while in the possession of a Muslim, he is deemed a Muslim, even if both of his parents are present.

No funeral prayer is performed for a single limb, but it is performed when most of the body is present. Still, if someone chooses to pray over the head alone—or over any limb—he incurs no blame; it is a commendable act. If a limb is prayed over and another part of the same body is later found, no second prayer is offered; the first suffices.

Some scholars of Medina hold that the prayer should be offered for every limb, for its inviolability is the same. Others maintain that once the head has been prayed over, the remaining parts are not prayed over. All these opinions are sound, and whoever follows any one of them is not at fault.

The funeral prayer is to be offered for every Muslim, whether upright or sinful; one who has taken his own life is treated no differently from others. The prayer is never withheld from anyone who faces our qiblah, for this is the Sunnah concerning the Muslim dead. A believer’s suicide or his commission of major sins does not prevent us from upholding this practice, because it is a communal obligation: once some have performed it, the duty is lifted from the rest.

The imam, however, refrains from leading the prayer over someone upon whom he himself has carried out the death penalty. Likewise, the virtuous figure whom people follow abstains from praying over those who actively promote their innovations or who openly commit major sins and treat them lightly. Mālik disliked the idea of the imam praying over a person he has executed for any prescribed punishment, saying: “Let his family and the Muslims pray over him.” Allah knows best; this is because the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not personally pray over Māʿiz al-Aslamī and others upon whom he had carried out the prescribed penalties.