Understanding the Importance of Sincerity in Funeral Prayers in Islam
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SINCERITY IN JANĀZAH PRAYER
Praying the janāzah prayer has a great significance for the deceased if ALLĀH accepts it from those that pray over the deceased, as occurs in the hadīth of ‘Aaishah (may ALLĀH be pleased with her) who said that the Messenger of ALLĀH (ﷺ) said:
"There is no deceased person over whom a group of Muslims whose number reaches a hundred pray for, all of them interceding for him, except that their intercession will be accepted for him." {Muslim #947}There occurs similarly in the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Abbās (may ALLĀH be pleased with them) who said: I heard the Messenger of ALLĀH (ﷺ) say:
"There is no Muslim man who dies; and so forty men stand ˹in prayer˺ over his janāzah who do not associate anything along with ALLĀH, except that ALLĀH will accept their intercession for him. {Muslim #948}Al-Qurtubī (may ALLĀH have mercy on him) stated the reason for the different numbers of people praying in the Janāzah prayer as stated in the two hadīth above: “It has been said that the reason for this difference is due to a difference of the question itself, and that is because he (ﷺ) was asked on an occasion concerning the one over whom a hundred people prayed and interceded for him, so he said: their intercession was accepted. Likewise he was asked on another occasion concerning the one over whom forty people prayed, so he answered with the like of that, and had he have been asked concerning less than that – then he would have said that – and ALLĀH Knows best. Since; the supplication of a single individual could be answered and his intercession accepted.” {Al-Mufhim, 2/605}
Imām Ash-Shawkānī (may ALLĀH have mercy on him) said: “In it is the desirability of the increased number of the congregation for the janāzah prayer, and their want of reaching this number which becomes from the necessitating reasons for success, and that is stipulated with two affairs:
The first: that they should be those that seek to make intercession for him, meaning: sincere in supplication for him, asking for forgiveness for him.
The second: that they should be Muslims, there being none from amongst them who associates anything as partners with ALLĀH, as occurs in the hadīth of Ibn ‘Abbās.” {Nayl al-Awtār, 7/340}
Ibn al-Qayyim (may ALLĀH have mercy on him) mentioned that the Prophet (ﷺ) would command with sincerity when making supplication for the deceased and this is in order for the supplication to be answered, as occurs in the hadīth of Abī Hurairah (may ALLĀH be pleased with him) who said that the Messenger of ALLĀH (ﷺ) said:
"When you pray over the deceased, then be sincere in supplication for him." {Abū Dāwūd #3199}{Zādul Ma’ād, 1/507}
Regarding this sincerity Imām Ash-Shawkānī (may ALLĀH have mercy on him) said: “It should be for the one who is praying over the deceased that he is sincere in supplication for him, whether he (the deceased) had been a doer of good or a doer of evil, for indeed the one who was mantled in sins is the most neediest of people for the supplication of his Muslim brothers and is the most impoverished in respect to their intercession.” {Nayl al-Awtār,7/368}
This indicates that the deceased benefits from the abundance of people who pray the janāzah prayer upon him and are sincere in their supplication and request from ALLĀH, that HE Forgives the deceased, and this is what is meant by their intercession of him.
O ALLĀH forgive our living and our dead, those who are with us and those who are absent, our young and our old, our menfolk and our womenfolk.