Funerals - Lesson 3

  1. The martyr in battle and the one killed unjustly (an opinion, note discussion) are not washed, not wrapped and no prayer is performed over them.

     
  2. It is obligatory to leave any blood which is on them in place and to bury them in their clothes.

     
  3. If [the one dying but still alive] travels some distance, eats, drinks, urinates, converses, sneezes or remains alive for what is considered long [then he is washed, wrapped and buried like anyone else].

     
  4. Or if he is killed while in a state of ritual impurity requiring bathing [likewise].

     
  5. An aborted fetus at least four months old is the same as one born alive [same treatment as an adult].

     
  6. A Muslim does not wash a non-Muslim, even if a citizen (dhimmiy), nor wrap him nor pray over him nor follow his funeral procession.
     

Section

  1. Wrapping the deceased is fardh kifaya.

     
  2. The obligatory is to cover the entire body.

     
  3. Except for the head of a man in ihram [for Hajj or Umrah] and the face of a woman in ihram.

     
  4. With a [opaque] material which does not reveal the skin.

     
  5. It should be comparable to clothes he wore when alive, unless he specifies less in his will.

     
  6. Sunnah is to wrap in three white wraps made of cotton.

     
  7. The are placed on top of each other with the largest at the bottom.

     
  8. The deceased is placed on them lying on his back.

     
  9. Each wrap is pulled first from the [deceased's] left to his right, so the the one from his right ends up over the
    one from his left, like the arms in salat.

     
  10. The same is done for all three of the wraps.

     
  11. A woman is wrapped in five pieces of cloth: izar (waist down or chest down), khimar (head covering), qamees (similar to a dress) and lifaafatain (two complete wraps).

     
  12. A young boy is wrapped in a single wrap.

     
  13. Three is allowed as long as no non-responsible (e.g., minors) inherit from him.

     
  14. And a young girl in a dress and two wraps.

     
  15. It is makrooh to use wool or hair in burying or died or decorated fabric.

     
  16. It is haram to use leather, silk or fabric containing gold.