What is the ruling of funeral salah performed in India of person who has died in Saudi Arabia & buried there. Mind that the funeral salah has already been performed in Saudi. A controversy has aroused in our town as many people are saying it is totally wrong to perform salah here in India kindly reply in the light of Quran and sunnah jazakkallah

All praise be to Allah, and may His blessings and peace be on the final messenger, Muhammad,

What we have in this regard is the authentic hadeeth reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim, which informs us that the Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) did pray on al-Najâshi (Negus) of Abyssinia when he died, and his companions prayed behind him. Notice that al-Najâshi was one of the greatest supporters of Islam and the Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him).

The Ḥanafis and Mâlikis considered this incident of the characteristics of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him). The Shâfi’is and Ḥanbalis considered it a general legislation.

Most of the Shâfi’is and Ḥanbalis didn’t restrict the prayer to the very circumstance that was reported in the hadeeth. There are, however, some positions within the Ḥanbali madhhab that restrict it to cases where the deceased didn’t have funeral prayer held for him (Ibn Taymiyya’s choice), and other positions restrict it to the case in which the deceased was a prominent figure of great contributions to the religion and the ummah (which may be very controversial in our times between the congregants of the same masjid). The Shâfi’is say it would be prescribed for the people who would have prayed on him had he died in his hometown.

The difficulty of not restricting this ruling is more than obvious in our times, and that is because people of the same family frequently live apart, and if everyone wanted a funeral prayer held for their loved ones at his masjid, this could be very impractical. If it is about praying individually, then everyone may follow their madhhab/conviction. As for doing it in congregation, I believe it is not prescribed to pray on everyone who dies in a remote location for that was not reported, nor is it practical. It is warranted if someone died in a non-Muslim land where he didn’t get prayed on. Flexibility must be shown, however, for the matter is controversial.

Allah knows best.