“…he became confused toward the end, and his later narrations can no longer be distinguished from his earlier ones, so he deserved to be abandoned.” He then mentioned this very report and said, “It is baseless. How could the Messenger of Allah ﷺ have made such a statement when he in fact performed the funeral prayer for Suhayl ibn Baydāʾ inside the mosque?”
This exposes the defect of the narration and shows that it is weak; it therefore cannot stand against the authentic report of ʿĀʾishah. The correct ruling is that bringing the bier into the mosque and praying over it there is permissible without dislike. Still, it was not the Prophet’s regular practice; more often he prayed over the deceased outside the mosque, and that is preferable, as will be explained—God willing—in the section on Funerals.
- Admitting a polytheist into the mosque for a valid need. Several hadiths address this:
a) Abū Hurayrah reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ dispatched a cavalry detachment toward Najd, and they brought back a man of Banū Ḥanīfah named Thumāmah ibn Uthāl—the chief of the people of Yamāmah. They tied him to one of the pillars of the mosque. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came out to him and said, “What do you have, O Thumāmah?” He replied, “I have good, O Muḥammad: if you kill me, you kill a man whose blood will be avenged; if you show favor, you show favor to one who will be grateful; and if you want wealth, ask and you will be given whatever you wish.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ left him until the next day and then said, “What do you have, O Thumāmah?” He answered, “What I already told you: if you show favor, you show favor to one who will be grateful; if you kill, you kill a man whose blood will be avenged; and if you want wealth, ask and you will be given whatever you wish.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ left him until it was… (in another wording: after…)