When should we offer the funeral prayer for the miscarried foetus?
Question

                What should we do with the foetus when it is miscarried? Should we offer the funeral prayer for it and wash it, and should we give it a name, or leave it without a name? Please advise us.
Praise be to Allah.If the foetus comes out 
	alive and its cry is heard, then it dies, it should be washed and the 
	funeral prayer offered for it; there is no scholarly dispute concerning 
	this. It says in al-Mughni: “The scholars are unanimously agreed that 
	if it is known to have lived and its cry has been heard, the prayer should 
	be offered for it. But if its cry is not heard, Imaam Ahmad (may Allaah have 
	mercy on him) said: “If it has completed four months [gestation], then it 
	should be washed and the funeral prayer offered. This is the view of Sa’eed 
	ibn al-Musayyib, Ibn Seereen and Ishaaq. Ibn ‘Umar offered the funeral 
	prayer for the son of his daughter who was born dead.” (al-Mughni, 
	2/328) 
It says in Masaa’il al-Imaam 
	Ahmad, which (contains reports that) were narrated by his son 
	‘Abd-Allaah: “I heard my father being asked about the newborn, when should 
	the funeral prayer be offered for him? He said: if he was miscarried after 
	four months [gestation], the funeral prayer should be offered for him. He 
	was asked, should the funeral prayer be offered for him even if his cry was 
	not heard? He said, Yes.” (Masaa’il al-Imaam Ahmad allati rawaahaa ibnuhu 
	‘Abd-Allaah, 2/482, mas’alah no. 673) 
The author of al-Mughni 
	explained the reason why the funeral prayer may be offered for one 
	concerning whom there is doubt that he lived at all, “The prayer offered for 
	him is a kind of du’aa’ for him and his parents … so there is no need to be 
	certain and sure that he lived at all, unlike matters of inheritance.”
(al-Mughni, 2/328)
Undoubtedly this is a good 
	understanding, because inheritance has to do with the rights of others, 
	whereas a prayer has to do with the relationship between a person and his 
	Lord.
With regard to a foetus of 
	less than four months gestation, it should not  be washed and the funeral 
	prayer should not be offered for it, but it should be wrapped in a cloth and 
	buried. That is because the soul is not breathed into it until after four 
	moths of gestation; before that it is not a soul so the funeral prayer 
	cannot be offered over it; it is like inanimate objects or blood. 
The evidence for that is the 
	words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): “The 
	miscarried foetus should be prayed over (the funeral prayer), and 
	supplication for forgiveness and mercy for his parents should be offered.” 
	(Narrated by Abu Dawood; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’, 
	3525). 
In the case of a 
	miscarried foetus whose sex cannot be determined, it should be given a name 
	which is suitable for both males and females, such as Salamah, Qutaadah, 
	Sa’aadah, Hind, ‘Utbah or Hibbat-Allaah.