or remembrance of Allah, or anything else. This is the position of the four imams and what is transmitted from the early generations—the Companions and their successors. I know of no dissenting view on this. Indeed, it is reported that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, “forbade accompanying a funeral with raised voices or fire.” Narrated by Abū Dāwūd.

Abdullāh ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both, heard a man saying during a funeral procession, “Ask forgiveness for your brother.” Ibn Umar replied, “May Allah grant no forgiveness after this.”

Qays ibn Abbād—one of the leading successors and a companion of Alī ibn Abī Tālib, may Allah be pleased with him—said: “They used to regard lowering the voice as recommended during funeral processions, during remembrance of Allah, and during battle.” Scholars versed in hadith and transmitted reports agree that this practice of raising voices did not exist during the three most virtuous generations.

As for the questioner’s statement that this has become a matter of consensus among the people, that is not so. There have always been Muslims who disapprove of it, and many funeral processions have continued to take place without it in various Muslim cities. The fact that the inhabitants of one, two, or ten towns have become accustomed to it does not constitute consensus. Indeed, the inhabitants of the Prophet’s city, peace and blessings be upon him—where the Quran and Sunnah were revealed, the home of emigration, support, faith, and knowledge—did not practise it. Indeed, even if they had agreed on something in a period such as that of Mālik and his teachers, but had not transmitted it from