All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

The relative of the dead comes in priority over the Imaam of the mosque in performing the funeral prayer according to the majority of the jurists. According to their view, this is because the closest person to the dead is the one who deserves most the right to lead the funeral prayer on him. Whereas some other scholars are of the view that the Imaam of the mosque in the locality comes in priority over the relative of the dead, but the most correct opinion is the first one.

Of course, if the dead has no relative [who may perform the funeral prayer on him] then the Imaam of the mosque comes in priority in this case.

Allaah Knows best.