Surah al-Fatiha in the funeral prayer

Question

Is it necessary to recite Surah al-Fatiha in the funeral prayer? If a person does not recite Surah al-Fatiha in the funeral prayer, is his funeral prayer not valid? A certain person who does not follow a madhhab says that it would be better for those who do not recite Surah al-Fatiha in the funeral prayer to bury the deceased without performing the funeral prayer at all; he also says that reciting Surah al-Fatiha behind the imam is necessary, and that if they do not recite it, the prayer will not be valid.

Answer

Reciting Surah al-Fatiha in the funeral prayer is not wajib; yet if someone recites it with the intention of praise (thana’) and supplication, that is not forbidden either. Therefore the claim that the funeral prayer is not valid at all without reciting Surah al-Fatiha is wrong: the funeral prayer is undoubtedly valid.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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