informed his Companions of his death on that very day, took them out to the open-air musallā, arranged them in rows, and pronounced four takbīrs over him, seeking intercession for him with Allah Most High.

Scholarly disagreement
The jurists differed regarding the funeral prayer for one who is absent.

• Abū Ḥanīfah and Mālik held that it is not legislated. They replied to these hadiths by saying that the ruling was peculiar to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

• Al-Shāfiʿī—and this is the well-known view among the followers of Imām Aḥmad—maintained that the prayer is prescribed, relying on these sound reports; claiming exclusivity requires proof, and none exists here.

• Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah took a middle position: if no funeral prayer has yet been offered for the absentee, it should be performed, as in the episode of the Negus; but if it has already been offered, the communal obligation has been fulfilled.

This view is also narrated from Imām Aḥmad and was judged authentic by Ibn al-Qayyim in al-Hādī, for several Companions died while the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was alive, and there is no reliable report that he prayed over any of them.

Ibn Taymiyyah further related from Imām Aḥmad that when a righteous man dies, the prayer is performed for him, citing the case of the Negus as evidence.

Our teacher ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Āl Saʿdī preferred this detailed distinction, and it is the practice in Najd: they pray over those who have benefited the Muslims and omit others. Ibn al-Qayyim stated that this is the soundest position.

Lessons derived from the hadith

1. The legitimacy of the funeral prayer, for it is an act of intercession and supplication by the deceased’s fellow Muslims.
2. The legitimacy of the funeral prayer for an absentee; however, as noted, the hadith is not unrestricted but applies to one who has rendered broad benefit and kindness to Islam and the Muslims.
3. The permissibility of holding the funeral prayer in the ʿĪd musallā when the congregation is large.
4. The funeral prayer consists of four takbīrs; what is recited after each has already been mentioned at the start of the chapter.
5. The merit of having many worshippers and of arranging them in three rows, for the compilers of the Sunan also narrated: “No believer dies and a group of Muslims sufficient to form three rows prays over him without his being forgiven.”