The following information has been
translated from Durr-ul-mukhtār, and
from its explanation entitled Ibni Ābidīn.
Janāza
means a dead person, or mayyit. Today, we call a coffin containing the corpse
of a dead person janāza. Jināza means the bench for washing corpses. Mawt
means death.
The
symptoms of death appoaching are the feet slackening and lengthening, the nose
becoming twisted, and the temples becoming concave. An ill person in this state
is made to lie on his right side, and his face is turned toward the qibla. It
is sunna to make him lie in this manner. It is also permissible to make him lie
on his back with his feet toward the qibla. This has become common recently.
But something must be put under his head. Thus his face will be toward the
qibla. If it is difficult to do so, it is permissible also to make him lie in
any manner that comes easy.
When coaching the Kalima-i-tawhīd, it would be good to add: Muhammadun Rasūlullah. In fact, to be converted
to īmān, a disbeliever has to begin with Esh hadu
and also has to say, Muhammadan abduhu wa
Rasūluh.
Once
death has begun, all hopes of life having been given up, a disbelievers
conversion to Islam is not acceptable, though tawba (penance) is still
acceptable.
A
person who utters something that will cause disbelief while being in the state
of death is to be taken as a Believer. For, he is not conscious at that moment.
Signs of death are stiffening (rigor mortis), becoming cold, and
putrefaction. When death is diagnosed, which is possible before these signs as
well, [such as by the breath stopping, which can be determined by using a
mirror, which should not be misted over when held in front of the dead persons
mouth, by the stopping of the heart or the pulse], it is sunna to close his
eyes and to tie up his chin. His chin must be tied up by means of a wide piece
of cloth fastened on top of his head. When closing his eyes it is sunna to say,
Bismillah wa alā Millati Rasūlillah,
and to say another certain prayer. Before the corpse becomes cold it is sunna
to open and close his fingers, elbows and knees, and to leave his arms and legs
straight. Thus washing and shrouding will be easy.
Before
he becomes cold, his clothes are taken off and he is
covered with a wide, light bed sheet. One
end of the sheet will be put under his head and the other end under his feet.
Something [a knife or anything made of iron] is placed on top of his stomach,
on or under the sheet, thus to prevent the corpse from swelling. It should be
over a hundred grams. Books containing sacrosanct knowledge must not be used
for this purpose. Greatest care must be taken to protect the corpse from things
that would accelerate putrefaction and rotting. As the soul leaves the body,
incense (bahūr) must be burned near the
dying person. His neighbors, relatives and friends must immediately be informed
of his death.
Though
there are (some savants) who say that it is makrūh to read Qurān-al-kerīm near
a dead person before he is washed, it is permissible to read it silently,
without touching his bed, and while he is covered.
Once
death has been diagnosed, it is sunna to hurry, which becomes even wājib in any
likelihood of putrefaction. If there is some doubt in the diagnosis of death,
you wait till it becomes certain. Rasūlullah sallallāhu alaihi wa sallam
would not approve of a corpse being left with his household. It is wājib to
detain those who die of a heart attack until their death becomes certain when
the corpse becomes cold and putrefaction begins.
First
incense is burned and carried around the washing bench three times. It may be
carried five times as well. Incense is a plant. It is mixed with the filings of
aloa wood and the resin of storax and the mixture is burned in a container
while the washing bench is suffused with the smokes.
The
corpse, being covered, is laid on its back or in any easy manner on the
incensed washing bench. It is washed, between the navel and the knees being
covered. For, a womans awrat part that must be covered from other women is
like a mans awrat part that must be covered from other men. It is sunna to lay
it toward the qibla on the washing bench. If its shirt is long enough, it is
washed in its shirt.
It is
fard-i-kifāya to wash it, to shroud it, to perform the janāza prayer, and to
inter it. That is, after these are done by a sufficient number of people, it
will no longer be fard for other people to do them. [It is necessary to do
these fards for the sake of Allah and free of charge. The thawāb which is to be
given for doing something fard is given to people who do these services, and it
is far greater than the thawāb for any other good or philanthropic activity. If
no one performs this service, all people who have heard about it but have not
come to serve will be sinners. Anyone
who doesnt accept these services as a
duty and underestimates their value, loses his belief and becomes a murtad.] It is permissible for a child also to
wash a corpse. A disbelievers corpse is not washed. It is wrapped in a piece
of cloth and buried.
When
there are no women, a man cannot wash the corpse of a woman. But, after the
corpse is covered from head to foot, a relative of hers or, if she has no
relatives, someone else wraps a piece of cloth around his hand, puts his hand
under the cover, and makes tayammum on the corpse. For, a dead persons awrat
part is the same as a living persons. Those parts of the body that are
forbidden for others to look at are also forbidden for them to touch. A better
way would be to teach a child and have it wash the corpse.
The bench for washing the corpse must be as high as (an average
persons) navel and must be sloping a little. The water must not be very hot
and must be salty. Cool and salty water retards rotting. Even if the corpse is
a childs, it is first given an ablution. But, instead of putting water into
its mouth and nose, they are cleaned with a piece of cloth. If water escapes
into its mouth it will expedite the rotting process. First its face is washed.
Then its arms are washed, its ears and the back of its neck are given masah, and
its feet are washed. Its head and beard are washed with marsh-mallow or soap
and with water which is boiled with cedar leaves or soapwort and then cooled or
mixed with a whitish, aromatic substance called camphor
or, if these are unavailable, only with pure water. Then it is turned and made
to lie on its left and water is poured on its right hand side. The water must
be made to reach even those parts touching the washing bench. Then it is made
to lie on its right and water is poured on its left from head to foot. Then it
is made to sit up and the abdomen is slightly pressed down. Anything coming out
is washed away. [That is, it is removed by pouring water.] Then it is made to
lie on its left and its right hand side is washed again, [that is, water is poured
from head to foot]. Thus, as prescribed by the sunna, it will have been washed
three times. As each side is washed, water is poured three times.
If an
ill person dies in a state of junub, he is still washed once. If anything
breaking ablution comes out after the washing he is not washed or given an
ablution again. But the things coming out are washed away by pouring water. It
is sunna to make niyya (intention) when washing the corpse. Without a niyya the
dead person still becomes clean, but the fard does not cease to be an
If it
is understood that the corpse has ben washed by angels and genies, it is washed
again. No one except the washer and his helper is allowed into the washing
area. Those who wash the dead person must be trustworthy. They must convey the
symptoms of blessedness and conceal the symptoms of wickedness seen on the
corpse. They must not divulge the shame of the dead person. The dead persons
guardian can enter the area.
Our
master Rasūlullah (sallallāhu alaihi wa sallam) was washed by Fadl the son of
Abbās, and Hadrat Alī (radiyallāhu anhum). Meanwhile Usāma (radiyallāhu anh)
was pouring water on him, and Abbās (radiyallāhu anh) was going in and out of
the room.
Anything
that would give pain to a living person gives pain to a dead person, too. For
this reason, the corpse is not washed with very cold or very hot water. [Nor is
it kept in an ice-house lest it will putrefy. Putrefaction must be prevented by
immediate interment, and the corpse must not be kept waiting for the arrival of
relatives living far away]. It is not permissible to wash the corpse with
Zemzem water. Any hair falling out is placed in the shroud. For, every part of
the human body is sacrosanct and is buried. Also, it is sunna to bury the
nails, the hairs and the teeth that have fallen out or have been cut out or
extracted from a living person.
After
being washed, the corpse is wiped dry with a piece of cloth on the washing
bench. An aromatic mixture of things called hanūt or camphor is sprinkled over
its hair and beard. It is makrūh to apply saffron. Cotton sprinkled with
camphor is put on its organs of sajda (prostration), [such as forehead, nose,
knees, fingers and toes].
In
Hanafī Madhhab it is not permissible to comb the corpses hair or to trim its hair,
beard, moustache, or nails. It is permissible to put cotton in its mouth,
nostrils, ear-holes or on its eyes.
In
Hanafī Madhhab a woman cannot be washed or touched by her husband. For the
nikāh becomes void as soon as the wife dies. It is permissible for him to look
at her. In the other three Madhhabs it is permissible for the husband to wash
the wife. It is permissible in Hanafī Madhhab also for the wife to wash her
husband. For, after the death (of the husband) the nikāh (marriage) goes on
until the period of iddat [four months] is over. Men cannot wash women, and
women cannot wash men. They
must make a tayammum
by wrapping a cloth around their hands. A man who makes a tayammum cannot look
at the bare arms of a nāmahram woman. If she is a mahram relative of his, there
is no need to wrap a cloth. For it is permissible to look at and touch the arms
and the face of mahram relatives.
If
only a persons head or half of its body (without the head) is found, it is not
washed and the salāt of janāza is not performed. It is only buried. If more
than half of the body without the head or if half of the body with the head is
found, it is washed and the janāza salāt is performed.
It
brings much thawāb to wash the corpse free of charge. It is permissible to
demand payment, but it is not permissible if there is no one else to wash it
free of charge. So is the case with the payments for transporting corpses and
digging graves. A person drowned is washed three times, or moved three times in
the water with the intention to wash. A person soaked by rain is washed, too.
Washing
corpses existed in all the (past) Sharīats. Angels washed Adam
(alaihissalām), and they said, Wash your dead like this.
When
an ownerless corpse is found which is not known to belong to a Muslim or a
disbeliever, it is washed and the salāt of janāza is performed if it has the
signs of Islam. Signs of Islam are circumcision, dying the beard, and shaving
the pubes. Today all three of these are no longer signs of Islam. If it does
not have any sign of Islam, it is to be considered to belong to a Muslim if it
is found in a Muslim country.
If
corpses of Muslims are mixed with those of disbelievers and if they do not have
signs of Islam, the salāt of janāza is performed for all of them if most of
them are known to be Muslims. And all of them are buried in a cemetery for
Muslims. If the numbers (of the Muslims and disbelievers) are equal or if the
Muslims are in a minority, all of them are washed and shrouded, the salāt of
janāza is performed by making the niyya (intention) for the Muslim ones only,
and they are all buried in a cemetery for disbelievers.
When
there is no water the tayammum is made on the corpse and then the janāza salāt
is performed. If water is found afterwards, it must be washed, but the salāt is
not performed again. Likewise, when a living person finds water he does not
repeat the salāt (which he performed with a tayammum because he did not find
any water). It is mustahab for a person who will
wash a corpse to make a ghusl himself
first. It is makrūh for a junub person or a menstruating woman to wash a
corpse. Water with which a corpse is washed becomes mā-i mustamel. It becomes
najs, foul. Therefore those who wash it must not let water splash on them or
must wrap themselves in large bath towels. When washed, the corpse becomes
clean.
It is said in Bahr-ur-rāiq that
a deceased persons shroud is prepared like the clothes which he used to wear
when he was alive. Therefore, poor women are wrapped in izār, lifāfa, and
khimar, kafan-i kifāya (shroud of
minimum cost). It is written in the book Tabyin-ul
hakāik, A womans shroud of minimum cost is izār, lifāfa, and
khimar, since she would have to wear at least these pieces of clothing when she
was alive. It would be perfectly permissible to perform salāt with these
clothings. It is said in the book Halabī-i-kebīr,
Women used to cover themselves with a (kind of dress called) dar. The front part of this dress was open up to
the breast, and long enough to cover the legs down to the feet. [As decribed,
during the period of the Salaf-i-sālihīn Muslim women used to wear a loose
robe, a wide and long coat, and a head-cover. They did not wear two pieces of
cloth which we call the charshaf.]
It is
sunna for a mans shroud to consist of three parts:
1 - Izār: It extends from the
head to the feet and is more than a metre wide.
2- Qamīs [a shirt, long like a
chemise]: It is twice the length of the shoulders to feet. It is folded
together once in the middle and the place of the fold is cut long enough to let
the head through. The arm holes and the skirt are not cut.
3 - Lifāfa: It extends beyond
the head and the feet and is wider. Its ends over the head and below the feet
are puckered up and fastened with a piece of cloth.
It is stated in (the book) Berekāt that it is makrūh to wrap an imāma
(a turban) round the corpses head. It is added (in the same book) that this
fact is written also in the book Sherh-i-Sirāji,
by Sayyid Sherīf Jurjānī. Also, it is makrūh to put a turban or other ornaments
on the coffin. Some (savants) said it is permissible, while others said
otherwise, to use a shroud consisting of more than three parts; Imām-i Rabbānī
says that it is bidat. It is sunna for the shroud to be new, clean, and of a
valuable material. A shroud compatible with the dead persons financial status
must be made. It is sunna for it to be made of
white linen [cambric]. It is harām to
shroud a man in silk. Also, it is harām to cover his coffin with silk. Silk is
permissible for women. It is better to make the shroud from the dead persons
own halāl property than for somone else to give it. It is good to prepare a
halāl shroud when you are alive. A shroud washed with zemzem is permissible in
Hanafī, but harām in Shafiī Madhhab. According to Hanafī Madhhab, all the
zemzem disappears when the shroud becomes dry. But according to Shāfiī, its
traces still remain on the shroud, and this causes the zemzem to be dirtied by
the corpses blood and pus. It is not permissible to write the Basmala, āyats or
sacrosanct names on the shroud or to put such writings in the grave. It is
useful to make shrouds from the underwears or clothes of pious Muslims or Walīs
or to put them in shrouds or on a corpses face or chest. This fact is written
in the third letter of the fourth volume of Mathūmiyya.
It is
sunna for a womans shroud to consist of five parts: Qamīs, Izār, Lifāfa,
Khimār, and Breast Cloth.
Khimār:
It is a head-wrap, which is about seventy-five centimetres long. Its ends are
left hanging over the face instead of being wrapped around the face.
Breast
cloth: It extends from the shoulders to the knees.
It is
permissible to wrap men who are poor or who have many debts in izār and lifāfa
and such women in qamīs, lifāfa and khimār only, but it is makrūh to go below
this limit. In case of great difficulty, only lifāfa is necessary both for a
man and for a woman. If the dead person has no property, it is fard for others,
e.g. for the Bayt-ul-māl [the State] to give the shroud. It is not sufficient
to cover the awrat parts only. If the cloth (used as the shroud) is too small,
the parts left open are covered with leaves or oats.
First,
the lifāfa is laid in the coffin. Then, izār is laid on it. The qamīs is put in
the coffin, too. With women, a breast cloth is laid before or after the izār.
Then the bakhūr is turned three or five times round the coffin. The bakhūr is a
fumigatory substance. [For example, such odoriferous substances as aloewood,
incense, musk, sandalwood, benzoin are put in a fire in a shovel and fumigated].
It is better to fumigate each piece of the shroud separately before putting
them in the coffin. Such fumigation is done also while the soul (of the dying
person) is going out and before the washing of the corpse is started. It is not
done while carrying the corpse or during the interment.
A hadīth-i-sherīf written in Fatāwā-i fiqhiyya states, When Adam alaihissalām died, angels brought hanūt (a
mixture of camphor, sandalwood, etc.) and shrouds
from Paradise. They washed him with water and cedar leaves. During the third
(washing) they added camphor. They wrapped him in
three shrouds. They performed the salāt (of janāza) for him. They made a tomb and interred him. Then, turning to
his children, they said: O sons of Adam. Treat your dead like this.
Even
if the shrouds are new they must be washed and prepared beforehand. It is
necessary to prepare the shrouds beforehand. Hanūt is sprinkled on all the
three shrouds.
After
the corpse is dried, the qamīs is taken out of the coffīn, passed over the
corpses head, and stretched down to the feet, one half along the front and the
other half along the back of the corpse. While saying the Basmala, the corpse
is made to lie on the izār in the coffin. First the left hand side and then the
right side of the izār are spread over the corpse. The lifāfa is spread
likewise on the corpse. That is, its right side is put on its left side. As a
matter of fact, a person alive puts on his coat, shirt, etc. likewise.
When
a womans qamīs is closed, her hair is parted down the middle and both halves
are passed over the sides and put on the qamīs over the breast. The khimār is
put over her hair and then it is covered with the izār. The breast cloth is
wrapped round the corpse before or after the izār. Then it is covered with the
lifāfa. The head and foot ends and the middle [around the belly] of the lifāfa
are tied with a piece of cloth. A big boy is shrouded like a man, and a big
girl is shrouded like a woman. A small boy is shrouded in one item, and a small
girl is shrouded in two items. A child born dead or aborted or a human limb,
[e.g. an arm], is not shrouded; they are wrapped in some cloth and buried.
When
an exhumed naked corpse is found, it is shrouded and buried as prescribed by
the sunna if it has not yet putrefied. If it has putrefied it is only wrapped
in some cloth and buried.
The
amount of the shroud prescribed by the sunna is bought with the dead persons
(left) property (or money). Before his debts, will and inheritance, the money
for his shroud is set apart. If the dead person has no property, his relatives
for whom it is wājib to subsist him buy his shroud together, each contributing
as much as the rate of the inheritance he would receive. As a matter of fact,
they would share the expenses for his subsistence when he was alive. However,
if he has two children each of them foots half the expense. For, the
subsistence to be given by the children is not
in proportion to the inheritance they
would receive; they share the expense equally.
If a
dead person has his father and a son left alive, his son alone provides the
shroud. Even if a woman is rich, her husband provides her shroud. If a dead
person has had no one to support him, his shroud is provided by the
Beyt-ul-māl. If the Beyt-ul-māl does not function properly, it becomes fard-i
kifāya for any Muslim who hears of his death to provide a shroud for him. If
the person who hears of his death is poor, he asks for a shroud of necessity,
that is, a cloth large enough to make a shroud, from others. In Istanbul it is
customary to buy seven metres of cambric for a mans shroud and eight metres of
it for a womans. It is usually 130 to
There are three kinds of martyrs.
1- If a Muslim who is not junub, who is not in her monthly period, who is
discreet and has reached the age of puberty is killed unjustly by torture or by
being hit with a sharp weapon, or if he is killed with any weapon by the enemy
while making jihād against the enemies of religion in a war for Allahs sake or
by rebels, highwaymen, anarchists or (at night) by a thief during the time of
peace if he dies immediately, or if he is found dead with such signs of
murder as a wound or blood on him at a place where there has been a conflict
against the abovesaid (outlaws), where he must have been in order to defend the
lives and property of Muslims and zimmīs, or if he is found dead in town and
his murderer is known and qisās (taliation) becomes necessary, he is called a
martyr of the world and the Hereafter or a perfect
martyr. The perfect martyr is not washed
in the world. Nor is he shrouded. His clothes exceeding the amount of material
used for a shroud are taken off, and he is buried with his underwear. The salāt
of janāza for him is performed in Hanafī Madhhab. But it is not performed in
Shāfiī Madhhab. He attains the thawāb for matrydom in the Hereafter. 2- A
person who does
not intend to make jihād for Allahs sake
and who fights for wordly advantages becomes only a martyr
of the world. Martyrs of this sort are not washed or shrouded. Yet
they cannot attain the thawāb of martyrdom in the Hereafter. 3- If he dies
during the preparatory drills for jihād, or if a person killed with oppression
or wounded in jihād or while fighting against anarchists, rebels, highwaymen or
(at night) thieves does not die immediately but stays alive and conscious until
the duration of one salāt time is over or is taken to somewhere else and dies
there, or if he is junub or (she is) in her monthly regulation, he (or she)
becomes only a martyr of the Hereafter.
He (or she) is washed and shrouded in the world. Those who are killed by such
chastisements as Hadd, Tazīr, qisās [or who are executed by being shot or
hanged], and those who are killed by a beast are washed.
Those who die as a result of drowning, burning, of destitution, or from
being crushed under a collapsing wall or other building, those who die of
diarrhoea, of plague [or another hectic disease], during lochia, of an
epileptic fit, on a Friday night, [which is the night between Thursday and
Friday], or on a Friday, or while learning, teaching or propagating religious
knowledge, those who fall in love and die in their efforts to suppress their
love and protect their chastity, those who die during unjust imprisonment,
those who die while serving as a muadhdhin for Allahs sake, while trading as
commanded by the Sharīa or while working and earning halāl so that their household
will learn religious knowledge and worship, those who say the prayer, Allāhumma bārik lī fi-l-mawt wa fī-mā bad al-mawt,
twenty-five times every day, those who perform the salāt of Duhā, those who
fast three days each month, those who do not neglect their salāt of witr while
travelling, those who say the prayer, Lā ilāha
illā anta subhānaka innī kuntu min-az-zālīmīn, forty times on their
deathbed, those who read the Sūrat-al Yasīn every night, those who go to bed
with ablution and then die, those who always make mudārā, [which means to
dissimulate, to give away what is worldly in order to protect ones faith],
those who bring groceries and sell them cheaply, those who make ghusl in cold
weather and become ill and die, those who say the prayer Aūdhu billāh-is-samīilalīmi min-ash-shaytān-ir-rajīm,
three times and the last part of the sūrat-al Hashr
every morning and every evening; all these people become martyrs of the Hereafter. [(Bodies of) people
called Ahl-i-taqwā, who have never eaten
anything earned through harām never rot. Rotting (of a persons body after
death)
has nothing to do with martyrdom].
Those
who die as a result of sinning do not become martyr. If they die for some of
the reasons causing martyrdom while they are sinning, they become martyrs of
the Hereafter, but this does not give them impunity from the punishment for
their sin. For example, those who die in a house which collapses while they are
sinning in it become martyrs. Likewise, a person who drinks too much wine and
bursts does not become a martyr. But a person who gets drunk with wine and then
gets killed unjustly (by others) becomes a martyr. For, he has died not because
of wine, but for some other reason. But he is liable to punishment for his sin.
It is written in the Fatāwā of Ibn Nujaym, If a person who has drunk wine gets
murdered while he is drunk, he becomes a martyr. For, gravely sinful as it is
to drink wine, it does not prevent martyrdom.