Salat al-Janazah
The Islamic funeral prayer, prayed standing over the body with no bowing or prostration.
The funeral prayer: a brief congregational rite performed standing throughout, with four takbirs and no bowing or prostration, asking mercy for the deceased. Praying it is a communal obligation, discharged for the whole community once some of its members perform it, which is why strangers routinely join a funeral prayer for someone they never met.
Salat al-Janazah is prayed standing throughout, with none of the bowing or prostration that defines every other prayer in Islam. It is made of four takbirs with supplication between them, and it is short.
It is a communal obligation rather than an individual one: if enough of the community perform it, the obligation is discharged for everyone. It normally happens soon after death, in keeping with the practice of burying quickly.
The body is present and the prayer is offered over it, which is why it is one of the few Islamic prayers with a fixed physical setting as well as a fixed form.
Does it have a text?
It has a fixed structure and variable supplications, which differ between schools of law and between communities. It is not published here; its own page sets out why choosing a school and an edition is not a decision this site can make without a reviewer.
When it comes up
Other forms of prayer in Muslim
- Salah — The five daily Islamic prayers, fixed in wording, posture and time.
- Dua — Personal supplication in Islam, said in any words and any language.
- Jumu'ah — The Friday congregational prayer, with a sermon in place of part of the usual prayer.
- Dhikr — The remembrance of God through short repeated formulas.
- Tarawih — The long night prayers of Ramadan, in which the Qur'an is recited at length.
This page describes a practice. It does not tell you how to perform it, or whether you should. Practice varies by region, community and household far more than a page like this can carry, and nobody credentialed in the tradition has signed anything here. The full dossier names its sources.