A question families ask
I missed the janazah. Can I pray it at the grave?
In the Shāfiʿī and Ḥanbalī schools, yes: the Prophet ﷺ prayed at the grave of a woman who used to sweep the masjid, after she had been buried without him being told. The Ḥanafī and Mālikī schools hold that the funeral prayer is prayed once, so they pray at a grave only when someone was buried without it. The schools differ, so ask your imam before you go.
In more detail
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The Prophet ﷺ prayed at a grave
A woman (or man) who swept the masjid died and was buried without the Prophet ﷺ being told. He said: show me the grave, and he prayed over it there. He said these graves are full of darkness for those in them, and Allah lights them up for them by his prayer. Ibn ʿAbbās also reports that the Prophet ﷺ led a prayer at a lone grave, with the people in rows behind him.
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1337 · Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 956 · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1336
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SchoolShāfiʿī
Someone who did not pray may pray at the grave, without disagreement in the school. On how long after the burial, the school has six views; most of its scholars hold it is for those who were obliged to pray it on the day of the death. Al-Nawawī reports from Ibn al-Mundhir that Ibn ʿUmar, Abū Mūsā and ʿĀʾishah held this too.
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SchoolḤanbalī
Someone who missed the prayer may pray at the grave for up to a month after the burial, alone or in congregation. Aḥmad said the prayer at the grave is reported from the Prophet ﷺ in six ways, all of them good.
Ibn Qudāmah, al-Mughnī (Ḥanbalī, with the other schools), 2:381–382
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SchoolḤanafī
Once the prayer has been prayed by those with the right to lead it, it is not repeated. If someone was buried without the prayer, it is prayed at the grave until the body is thought to have decayed, with no fixed time. The guardian may also pray at the grave if someone without the right led the prayer without him.
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SchoolMālikī
Praying at a grave is disliked, and the prayer is not repeated, unless the person was buried without a funeral prayer. Then, on the relied-upon view, the body is taken out for the prayer if no change to it is feared; if change is feared, the prayer must be prayed at the grave, as long as not so much time has passed that the body is thought to have decayed.
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What you can always do
Pray for them, at the grave or anywhere, in your own words. The Prophet ﷺ said that when a Muslim prays for his brother in his absence, the angel says: and for you the same.
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2732a (narrator Abū al-Dardāʾ in the Arabic chain)
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