Al-Hajari said: “I prayed with ‘Abdullah bin Abi Awfa Al-Aslami, the Companion of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), offering the funeral prayer for a daughter of his. He said Takbir over her four times, and he paused for a while after the fourth. I heard the people saying Subhan- Allah to him throughout the rows. Then he said the Salam and said: ‘Did you think that I was going to say a fifth Takbir?’ They said: ‘We were afraid of that.’ He said: ‘I was not going to do that, but the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to say four Takbir, then pause for a while, and he would say whatever Allah willed he should say, then he would say the Salam.’”

It was narrated from Ibn ‘Abbas that the Prophet (ﷺ) said Takbir four times.

It was narrated that ‘Abdur-Rahman bin Abi Laila said: “Zaid bin Arqan used to say the Takbir four times in the funeral prayer, and he said the Takbir five times for one funeral. I asked him (about that) and he said: ‘The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to do that.’”

It was narrated from Kathir bin ‘Abdullah, from his father, from his grandfather, that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said the Takbir five times.

Abu Jubair bin Hayyah narrated that he heard Mughirah bin Shu’bah say: “I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: ‘The (funeral) prayer should be offered for a child.’”

It was narrated from Jabir bin ‘Abdullah that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “If a child utters a sound (after being born), the funeral prayer should be offered for him and (his relatives) may inherit from him.”

It was narrated that Abu Hurairah said: “The Prophet (ﷺ) said: ‘Offer the (funeral) prayer for your children, for they have gone ahead of you (i.e. to prepare your place in Paradise for you).”

Isma’il bin Abu Khalid said: “I said to ‘Abdullah bin Abi Awfa: ‘Did you see Ibrahim, the son of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)?’ He said: ‘He died when he was small, and if it had been decreed that there should be any Prophet after Muhammad (ﷺ), his son would have lived. But there is no Prophet after him.’”

It was narrated that Ibn ‘Abbas said: “Then Ibrahim the son of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) died, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) prayed and said: ‘He has a wet-nurse in Paradise, and if he had lived he would have been a Siddiq and a Prophet. If he had lived his maternal uncles, the Egyptians, would have been set free and no Egyptian would ever have been enslaved.’”

Husain bin ‘Ali said: “When Qasim the son of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) died, Khadijah said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, the milk of Qasim’s mother is overflowing. Would that Allah had let him live until he had finished breastfeeding.’ The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘He will complete his breastfeeding in Paradise.’ She said: ‘If I know that, O Messenger of Allah, it makes it easier for me to bear.’ The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘If you wish, I will pray to Allah to let you hear his voice.’ She said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, rather I believe Allah and His Messenger.’”