The Law of Dead Prayers for Bodies Who Rarely or Never Pray

A Muslim must fulfill the five pillars of Islam. This is based on \in a hadith which states that “Islam is built on five (pillars): Testifying that there is no god worthy of worship except Allah, establishing prayers, paying zakat, fasting Ramadan, and pilgrimage to Baitul-Haram.” [HR. Muslim from Ibn ‘Umar, hadith no. 22/16:32].

The hadith above states that Muslims (Muslims) are not yet perfect in Islam if they have not fulfilled the five pillars. Some scholars state that a person has not become a true Muslim if he has not fulfilled the five pillars. In other words, there are several levels of Muslims, and the lowest is a Muslim who has just said the shahada. Even though he has not prayed yet, he can already be classified as a Muslim. As in the hadith:

It was narrated from ‘Ubaidillah ibn ‘Adiy bin al-Khiyar, from al-Miqdad bin al-Aswad, that he conveyed the news to ‘Ubaidillah, that he once asked the Messenger of Allah: “O Messenger of Allah, what do you think if I meet a man from among the disbelievers, then he attacked me, he slashed one of my two hands with a sword until he severed it, then he took cover with a tree from my attack, then he said: ‘I have converted to Islam’. Can I kill him after he declares that he has converted to Islam, O Messenger of Allah?” Rasulullah saw said: “Do not kill him.” He said: “Then I said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, he has cut off my hand'”. Then he said again: “He declared that he converted to Islam after cutting off my hand, can I kill him?” The Prophet said: “Don’t kill him. If you kill him, then indeed he is equal to you before you kill him and indeed you (after killing him) are equal to him before saying the sentence he said.” [HR. Muslim, no. 155/95:61].

This hadith gives the understanding that a person who has declared that he has converted to Islam has the same position as a Muslim (Muslim), and has the same rights as other Muslims, including having his body prayed on. Then friends or neighbors right and left are also obliged to offer prayers on the body.