Dalīl al-Ṭālib - Marʿi al-Karmi - (66)

creed of the Messenger of Allah.¹

There is no harm in kissing the deceased or looking at him, even after he has been wrapped in the shroud.

Section

Washing the dead is a communal duty.

The water used must be ritually pure and lawfully obtained, and the person who performs the wash must be a sane, discerning Muslim. It is best that the washer be trustworthy and well-versed in the rulings of the rite, and the one with the strongest claim to perform it is the just executor named in the will.²

Once the washing begins, it is obligatory to cover the deceased’s private area. The washer then wraps a cloth around his hand and cleanses the body with it, removing any impurities that are present. Touching the private parts of anyone who had reached seven years of age is forbidden, and it is recommended that the rest of the body likewise not be touched except through a cloth.³

A man may wash his wife, his female slave, and a daughter under seven,⁴ and a woman may wash her husband, her master, and a son under seven.

In what is obligatory and recommended, the procedure for washing the dead follows the same rulings as the major ritual bath for sexual impurity—except that nothing is introduced

(1) It is reliably established that this supplication is recited when the deceased is lowered into the grave. (2) The preferred order for washing a female corpse is: the woman she appointed in her will (*wasiyya*), then her mother, however far up the lineage, then her daughter, however far down, and finally the closest relatives in the sequence followed for inheritance. Hashiyat al-Lubdi, p. 103. (3) That is, he wipes its point of exit. Nayl al-Ma’arib, 1:220. (4) In manuscripts A and B the reading is “bint” instead of “binta”; the same occurs in manuscript N.

رسول الله"١. ولا بأس: بتقبيله والنظر إليه ولو بعد تكفينه. فصل وغسل الميت فرض كفاية. وشرط في الماء: الطهورية والإباحة وفى الغاسل: الإسلام والعقل والتمييز. والأفضل: ثقة عارف بأحكام الغسل. والأولى به وصية٢ العدل. وإذا شرع في غسله ستر عورته وجوبا ثم يلف على يده خرقة فينجيه٣ بها ويجب غسل ما به من نجاسة ويحرم مس عورة من بلغ سبع سنين وسن أن لا تمس سائر جسده إلا بخرقة. وللرجل: أن يغسل زوجته وأمته وبنتا٤ دون سبع. وللمرأة غسل زوجها وسيدها وابن دون سبع. وحكم غسل الميت فيما يجب ويسن كغسل الجنابة لكن لا يدخل

١ الثابت أن هذا الدعاء يقال عند إنزال الميت القبر. ٢ والأولى اغسل الأنثى وصيتها ثم أمها وإن علت ثم بنتها وإن نزلت ثم القربى فالقربى كالإرث. حاشية اللبدي "ص: ١٠٣". ٣ أي يمسح مخرجه. نيل المآرب "١/٢٢٠". ٤ في "أ", و "ب" "بنت" بدل "بنتا", وكذا في "ن".