Can they offer the funeral prayer over one who did not pray for fear of fitnah that may result if they do not do it?

Question: 67113

There is a village in which most of the inhabitants do not pray, but they adhere to some Islamic customs. There may be among them some who are kaafirs. We are a group who are religiously-committed and we are calling them to Allaah, and we have hopes that they will be guided. We only offer the funeral prayer for those who pray, but this causes fitnah if we do not offer the prayer for those who do not pray.

Is it permissible to offer the funeral prayer for all people for the sake of da’wah?.

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

The ruling on offering the funeral prayer
for one who did not pray is based on the difference of opinion among the
scholars as to whether he is a Muslim who is a sinner or a kaafir. The
apparent meaning of the texts and the consensus of the Sahaabah (may Allaah
be pleased with them) is that the one who does not pray is a kaafir in the
sense of major kufr. This has been discussed in the answer to question no.
10061. In the answer to question
no. 70278 we stated that if a
person does not pray, we cannot eat meat slaughtered by him. In the answer
to question no. 37820 and
49698 we stated that if a person
does not pray, no good deeds, zakaah, fasting, Hajj or anything will be
accepted from him. In the answer to question no.
7864 we stated that the Muslims
should have their own graveyards, in which no one else should be buried, and
the one who does not pray and dies when he is not praying should not be
buried in the Muslim graveyard.

At the same time, we cannot deny that there
is another scholarly opinion on this issue, and there is nothing wrong with
the one who adopts it and believes in it.

If you think that the one who does not pray
is a kaafir, then do not offer the funeral prayer for one who died when he
was not praying, and put up with any trouble that may be caused to you by
the foolish.

If you do not think that the one who does
not pray is a kaafir, then there is nothing wrong with you offering the
funeral prayer for one who died when he was not praying, although it is
better not to offer the prayer for him, as a punishment to him and as a
deterrent to others from this major sin. Perhaps by not offering the funeral
prayer for him and others like him, you will motivate people to establish
regular prayer.

And Allaah knows best.

Source:

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