This was so despite his saying, as reported from him by Abū Mūsā:

“The gravest sin with which a servant can meet Allah, after the major sins He has forbidden, is for a man to die owing a debt and leaving nothing with which to repay it.”

Narrated by Ahmad. This establishes that leaving an unpaid debt ranks after the major sins. If he refrained from offering the funeral prayer for a debtor who left no means of repayment, then refraining from offering it for someone who committed major sins is all the more warranted. This includes someone who killed himself and someone guilty of misappropriation, for he did not offer the funeral prayer for either of them. This may be cited as evidence that people of virtue may refrain from offering the funeral prayer for those who openly commit major sins and those who call others to religious innovations, although offering the funeral prayer for them is permissible in general.

As for his saying:

“A martyr is forgiven everything except debt,”

he meant that the creditor must be paid what he is owed.

He was asked:

A man had a slave who ran away and then returned. Upon returning, the slave took his knife and killed himself. Does his master bear any sin? Is it permissible to offer the funeral prayer for him?

He answered:

Praise be to Allah. He had no right to kill himself, even if his master had wronged and mistreated him. Rather, if he could not free himself from the injustice, his duty was