QUESTION:

I have an elderly neighbour who we got on with very well. He is not a Muslim and has passed away. Am I allowed to attend his funeral service at a Church?

ANSWER:

One is not allowed to participate in a disbeliever’s funeral and going to a church for the purpose.

Imam Ahmad Rida Khan (رحمة الله عليه) has mentioned, “One should hand the (disbeliever) deceased to the people of his/her religion and let them deal with the deceased the way they wish.”

Further on in the same verdict he says, “If the (deceased) disbeliever is Asli (a disbeliever from the very beginning, in contrast to a Murtad, a disbeliever who denounced Islam) and one has no relationship with him, then one should not participate in any of the funeral matters (bathing, shrouding, burying etc.)”

[Fatawa al-Ridawiyyah, vol. 9, p. 391]

It is in al-Durr al-Mukhtar, “…if the deceased has other relatives, then one should leave the deceased for them to deal with.”

[al-Durr al-Mukhtar, Bab Salah al-Jana’iz, vol. 1, p. 123]

A similar ruling has been mentioned in Kashf al-Ghata’ (p.47).

If the person is a close relative of the deceased, then there is no harm by standing far from the funeral procession in order to fulfil the rights of blood relatives though it is better not to participate at all.

[Fatawa al-Ridawiyyah, vol. 9, p. 391]

Allah knows best.

Answered by Shaykh Mohamed Husein Qadri

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Refutation of ‘The Study Quran’ by the Ulama of Zabid

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