Ruling on mentioning the gender of the deceased to the members of the congregation before offering the funeral prayer

Praise be to Allah.

There is nothing wrong with stating whether the deceased was male or female when he or she is brought forward for the funeral prayer, if the members of the congregation did not know that, so that they may offer du’aa’ in the masculine if he was male and in the feminine if she was female, but if that is not done, it does not matter either, and the worshippers who do not know about this deceased person may intend to offer the prayer for the one who is there before them, and the funeral prayer will be valid whether they say it in the masculine (“O Allaah forgive him”), meaning this one who is present before us, or in the feminine (“O Allaah forgive her”), meaning this funeral bier that is before us [because the Arabic word al-haadir, meaning the one who is present, is masculine, and the word janaazah, meaning funeral bier, is feminine]. End quote.