentic. It has been narrated both as a report traced back to the Prophet and as a statement of a Companion.
The companions of Mu‘ādh used to say “Allah is the Greatest” five times. ‘Alqamah (1) said: I said to ‘Abd Allāh, “Some of the companions of Mu‘ādh came from Syria and said ‘Allah is the Greatest’ five times over one of their deceased.” ‘Abd Allāh replied, “There is no fixed number of these declarations in the funeral prayer. Say them as many times as the imam does, and when the imam finishes, finish with him.”
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As for the Prophet’s practice, peace and blessings be upon him, concerning the concluding salutation of peace in the funeral prayer, it has been reported that he gave one salutation, and it has also been reported that he gave two.
Al-Bayhaqī (2) and others narrated through al-Maqburī, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, offered a funeral prayer, said “Allah is the Greatest” four times, and gave a single salutation of peace. However, Imam Ahmad said
(1) Recorded by ‘Abd al-Razzāq (6403), Ibn Abī Shayba (11569), al-Bayhaqī (4:37), and Ibn Hazm in al-Muhallā (5:126), who said: “This chain of transmission is of the highest authenticity.”
(2) I could not find it in al-Bayhaqī’s works. Al-Khatīb, in Tārīkh Baghdād (4:441), related through his chain of transmission from al-Athram that Imam Ahmad said: “I have seen a report transmitted by Muhammad ibn Mu‘āwiya al-Naysābūrī, from al-Mukharrimī, from ‘Uthmān ibn Muhammad, from al-Maqburī, from Abū Hurayra, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, offered a funeral prayer, pronounced four takbīrs (declarations that Allah is the Greatest), and gave one concluding salutation of peace.” He said: “In my judgment, this is fabricated.”
I fear that when the author saw al-Bayhaqī’s statement in Ma‘rifat al-Sunan wa-l-Āthār (5:305), “It has been transmitted to us from Abū Hurayra, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, that he offered a funeral prayer, pronounced four takbīrs over the deceased, and gave one concluding salutation of peace,” he assumed that this referred to al-Maqburī’s report from Abū Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with him. However, al-Bayhaqī recorded it in al-Kubrā (4:43) through Abū al-‘Anbas, from his father, from Abū Hurayra. It was likewise recorded by Ibn Abī Shayba (11620), al-Dāraqutnī (1817), and al-Hākim (1:360). Abū al-‘Anbas is truthful (sadūq), but I have found no one who assessed his father’s reliability, either critically or favorably.