Conditions for the necessity of the funeral prayer and burial for a stillbirth or fetus?

Question

Note: If it is necessary this post can be divided into two separate questions (I hope for some constructive comments).

Basically what I want to know is: what are the conditions for a burial for the named cases ... or from what development stage or age of a fetus on is a burial necessary...

And I do assume that the necessity of to bury a body imply the necessity of performing salat al-Janazah I just want to know whether my assumption is right.

I hope for answers with evidences that cover an approved fiqh opinion on the matter.

Answer 1

According to الفقه الإسلامي وأدلته:

If there was any sign of life after delivery, even momentary, then the fetus should be bathed, wrapped in a cloth and buried and the funeral prayer offered. The four sunni madhabs agree on this.

Otherwise:

• according to the Hanafis and Malikis the funeral will not be offered. The Hanafis however say that the body will be bathed, wrapped in a cloth and buried.

• according to the Shafis and Hanbalis, if the pregnancy lasted less than four months then the funeral will not be offered, but will be offered if it lasted more than that.

Further references: تخريج أحاديث الهداية and المغني