A man who had killed himself with broad arrowheads was brought to the Prophet ﷺ, and he did not perform the funeral prayer over him.In another narration, the story of this man is mentioned, that he had fallen ill and people cried out in grief over him. His neighbor came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said to him, "He has died."The Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked, "How do you know?"The man replied, "I saw him."The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "He has not died."So the neighbor returned. Then people cried out over him again, and the neighbor came back to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said, "He has died."The Prophet ﷺ said, "He has not died."He went back, and again people cried out over him. His wife said, "Go to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and inform him."The man said, "O Allah, curse him."Then the man set off and saw that he had stabbed himself in the throat with a broad arrowhead he had with him. He went to the Prophet ﷺ and informed him that he had died.The Prophet ﷺ asked, "How do you know?"He replied, "I saw him stabbing himself in the throat with broad arrowheads he had with him."The Prophet ﷺ asked, "You saw him do it?"He said, "Yes."The Prophet ﷺ said, "Then I will not perform the funeral prayer over him."
أتي النبي ﷺ برجل قتل نفسه بمشاقص، فلم يصل عليه. وفي رواية: ذكرت قصة هذا الرجل بأنه مرض، فصيح عليه، فجاء جاره إلى رسول الله ﷺ فقال [له]: إنه قد مات، قال: وما يدريك؟ قال: أنا رأيته، قال رسول الله ﷺ: إنه لم يمت، قال: فر. فصيح عليه، فجاء إلى رسول الله ﷺ، فقال: إنه قد مات، فقال النبي ﷺ: إنه لم يمت فرجع فصيح عليه، فقالت امرأته: انطلق إلى رسول الله ﷺ فأخبره، فقال الرجل: اللهم العنه، قال: ثم انطلق الرجل، فرآه قد نحر نفسه بمشقص معه، فانطلق إلى النبي ﷺ فأخبره أنه قد مات، فقال: وما يدريك؟ قال: رأيته ينحر نفسه بمشاقص معه، قال: أنت رأيته؟ قال: نعم، قال: إذا لا أصلي عليه.
Muslim narrated it in the Book of Funerals (978) from Awn bin Sallam, who reported to us from Zuhayr, from Simak, from Jabir, and he related it. The second narration is found in Abu Dawud (3185) through another route, from Zuhayr with his chain of transmission.Tirmidhi said following this hadith (1068), "This is a hasan sahih hadith. The scholars have differed on this matter. Some of them said that the funeral prayer should be performed over everyone who prayed toward the qibla, including one who killed himself, and this is the view of Thawri and Ishaq. Ahmad said that the imam should not perform the funeral prayer over one who killed himself, but someone other than the imam may pray over him."Nawawi said, "In this hadith is evidence for those who say that the funeral prayer should not be performed over one who killed himself, because of his disobedience, and this is the position of Umar bin Abdul-Aziz and Uzai. Hasan, Nakhai, Qatada, Malik, Abu Hanifa, Shafii, and the majority of scholars said that the prayer should be performed over him, and they responded to this hadith by saying that the Prophet ﷺ did not personally pray over him in order to deter people from committing a similar act, while the companions did pray over him. This is similar to how the Prophet ﷺ initially refrained from praying over someone who died in debt, in order to deter people from being careless about incurring debt and neglecting to repay it, while he commanded his companions to pray over him, saying ﷺ, 'Pray over your companion.'"The judge said, "The position of the scholars generally is that the funeral prayer should be performed over every Muslim, whether he was subjected to a legal punishment, stoned, killed himself, or was born of fornication. It has been reported from Malik and others that the imam avoids praying over one killed under a legal punishment, and that people of distinction do not pray over the sinful, as a deterrent to them. It has been reported from Zuhri that the prayer should not be performed over one who was stoned, but should be performed over one killed in retaliation. Abu Hanifa said that the prayer should not be performed over a highway robber, nor over someone killed from the rebellious faction. Qatada said that the prayer should not be performed over a child born of fornication. And it has been reported from Hasan that the prayer should not be performed over a woman who dies in childbirth as a result of fornication, nor over her child." End of quote.Qurtubi related in al-Mufhim, from Imam Ahmad, that the imam should not pray over one who killed himself, nor over one who misappropriated war spoils. Abu Hanifa said that the prayer should not be performed over one who abandoned prayer if he is killed, but should be performed over anyone else.