Part 7

Nobody has the authority to change, add or remove any of these above eight categories of people defined by Allah, and Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.

HOW TO WASH A DECEASED MUSLIM

Prepare the body of the deceased as follows: 1. When death is confirmed, the eyes of the deceased should be closed and jaws should be tied shut. 2. While washing the body, the 'Awrah (See lesson 26) should be covered, body should be slightly raised and stomach is lightly pressed to get the waste out of it. Then the person who washes, wraps his/her hands with a wash cloth or the like, to clean the expelled remains from the deceased's stomach. Then the washer should wash the dead as in wudu (ablution) for the Salaat (obligatory prayer). The head and beard is washed with water and Sidr (Lote tree leaves) or soap, and the right side of the body is washed before the left side. The body can be re-washed three times, with the last one requiring plain water.

Each time the stomach should be pressed. If there is any excretion, it should be washed and the anus should be covered with cotton or the like. If it does not work then use plain earth or any medical material such as plaster, then wash the deceased again as in wudu.

If the washer feels that three washes are not enough to clean the body properly, then he can wash five or seven times. The body should be dried with a clean cloth and some perfume should be applied to the hidden parts of the body and the sujood parts. It would be better to apply wood perfume ('oud) to the entire body of the deceased and to the coffin. The washer can clip the fingernails, and trim the mustache of the deceased, but should not comb the hair. If the deceased is a female, then her hair can be groomed in three plaits and placed behind the back. It is better to shroud the dead man's body in three white pieces of cloth without using a shirt or turban. The three pieces should be rolled up together. It doesn't matter if the dead body is shrouded in a shirt, waist-sheet or a wrap.

The woman is shrouded in five pieces of cloth; a loose piece of cloth (dir), a veil, a waist-sheet and two wraps. The body is shrouded in one to three pieces of cloth. A young female is shrouded in a shirt and two wraps.

4. People who are more entitled to wash the deceased man and pray for him and bury him are his male guardians e.g. father, the closest kin and so forth. Similarly female guardians are more entitled to wash a deceased female i.e. the mother, grandmother, closest female relatives, etc.,

The husband or wife can wash the deceased spouse, in the same way that the dead body of Abu Bakr (r.a.) was washed by his wife. Ali (r.a.) on the other hand, washed the body of his wife Fatima (r.a.) on her death.

HOW FUNERAL PRAYER IS PERFORMED

Four Takbirs are uttered in the prayer.

1. Utter the first Takbir and recite "Al Fatihah". It is permissible to recite a surah or one or two verses from the Quran, according to the hadith and reported by Ibn Abbas (r.a.).

2. Utter the second Takbir and send salutations to the Prophet (Peace be upon him), as in Tashahhud.

3. Utter the third Takbir, and seek forgiveness from Allah. E.g. "O Allah! Forgive our living, our dead, our present our absent our young our old our males and our females. O Allah! Who so ever among us You keep to live, make him to live in Islam, and whom so ever You cause to die, let him die in faith. O Allah! Forgive him, have mercy on him, heal him, be generous to him, cause his entrance to be wide and comfortable, wash him with the most pure and clean water and purify him from sins as a white garment is washed clean of dirt. Give him in exchange a home better than his home (on earth) and family better than his family, and let him into Paradise and Protect him from the trials of the grave and tortures of the Hell Fire. Make his grave wide and light it for him." It is the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) for the Imam to stand facing the Qiblah, in front of the head of a deceased male, and in front of the middle of a deceased female body. If there are more than one dead body, the male should be placed immediately in front of the Imam, followed by the female body. If there are children, the body of the male child should be should be placed after the older female body. The bodies should be put in such a way that the head of the boy should be in line with the head of the man. The female body should be placed, after the boy, in such a way that the waist of the woman is in line with the head of the male. Similarly, the body of the girl should be in line with the elder female, and the middle of her body lies in line with the head of the male.

In this manner, the Imam stands in a position that the heads of all deceased males and the waists of all deceased females will be in front of the Imam.

People attending the funeral prayer should stand behind the Imam, and if one cannot find enough space behind the Imam, he can choose to stand at the right side of him.

All glory and thanks be to Allah and peace and blessings be upon the Prophet and his family as well as to his companions.

Your valuable comments on this book are highly appreciated. Please send your comments and opinions to the following address.

ATTENTION: ABDULAZIZ S. AL SHOMAR Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation PO Box 92684, Riyadh 11663 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia E-Mail: [email protected]

INTERPRETATION OF THE MEANINGS OF THE NOBLE Quran. Translated by: Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan & Dr. Muhammad Taqi-Ud-din Al-Hilali.

THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON FOR EVERY MUSLIM (in Arabic) By: Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Baz.

THE BOOK OF PRAYER Compiled by : Nathif Adam

salah according to the Manners of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) By : Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Baz.

ISLAM IN FOCUS By : Hammudah Abdulati

THE MEANING OF THE TESTIMONY OF FAITH "LA ILAHA ILLALLAH" By : Sheikh Hamoud Al-Lahima

KITAB AT-TAUHID By: Sheikh-ul-Islam, Muhammad bin Abdallah Abdul-Wahab

PILLARS OF ISLAM AND IMAN By: Sheikh Muhammad Bin Jameel Zino