[Commentary]
The author — may Allah have mercy on him — entitles this chapter in Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn: “Attending the funeral procession, the prayer over the deceased, accompanying him, and being present at his burial,” indicating that these acts are recommended for men but disliked for women.

The word janāzah, when the first vowel is a fatḥa, refers to the deceased person himself; when read with a kasra, it denotes the bier on which the body is placed.

The author then cited the first and second ḥadiths of Abū Hurayrah and the ḥadith of Umm ʿAṭiyyah. Know that escorting the dead is one of the mutual rights Muslims owe one another. The scholars state that whoever joins a funeral should display humility and reflect on his own destiny: just as he is now following this man’s bier, the day will come when others will follow his. As this man has been carried, so will he be carried.

Every child of Eve, though health endure,
Shall one day ride a hump-backed bier.

Thus he should ponder his condition, recognizing that however long his worldly life may stretch, he will be borne away just as this deceased was borne and escorted just as he was escorted. For that reason they say: it is unfitting for a person accompanying a funeral to busy himself with worldly talk; rather, he should reflect upon his own state. If a companion speaks to him, he ought to remind him of the end awaiting every living soul, so that the escorting