offering the funeral prayer for them. Yet the funeral prayer offered by the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and the believers does not benefit a hypocrite. Thus, when the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, clothed Ibn Ubayy in his shirt, he said, “How can my shirt avail him against Allah?”

Allah Most High said:

“It is all the same for them whether you ask forgiveness for them or do not ask forgiveness for them: Allah will never forgive them.”

As for someone who sometimes neglects prayer, and others like him who openly commit sins, people of knowledge and religious commitment should shun him and refrain from offering his funeral prayer if doing so benefits the Muslims by encouraging them to be diligent in offering the prayer over him. This is just as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, refrained from offering the funeral prayer for someone who had killed himself, someone guilty of misappropriation, and a debtor who had no means of repayment. Such a person is worse than they are.

Shaykh al-Islām—may Allah have mercy on him—said:

Section

It is established that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, would refrain from offering the funeral prayer for someone who owed a debt unless he left sufficient means to repay it. This was before the Prophet had the means to discharge the debt on his behalf. Once he had the means, he would pay it himself from his own resources, so the debtor thereby left provision for repayment.