“His moustache is trimmed, his nails are clipped, but his hair is not combed. He is then dried with a cloth. Her hair is braided into three plaits and let down behind her.”

His statement, “His moustache is trimmed, his nails are clipped, but his hair is not combed. He is then dried with a cloth”: There are five traits of the fitrah: circumcision, shaving the pubic hair, trimming the moustache, clipping the nails, and plucking the armpit hair.

As for circumcision, it is not performed on the deceased; rather, it is prohibited, because circumcision involves removing the foreskin, which is a living part of the deceased’s body. Removing it is mutilation of the deceased, and there is no need for it, since one of the purposes of circumcision is to purify a person. This is why, in our colloquial usage, it is called “purification.” But once a person has died, he has no need for it. Hence, the scholars said: “Circumcising the deceased is prohibited.”

As for the moustache and the nails, they are trimmed if they have grown long. If they are of ordinary length, or if the deceased had trimmed them recently, they are not trimmed; rather, they are left as they are.

The armpit hair is treated likewise: if it is abundant, it is removed; otherwise, it is left as it is.

As for the pubic hair, if it has grown long and become abundant, it is removed.

Some scholars said that it should not be removed, because doing so entails uncovering the private parts, unlike the armpit hair and nails. However, the preferred view is that it should be removed if it is abundant, and uncovering the private parts in this case is permitted due to need.

His statement, “but his hair is not combed,” means that the one washing the deceased should not comb his hair, because combing it with a comb may cause the hair to break off.