Section

Funeral prayer after Fajr and after Asr

Ibn al-Mundhir said: “The Muslims are unanimously agreed on offering the funeral prayer after Fajr and after Asr.”

Ahmad’s position did not vary concerning those three types: they may be performed during the prohibited times, because specific hadiths establish their permissibility at those times. He therefore exempted them from the prohibition. He also exempted the funeral prayer during the two periods on the grounds of Muslim consensus.

As for the other prayers associated with specific causes—such as the prayer of greeting the mosque, the prostration of recitation, and the eclipse prayer, as well as the two rak‘ahs following circumambulation during the three prohibited periods, and the funeral prayer during those three periods—his statements differed concerning them.

His well-known position is that they are prohibited. This was the view adopted by many of his followers, including al-Khiraqī, al-Qādī, and others. It is also the position of Mālik and Abū Hanīfah. Abū Hanīfah, however, permits prostration after Fajr and Asr; it is not obligatory in his view.

The second position reported from him permits all prayers associated with specific causes. This was the view adopted by Abū al-Khattāb, and it is the position of al-Shāfi‘ī. It is the stronger view on this issue for several reasons: