Chapter on the Prayer over the Dead

Muhammad ibn Ya‘qub from Ali ibn Muhammad from Ali ibn Shirah from Muhammad ibn Sulayman from Husayn al-Marjusi from Hisham, who said: I said to Abu Abdillah عليه السلام, peace be upon him: “The people speak to us and refute our statement that the funeral prayer is not performed over the child because he did not pray, and they ask (us): ‘The funeral prayer is only for one who has prayed?.’ So we say: ‘Yes.’ Then they ask (us): ‘What do you say if a Christian or Jew embraces Islam and then dies immediately, what is the ruling in his case?’” Imam عليه السلام said: “Say to them: ‘What do you say if someone embraces Islam just now and then slanders a person, would the prescribed punishment (hadd) be obligatory upon him for his slander?’ They will say (to you): ‘The hadd is obligatory upon him.’ Then say to them: ‘What if this child, who did not pray, were to slander a person. Would the hadd be obligatory upon him?’ They will say: ‘No.’ Then say to them: ‘You have (now) spoken the truth. The funeral prayer is only obligatory for the one upon whom the prayer and the hadd are obligatory, and it is not performed for the one upon whom neither the prayer nor the hadd are obligatory.’”