The ruling on supplicating after the Funeral Prayer

Question :

What is the ruling on supplicating after the funeral prayer?

Answer:

Supplication is the core of worship. So, the servant asking his Lord for himself or others, and his announcing his humility and servitude to his Master when he requests his needs from Him is encouraged by Allâh in His Noble Book. He said:
"And your Lord said: 'Supplicate to Me, I will answer you."And He said:
"Supplicate to your Lord, in humility and secretly."

The Messenger of Allâh made this a Sunnah by his statements and actions. The basis in supplicating is that it is unrestricted unless there is something confirmed that restricts it to a time or an encouragement to increase it in a certain situation or at a specific time. An example would be the situation of prostration in the prayer or at the end of the night. Hence, the Muslim strives to perform it according to what has been explained in the texts, whether it is unrestricted or restricted. Supplicating for the deceased has been confirmed in the Hadiths concerning the funeral prayer. Supplicating for forgiveness for the deceased after completing his burial has also been confirmed. Verily, when the Messenger finished burying the deceased he would stand over him (i.e., the grave) and say:

"Seek forgiveness for your brother and ask for firmness for him. For verily he is being questioned now."

This was recorded by Abu Dawud by way of 'Uthman bin 'Affan in "The Book of Funerals' in his Sunan. Supplicating when visiting the person's grave is also confirmed. The Messenger of Allâh used to visit the graves and supplicate for their inhabitants. He used to teach his Companions the supplication for visiting the graves just as he would teach them a chapter of the Qur'an. Supplicating after the funeral prayer has not been confirmed from the Prophet and this was not from his Sunnah or the Sunnah of his Companions. If this happened with him or them, it would have been reported just as supplicating for the person in the prayer, when visiting his grave and after burying him have been reported. Therefore, based upon this, sanctioning supplication for the deceased or anyone else after completion of the funeral prayer is an innovation. This is not befitting of the Muslim to do, due to the Hadith:

"You all must adhere to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs after me. And avoid newly invented matters..."

This was recorded by the Sunan compilers by way of Al-'Irbadh bin Sariyah. May Allâh send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family and his Companions.