Question:

We know that the maqaam of a Shaheed is the highest after the Prophets and the Messengers (AS). My question is regarding funeral and Kafn for the Shaheed. According to my understanding, for the Shaheed, there was no Kafn, and no Janazah. But in the mattan of Qadoori, it states that the Shaheed is given these two. I know the events that transpirted after Uhud, where many of the Shuhadah were given Kafn due to their bodies being mutilated by the enemy. And the narration regarding the Messenger (SAW) praying over the body of Hamzah ibn Abdul Muttalib (RA) is weak.

Answer:

It is correct that the Shaheed is to be given a Kafn and Salat al-Janazah is offered for him, but he is not given the Ghusl normally given to the dead.

Regarding the kafn, the Scholars state that the clothes of the Shaheed are left upon him and only the extra armour is taken off and if the body still remains uncovered then that is made up using other sheets, this is what is meant by giving a Kafn to a Shaheed and this is completely in accord with the hadith on the subject.

As for praying over the Shaheed, there are many sound hadith that prove this and the hadith that Hamza (RA) was prayed over is actually Sahih and not weak. Imam Abu Daud narrates in his Maraseel that he, peace and blessings be upon him, prayed over the killed in Uhud in groups of ten. With each ten would be the body of Hamza (RA). In the end Hamza (RA) was prayed over seventy times. Imam Zafr Ahmad Uthmani has recorded the many hadith that support this in Iila al-Sunnan, vol.8 p.363.

Mufti Mohammed Sajjad

Wallahu Aalam bis-sawab

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The answer to this question is the opinion of the scholar and does not reflect the opinion of other scholars of As-Suffa Institute and As-Suffa Institute as an organisation.