🔸One of the essential rites observed for a deceased Muslim believer is the funeral prayer. After the body has been ritually washed (ghusl) and shrouded (takfīn), believers stand facing the qiblah, with the deceased laid before them, and offer the funeral prayer. This prayer consists of a series of supplications asking God to elevate the rank of the departed believer.

🔸Offering the funeral prayer is a duty that the living owe to a fellow believer who has passed away. A long-standing custom among Muslims holds that the larger the congregation gathered for the funeral prayer, the more deeply the deceased was loved by those left behind.

🔸The obligatory portion of the funeral prayer in Shia jurisprudence is brief. Worshippers are nevertheless encouraged to offer additional prayers and supplications for the deceased and to ask God to grant them abundant blessings. Another notable aspect of the funeral prayer is the meaning and content of the prayers and supplications offered during it.

🔸When the martyred Leader led the funeral prayer over the pure body of Martyr General Soleimani, he stood before God with tearful eyes and bore witness that he had seen nothing but goodness in Martyr Soleimani and his companions. During that same prayer, he asked Almighty God to grant him an end like that of Martyr Soleimani: to be martyred on a path beloved to Almighty God. Throughout his life, he repeatedly prayed that, on the divine path he had chosen, he would one day offer his greatest possession—his very life—and be killed at the hands of the wretched enemies of God and humanity.

🔸The funeral prayers offered over the body of Martyr Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei each bore their own distinct character—in Tehran, Qom, Najaf, Karbala, and Mashhad. By long-standing tradition, the funeral prayer is led by someone distinguished for both scholarship and spiritual standing. In Qom, Grand Ayatollah Javadi Amoli—the philosopher, Islamic sage, and marjaʿ— led the funeral prayer and bore witness before God that Martyr Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei had returned to his Lord as a devoted mujahid, tireless in striving, pious, devoted to God, and a martyr of the Quran and the Ahl al-bayt (pbut).

🔸After a lifetime of struggle, hardship, and patience, Martyr Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei finally attained the aspiration for which he had long prayed. In the funeral prayers offered over his body, millions bore witness before God that he was a righteous servant of Him.