Short answer
Women may pray the janazah prayer, and it is valid. In the Hanafi school it is disliked (makruh tahrimi) for women to follow the funeral procession to the graveyard. The other schools dislike it less strongly, and the Malikis allow older women and close relatives.
Janazah prayer by women is valid, whether behind men in a separate area or at home. Women going out with the funeral procession and to the burial is makruh tahrimi in later Hanafi fatwa, because of the Companions' report of being forbidden and the risk of wailing and mixing.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- Following the funeral is makruh tanzihi (mildly disliked) for women.
- Maliki
- Allowed for older women, and for a younger woman following a close relative, when there is no fear of fitnah.
- Hanbali
- Following the funeral is makruh for women, not forbidden.
Explanation
This question often comes up when a woman loses a parent, a child or a husband and wants to be there. The answer separates two things: praying the janazah, and walking with the body to the grave.
The prayer. A woman's janazah prayer is valid and rewarded. If the janazah is held at the mosque and there is a women's area, she may pray there. She may also pray it at home or at the funeral home before the body leaves. Aisha and the other wives of the Prophet ﷺ asked for the body of Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas to be brought into the mosque so they could pray over it.
The procession and burial. Umm Atiyyah said the women were forbidden from following funerals, though it was not made strict on them. Hanafi scholars, weighing this with the risk of wailing, crowding and mixing at gravesides, ruled that women should not go with the procession. The other schools dislike it more lightly, as listed above.
In practice:
- A woman can say goodbye and see the face of her relative before the body is taken out.
- She can pray the janazah in the women's area.
- She can visit the grave later, calmly and with dua; see women visiting graves.
Her grief is not less valued because she stayed back. Her dua, her patience and her prayer reach the dead person just as well. For the method of the prayer, see how to pray janazah.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Baqara 2:155
وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُم بِشَىْءٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْخَوْفِ وَٱلْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْأَمْوَٰلِ وَٱلْأَنفُسِ وَٱلثَّمَرَٰتِ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ ٱلصَّٰبِرِينَ ﴿١٥٥﴾
And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient,
The reward of grief borne with patience does not depend on being at the graveside.
Sahih al-Bukhari 1278
Sahih... نهينا عن اتباع الجنائز ولم يعزم علينا ...
"Umm Atiyyah said: we were forbidden from following funerals, but it was not made binding on us."
This is the basis of the ruling on women following the procession.
Sahih Muslim 945
Sahih... من شهد الجنازة حتى يصلى عليها فله قيراط ...
"Whoever attends the funeral until the prayer is done has a qirat of reward."
The reward of the prayer itself is open to everyone who prays it.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Durr al-Mukhtar, Kitab al-Salah, Bab Salat al-Janazah. Women going out with funerals is makruh tahrimi.
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Salah, Bab Salat al-Janazah. The reasoning and the validity of women's janazah prayer.
- Mukhtasar Khalil with al-Sharh al-Kabir, Bab al-Jana'iz. The Maliki allowance for older women and close relatives.
This answer is pending review by the scholars on our team. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.