Short answer
Yes. In the Hanafi school the janazah is prayed over every Muslim, however sinful, including someone who neglected the prayer, drank or died by suicide. Their need for the community's dua is greater, not less. Only a few narrow cases are excluded, such as a rebel or armed robber killed in the act.
The janazah is fard kifayah for every Muslim who dies, sinful or righteous. A Muslim who neglected salah out of laziness while believing it obligatory is still a Muslim and is prayed over. The exceptions are rebels (bughat) and highway robbers killed while fighting, and, in some texts, a person who killed his parent.
Other madhhabs
- Hanbali
- The relied-upon Hanbali view counts someone who abandons the prayer out of laziness, after being called to it, as outside Islam, so no janazah is prayed for him.
- Maliki
- The janazah is prayed, but the imam and people of standing may stay away from an open sinner's funeral as a lesson to others.
Explanation
Families are sometimes told, "He never prayed, so there is no janazah for him." This hurts, and in the Hanafi school it is not correct. A person who says the shahada and does not deny that prayer is obligatory remains a Muslim even if they failed to pray. Neglecting the prayer is a grave sin, and the person's affair is with Allah, but the community still washes, shrouds, prays over and buries them.
The evidence. The Prophet ﷺ sometimes held back from praying himself, for a man who died in debt and a man who killed himself, to warn others. But he told his Companions, "Pray over your companion." So the prayer was not cancelled; only the leader of the community stepped back to teach a lesson. Hanafi scholars say the same today: a respected imam may choose not to lead the prayer of someone who openly mocked the religion, but someone else should lead it.
- A Muslim who drank, gambled or committed zina: prayed over.
- A Muslim who died by suicide: prayed over; see janazah after suicide.
- Someone who openly left Islam and died on that: no janazah. If you are unsure what a person believed at the end, ask a mufti, and lean towards good opinion.
The other schools differ mainly on abandoning prayer. The Hanbali school treats it, in certain conditions, as leaving Islam. The Shafi'i and Maliki schools, like the Hanafi, count the person a sinful Muslim. If you lost someone who did not pray, pray their janazah, make dua and give charity for them. Allah's mercy is wide.
The evidence
Quran, Surah At-Tawba 9:84
وَلَا تُصَلِّ عَلَىٰٓ أَحَدٍۢ مِّنْهُم مَّاتَ أَبَدًۭا وَلَا تَقُمْ عَلَىٰ قَبْرِهِۦٓ ۖ إِنَّهُمْ كَفَرُوا۟ بِٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِۦ وَمَاتُوا۟ وَهُمْ فَٰسِقُونَ ﴿٨٤﴾
And do not pray [the funeral prayer, O Muhammad], over any of them who has died - ever - or stand at his grave. Indeed, they disbelieved in Allah and His Messenger and died while they were defiantly disobedient.
Only those who died in disbelief are excluded from the funeral prayer, not sinful believers.
Quran, Surah Az-Zumar 39:53
۞ قُلْ يَٰعِبَادِىَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا۟ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا۟ مِن رَّحْمَةِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ ٱلذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا ۚ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلْغَفُورُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ ﴿٥٣﴾
Say, "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful."
No sinner should be cut off from hope and dua.
Sahih al-Bukhari 2295
Sahih... صلوا على صاحبكم ...
"Pray over your companion."
Even when the Prophet ﷺ held back, he told others to pray.
Sahih Muslim 978
Sahih... برجل قتل نفسه بمشاقص فلم يصل عليه ...
"A man who had killed himself with arrowheads was brought to him, and he did not pray over him."
The leader held back as a warning, but the rest of the community still prayed.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Salah, Bab al-Jana'iz, section on the funeral prayer. Prayer over every Muslim, with the exception of rebels and robbers killed in the act.
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Salah, Bab Salat al-Janazah. The janazah of the sinner and of the one who killed himself.
- Kashshaf al-Qina', Kitab al-Salah, ruling on the one who abandons prayer. The Hanbali view on abandoning prayer.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.