Huzoor (rh): What the lady has asked is that is it correct that an Ahmadi cannot pray close to the body of a deceased non-Ahmadi or a non-Muslim like a Christian? Close to the body or away from the body that is totally irrelevant to the question. And as far as the prayer goes, not namaz-e-janaza, that is a different thing altogether. That’s a formal right which is prohibited. But the prayer is not at all prohibited. Not only for non-Ahmadis, you should pray for your friends. This is their right on you. But also you can pray for all others except the idolaters. The only thing which has been forbidden in Islam is to pray for the forgiveness of idolaters who, you know, now but that the term idolaters is not applied to Christians. Despite the fact that the Holy Quran itself declares that they have called partners besides Allah, it counts them among the Ahle Kitab. So all those who belong to a source of oneness, even if they have gone astray a bit in the direction of idolatry, yet they are not stamped as idolaters. For example, among the Muslims there are so many today who are found to worship even the graves. So the idolatry is there. I mean in the idolatry of the first degree. Yet they are Ahle Kitab. They are, I mean, they are Muslims. They are called Muslims as long as they believe in the fundamentals of Islam. If they say لَا اِلہَ اِلَا اللہُ مُحَمّدُ رَسُولُ اللہ, you can’t call them non-Muslims. So this is the position, general position. So prayer is only forbidden for idolaters and for none other.
