445 – Umm ʿAṭiyyah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: “The Prophet ﷺ came in while we were washing his daughter and said, ‘Wash her three times, or five, or even more than that if you think it necessary, with water mixed with sidr (lote-tree leaves). In the final washing add camphor, or a little camphor.’ When we had finished we informed him, whereupon he tossed us his ḥiqw (waist-wrapper) and said, ‘Enshroud her in it.’ ” Agreed upon.

In another narration: “Begin with her right side and with the limbs that are washed in wuḍūʾ.”

And in al-Bukhārī’s wording: “We plaited her hair into three braids and laid them behind her.”⦗1⦘

Glossary of terms
• nughassilu (we are washing): with a ḍamma on the nūn and a doubled sīn; from ghassala – yughassilu, meaning “to wash thoroughly.”
• “His daughter”: i.e. Zaynab, according to the preferred view—the eldest of his daughters, the wife of Abū al-ʿĀṣ ibn al-Rabīʿ; she died in the eighth year AH.
• in raʾaytunna dhālika (if you see fit): that is, if you need more than three or five washings; a discretionary allowance. Here “seeing” means “knowing.”
• sidr: singular sidrah; the lote-tree whose leaves help stiffen the body.
• kāfūr (camphor): a tree of the laurel family; the reference here is to the crystalline white substance extracted from it, valued for its pleasant fragrance and its ability to repel insects from the deceased.