How to pray the janazah prayer
The funeral prayer is prayed standing, with no bowing and no prostration. The imam leads; everyone else stands in rows behind him. It has four takbīrs, and something is said after each one.
Print the card for your masjid entrance · the four takbīrs on a half-letter card
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Stand in rows and make your intention
Stand behind the imam facing the qiblah, with the body in front of him. Intend in your heart to pray the funeral prayer for this person.
The Prophet ﷺ prayed for al-Najāshī with the people in rows behind him and said four takbīrs: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1245
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First takbīr, then al-Fātiḥah
Raise your hands and say Allāhu akbar, then recite al-Fātiḥah quietly.
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ
ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
مَٰلِكِ يَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ
إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ
ٱهْدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٰطَ ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ
صِرَٰطَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ ٱلْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا ٱلضَّآلِّينَ
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful. [All] praise is [due] to Allah, Lord of the worlds - The Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful, Sovereign of the Day of Recompense. It is You we worship and You we ask for help. Guide us to the straight path - The path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor, not of those who have evoked [Your] anger or of those who are astray.
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1335 · Arabic: Tanzil; translation: Saheeh International
Where the schools differ. The Ḥanafī and Mālikī schools praise Allah here instead of reciting al-Fātiḥah. The Shāfiʿī and Ḥanbalī schools recite it, following Ibn ʿAbbās. Follow your imam.
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Second takbīr, then blessings on the Prophet ﷺ
Say Allāhu akbar and send blessings on the Prophet ﷺ, as in the sitting of every prayer.
اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ، وَعَلَى آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ، كَمَا صَلَّيْتَ عَلَى إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَعَلَى آلِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، إِنَّكَ حَمِيدٌ مَجِيدٌ، اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ، وَعَلَى آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ، كَمَا بَارَكْتَ عَلَى إِبْرَاهِيمَ، وَعَلَى آلِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، إِنَّكَ حَمِيدٌ مَجِيدٌ
O Allah! Send Your Mercy on Muhammad and on the family of Muhammad, as You sent Your Mercy on Abraham and on the family of Abraham, for You are the Most Praise-worthy, the Most Glorious. O Allah! Send Your Blessings on Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, as You sent your Blessings on Abraham and on the family of Abraham, for You are the Most Praise-worthy, the Most Glorious.
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Third takbīr, then the duʿāʾ for the one who has died
Say Allāhu akbar and pray for them. This is the heart of the prayer; any sincere duʿāʾ fulfils it, and this is one the Prophet ﷺ said.
اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لَهُ وَارْحَمْهُ وَعَافِهِ وَاعْفُ عَنْهُ وَأَكْرِمْ نُزُلَهُ وَوَسِّعْ مُدْخَلَهُ وَاغْسِلْهُ بِالْمَاءِ وَالثَّلْجِ وَالْبَرَدِ وَنَقِّهِ مِنَ الْخَطَايَا كَمَا نَقَّيْتَ الثَّوْبَ الأَبْيَضَ مِنَ الدَّنَسِ وَأَبْدِلْهُ دَارًا خَيْرًا مِنْ دَارِهِ وَأَهْلاً خَيْرًا مِنْ أَهْلِهِ وَزَوْجًا خَيْرًا مِنْ زَوْجِهِ وَأَدْخِلْهُ الْجَنَّةَ وَأَعِذْهُ مِنْ عَذَابِ الْقَبْرِ أَوْ مِنْ عَذَابِ النَّارِ
O Allah! forgive him, have mercy upon him, give him peace and absolve him. Receive him with honour and make his grave spacious; wash him with water, snow and hail. Cleanse him from faults as Thou wouldst cleanse a white garment from impurity. Requite him with an abode more excellent than his abode, with a family better than his family, and with a mate better than his mate. Admit him to the Garden, and protect him from the torment of the grave and the torment of the Fire.
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 963 · For a woman, “him” becomes “her” (lahā)
The Prophet ﷺ also prayed this duʿāʾ over the dead, for the whole community. It can be said with the first or in its place.
اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لِحَيِّنَا وَمَيِّتِنَا وَصَغِيرِنَا وَكَبِيرِنَا وَذَكَرِنَا وَأُنْثَانَا وَشَاهِدِنَا وَغَائِبِنَا اللَّهُمَّ مَنْ أَحْيَيْتَهُ مِنَّا فَأَحْيِهِ عَلَى الإِيمَانِ وَمَنْ تَوَفَّيْتَهُ مِنَّا فَتَوَفَّهُ عَلَى الإِسْلاَمِ اللَّهُمَّ لاَ تَحْرِمْنَا أَجْرَهُ وَلاَ تُضِلَّنَا بَعْدَهُ
O Allah, forgive our living and our dead, our young and our old, our male and our female, those of us present and those absent. O Allah, whoever of us You keep alive, keep him alive in faith, and whoever of us You take, take him in Islam. O Allah, do not deprive us of his reward and do not let us go astray after him.
Sunan Abī Dāwūd 3201 (ṣaḥīḥ, al-Albānī) · also Tirmidhī 1024, ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ; Ibn Mājah 1498
Allāhumma-ghfir li-ḥayyinā wa mayyitinā, wa ṣaghīrinā wa kabīrinā, wa dhakarinā wa unthānā, wa shāhidinā wa ghāʾibinā. Allāhumma man aḥyaytahu minnā fa-aḥyihi ʿalā al-īmān, wa man tawaffaytahu minnā fa-tawaffahu ʿalā al-islām. Allāhumma lā taḥrimnā ajrahu wa lā tuḍillanā baʿdah
For a child
The prayer over a child is the same. After the third takbīr, pray for the child and for the parents. The Prophet ﷺ said that a miscarried child is prayed over and that forgiveness and mercy are asked for its parents.
وَالسِّقْطُ يُصَلَّى عَلَيْهِ وَيُدْعَى لِوَالِدَيْهِ بِالْمَغْفِرَةِ وَالرَّحْمَةِ
The miscarried child is prayed over, and forgiveness and mercy are asked for its parents.
The wording most often taught for a child is not from the Prophet ﷺ. Al-Bukhārī records it, without a chain, as what al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, one of the generation after the Companions, used to say. It is a good duʿāʾ and widely used; say it knowing where it comes from.
اللَّهُمَّ اجْعَلْهُ لَنَا فَرَطًا وَسَلَفًا وَأَجْرًا
O Allah, make him for us one who goes ahead to prepare the way, a forerunner, and a reward.
Allāhumma-jʿalhu lanā faraṭan wa salafan wa ajrā
Abū Hurayrah, a Companion, prayed over a child who had never done wrong and was heard saying the shorter duʿāʾ below. Mālik records it in the Muwaṭṭaʾ. This too is a Companion’s own practice, not a saying of the Prophet ﷺ.
اللَّهُمَّ أَعِذْهُ مِنْ عَذَابِ الْقَبْرِ
O Allah, protect him from the punishment of the grave.
Muwaṭṭaʾ Mālik, Kitāb al-Janāʾiz 16:18 (Abū Hurayrah’s own practice)
Allāhumma aʿidhhu min ʿadhāb al-qabr
For a girl, -hu (him) becomes -hā (her): ijʿalhā, aʿidhhā. More on when a child dies.
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Fourth takbīr, then the salām
Say Allāhu akbar, pause briefly for a short duʿāʾ, then turn your head to the right and say as-salāmu ʿalaykum wa raḥmatullāh. Many also turn to the left.
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If you missed it, or they died far away
At the grave. A woman (or man) who used to sweep the masjid died and was buried without the Prophet ﷺ being told. He asked to be shown the grave, and prayed over it there. The schools differ on who may do this and for how long after the burial, so ask your imam before you go.
In absentia. When al-Najāshī, the king of Abyssinia, died far away, the Prophet ﷺ announced his death and led the funeral prayer for him in Madinah. This is the ṣalāt al-ghāʾib, prayed as above but with no body present.
Where the schools differ. The Shāfiʿī and Ḥanbalī schools allow the prayer in absentia; the Ḥanafī and Mālikī schools do not, and hold that the body must be present. Some scholars allow it only soon after the death. Follow your imam and your masjid’s practice. Dār al-Iftāʾ al-Miṣriyyah, fatwā 4248: the funeral prayer in absentia (2004)