Question:
Asalaamu Alaykum,
In the Hanafi Madhab Ghaibana Salatul Janaza is not permissible, so for Hanafi murids should they still do it or avoid it?
JazakAllah Khayr.
Answer:
`Alaykum as-Salam,
Among murids we pray salat al-janaza `ala al-gha’ibin regardless of our respective madhhabs in Fiqh as “the madhhab of the Murid is that of his Shaykh” just as “the madhhab of the uneducated (`aammi) is that of his imam.”
Even so, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim is a Hanafi and yet he prays Salat al-Janaza `ala al-gha’ibin and never leaves it. That does not make him un-Hanafi in that. He also recites the Basmala out loud in salat and the du`a al-qunut in Fajr. He also prays salat in full (4 raka`ats) even while travelling.
Why these additions that contravene the madhhab he follows? Because the Sufis prefer more to less worship as long as there is a legal interpretation that allows more, whether inside the madhhab or in another Sunni madhhab. As Imam al-Sha`arani said, “If the Law provides leeway to do MORE worship or apply more of the Sunnah then it is better
to follow that.” It is part of `Azima as when we say “astaghfirullah…min kulli ma yukhalifu al-`azima.”
However, among non-murids or in mosques for example, there is no need to pray it as it would create confusion or controversy.
The same rule applies for example to the act of briefly lying down on one’s side between the sunnah of Fajr and the fard.
See more at http://www.sunnah.org/fiqh/janaza_ghaib.htm
And Allah knows best.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
