Janazah for Someone Who Never Prayed?
Question:
Should we not offer the Funeral Prayer (salat al-janazah) for someone who never prayed during his life?
Answer:
In the name of Allah, we praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright.
Attending the funeral of a Muslim, i.e., washing him or shrouding him or offering the prayer for him or burying him, is a communal obligation; if there is someone among the Muslims who can do that, then it becomes preferable for you and not obligatory.
There is no hadith that explicitly states that a janazah should not be prayed over someone who never prayed. This question usually arises because of the hadith that the difference between a believer and a disbeliever is the abandonment of Prayer.
If we witness someone leaving Prayer entirely, the last thing we should do is to judge him or her as Muslim or not. Rather, we should advice, assist and encourage them to pray.
For more information about such ruling, watch this short talk with Sheikh Navaid Aziz.
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Source: Faithiq Youtube Channel.
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