By Mufti Raḍā’ ul-Ḥaqq
Edited by IlmGate
Question:
Is it Mustaḥab (preferable) to consider an odd number of Ṣaffs (rows) in the Janāzah prayers? Can a Ṣaff be left incomplete taking this into consideration?
Answer:
The virtue of Janāzah Ṣalāh being performed with three Ṣaffs is proven from many traditions (Aḥādith).
Marthad ibn Abdullah [al-Yazanī] reports that when Mālik ibn Ḥubairah used to lead the Janāzah Ṣalāh and the people were less, he used to split them into three Ṣaffs (rows) and then he would say that Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم said, “The person upon whom three Ṣaffs of Muslims read Janāzah Ṣalāh, then indeed Jannah is obligatory for him.”