Today I attended the Janazah (funeral) prayer of 3 members from our community, which we ask Allah to have mercy upon them and forgive their shortcomings. The imam leading the prayer made an announcement and said regarding the matter of where the imam should stand in prayer for a man or woman there is no daleel (proof) regarding that matter and the scholars have explained that. A person from the congregation had approached the imam but he insisted on his stance and said there is no proof regarding that matter. Here are some of the proofs as well as fatawa of the scholars regarding this matter:

Narrated by Samura bin Jundab in Sahih Bukhari,

“I offered the funeral prayer behind the Prophet (ﷺ) for a woman who had died during childbirth and he stood up by the middle of the coffin.”
(Also) The hadith of Nafii Abu Qaalib Al Khiyaad Al Baahilee,

“I saw Anas ibn Maalik offer the funeral prayer for a man, and he stood in line with his head. When that bier was taken away, the bier of a woman of Quraysh or of the Ansaar was brought, and it was said to him (Anas): ‘O Abu Hamzah, this is the bier of so-and-so, the daughter of so-and-so; please offer the funeral prayer for her.’ So he offered the funeral prayer for her, standing in line with her middle. Al-‘Alaa’ ibn Ziyaad al-‘Adawi was among us, and when he saw that he (Anas) stood in a different place with relation to the man and the woman, he said: ‘O Abu Hamzah, is this how the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to stand in relation to a man and in relation to a woman, as you did?’ He said: ‘Yes.’ He said: al-‘Alaa’ turned to us and said: ‘Remember this.”

Collected by Abu Dawood, Tirmidhi and other than them and
Classed as saheeh by Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allah have mercy on him)

Shaykh Ibn Baaz, rahimahu’Allah, was asked:

Question:

“How should the standing of the imam be when leading the Janazah prayer?”

Answer:

“From the Sunnah is that he stands at the head of the man and in the middle of the woman. If there more than one janazah being performed then he should bring the man and then by a baby boy then followed by the woman and then a baby girl. The prayer should be prayed upon all of them at once because the purpose is to rush to perform the janazah prayer. As well as the head of the boy should be lined along with the head of the man and the head of the woman and the baby girl should be lined up with the middle of the man to consider with the Sunnah”

[Majmoo fatwa waa raa’siil lii Sh Ibn Baaz, Volume 13]

Translated by

Yassin Al-Somalee
Abu Aisha