The Prayer Over the Dead

Salat al-Janazah is the funeral prayer said over the body of a deceased Muslim before burial. It is a communal obligation (fard kifaya): the duty rests on the community as a whole and is discharged when a sufficient number perform it. The prayer is distinctive in form, it is said standing throughout, without the bowing and prostration of the ordinary prayers, and consists of four pronouncements of Allahu akbar between which the worshippers recite the opening chapter of the Quran, blessings on the Prophet, and supplications for the deceased and for all the dead.

The body, already washed and shrouded, is placed before the congregation, and the imam stands facing it. The rite is brief, plain and quickly followed by burial, in keeping with the tradition's emphasis on swift, simple interment; its communal character makes attending it an act of collective responsibility toward every member who dies.