Is it permissible to offer the funeral prayer for a sorcerer, a hypocrite, or someone who committed major shirk, if only the questioner knows their true state? And does the ruling differ if the deceased is a relative? And who are those for whom it is not permissible to offer the prayer, and what is the evidence?

It is not permissible to offer the funeral prayer for a polytheist, a disbeliever, or a hypocrite whose hypocrisy is of the greater kind, nor for a sorcerer who seeks assistance from jinn, due to the Almighty's saying: (And never (O Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم) pray (funerals) for any of them who dies, nor stand by his grave.) [At-Tawbah (definition): 84]. Scholars have unanimously agreed on the impermissibility of praying for a disbeliever. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, stopped praying for hypocrites after the verses of prohibition were revealed. As for accusing someone of hypocrisy or disbelief, one must verify the accusation, as hypocrisy has various forms. Ideological hypocrisy is known only to Allah, and it is not permissible to accuse a Muslim of it without clear proof. However, practical hypocrisy is merely engaging in one of the characteristics of hypocrites, and it does not remove its doer from the fold of Islam.