The opening supplication in the funeral prayer

A question whether the opening supplication (du'a al-istiftah) is obligatory in the prayer over the dead, in which Ibn Baz answered that the funeral prayer is a lightened prayer in which, according to what the scholars state, there is no opening supplication, and that the closer view in his judgement is to omit it even though some scholars hold otherwise. ¹

The questioner asked: is the opening supplication obligatory when praying over the dead? ¹

Ibn Baz answered that the prayer over the dead is a lightened prayer, and that the scholars have said there is no opening supplication in it: the worshipper begins with seeking refuge and the basmala and recites al-Fatiha, with no need for an opening supplication, because it is a prayer in which haste with the dead is sought, so it is better that there be none, and this is what is stated by the people of knowledge. ¹ He noted that some scholars hold that there is an opening supplication in it, but that the closer view in his judgement is that there is none, because it is a lightened prayer with neither bowing nor prostration. ¹

This answer was published on binbaz.org.sa, the official site of Ibn Baz's legacy, as no. 4020 among the Fatawa al-Jami' al-Kabir, under the headings of the takbir and opening supplication and of the prayer over the dead, with no date on the page. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.