Attending funeral of Christian parent

21-10-2004 | IslamWeb

Question:

If one of your parents are non-Muslim and they die can you go to the church and just stand at the back as to keep peace within the family.

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Answer:

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.

 

A Muslim woman should not enter a church to attend the prayers (of the Christians) on the dead, even if the dead is one of her relatives, for many reasons.

Firstly, it is disliked for a woman to go to the funerals even if the dead is a Muslim. Um 'Attiyah narrated that "We were forbidden to follow the funerals, but it was not an absolute prohibition." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Secondly, some of the Islamic jurists are of the view that it is disliked for a Muslim to enter a church, especially on the occasion of their celebrations or prayers, as this is watching and attending a sin, as churches contain pictures and crosses and other slogans of the non-Muslims. Therefore, it is not permissible for a Muslim woman to attend this. She can apologise to her family that in Islam it is prohibited for a woman to follow or attend a funeral even if the dead is a Muslim. She can also use Tawriyah (saying something which has more than one meaning and intending a meaning different from what the listener is likely to understand) as a way out of this dilemma, like what the Prophet Ibraaheem said to his people when they asked him to go out with them on the day of their celebration, and he told them: ''Verily, I am sick" [37:89], meaning that I will be sick. So they understood that he is sick, so they accepted his apology for not accompanying them.  

Allaah knows best.