Date : 12-01-2016

Question :

Is it permissible for a woman to follow the funeral procession?


The Answer :

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of The Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.



Funeral prayer is a collective duty and it is legislated for both men and women as indicated by the following Hadith: "He who offered prayer over the dead, for him is the reward of one qirat, and he who attended the burial, for him is the reward of two qirats. It was asked what the qirat was. He said: It is equivalent to Uhud."{Bukhari&Muslim}.



However, it is dislikable for women to follow funeral processions for Umm Atiyah reported: "We were forbidden to accompany funeral processions, but this prohibition wasn`t mandatory for us."{Bukhari&Muslim}.



An-Nawawi said: " This Hadith means that the banning doesn`t reach the level of prohibition. It is only dislikable for women to do so, and this is the view of our fellow scholars."{Shareh An-Nawawi Ala Muslim}. He added: "This is our view along with the majority of the Muslim scholars."{Al-Majmou`}.



On the other hand, it is impermissible for a woman to leave her house to attend her husband`s funeral because her Iddah(waiting period) starts directly after his death; therefore, she is obliged to stay there, but she may perform the funeral prayer if he was brought home. Kindly refer to Fatwa No.(906). And Allah knows best.