Sunan Ibn Majah
Sunan Ibn Majah 1490
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، وَعَلِيُّ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ، قَالاَ حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ نُمَيْرٍ، عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ إِسْحَاقَ، عَنْ يَزِيدَ بْنِ أَبِي حَبِيبٍ، عَنْ مَرْثَدِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ الْيَزَنِيِّ، عَنْ مَالِكِ بْنِ هُبَيْرَةَ الشَّامِيِّ، - وَكَانَتْ لَهُ صُحْبَةٌ - قَالَ كَانَ إِذَا أُتِيَ بِجِنَازَةٍ فَتَقَالَّ مَنْ تَبِعَهَا جَزَّأَهُمْ ثَلاَثَةَ صُفُوفٍ ثُمَّ صَلَّى عَلَيْهَا وَقَالَ إِنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ قَالَ " مَا صَفَّ صُفُوفٌ ثَلاَثَةٌ مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ عَلَى مَيِّتٍ إِلاَّ أَوْجَبَ " .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah and Ali ibn Muhammad narrated to us; they said: Abdullah ibn Numayr narrated to us, from Muhammad ibn Ishaq, from Yazid ibn Abi Habib, from Marthad ibn Abdullah al-Yazani, from Malik ibn Hubayrah al-Shami—who had been a Companion—who said: ‘When a funeral was brought and he considered the number of those following it to be small, he would arrange them in three rows and then perform the funeral prayer over it.’ He said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘Whenever three rows of Muslims stand in prayer over a deceased person, it is assured.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The Arabic ends with أوجب without stating in this text what is assured or made incumbent. The translation leaves the object unstated instead of importing an explanatory gloss.