When some people at a funeral prayer merely stand by like spectators

Question

Fifty or sixty people are gathered with a janaza, but when the funeral prayer is performed only ten or fifteen people pray, while the rest stand by like spectators. Will these remaining Muslims be counted as having abandoned a communal obligation (fard kifaya) or not, and will there be any sin on them or not — given that there is no excuse preventing them from joining the prayer? Please explain the karaha (dislike) and so on in detail and with proofs.

Answer

When some people have performed the funeral prayer, [the obligation], since it is a communal obligation (fard kifaya), has been lifted from everyone; but the reward went only to those who performed the prayer. For the remaining people to stand like spectators while the prayer is being performed and not to join in the prayer is extreme callousness and discourtesy; it is…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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