• shayʾan min kāfūr (“a little camphor”): the narrator was uncertain which of the two expressions was uttered. The word shayʾan is an indefinite noun used in an affirmative clause, so it covers any quantity of camphor.
• ādhannāhu (“we informed him”): begins with an extended hamza, followed by a dotted dhāl, then a doubled nūn; meaning “we notified him.”
• ḥiqwuhu: the ḥāʾ may be read with fatḥ or kasr, and the qāf is silent. Originally it refers to the spot where a waist-wrapper is tied, and by extension the wrapper itself.
• ashʿirnāhā (“make it her under-garment”): from shiʿār, the cloth that lies directly on the body—that is, place it next to her skin.
• ibdaʾna (“begin”): an imperative addressing a group of women.
• bimayāminihā (“with her right sides first”): mayāmin is the plural of maymana.
• fa-ḍaffarnā (“we plaited”): with a dotted ḍād and a light fāʾ; from ḍafr, meaning to braid the hair broadly.
• thalātha qurūn (“three braids”): the accusative thalātha can be explained by an omitted preposition, i.e., “in three braids.”
• qurūn: plural of qarn, a single braid of hair.

Lessons derived from the ḥadīth

1. The deceased woman was Zaynab, daughter of Allah’s Messenger ﷺ. The Prophet directed her washers—among them Umm ʿAṭiyyah—to the complete, legislated manner of washing, so that she would leave this world pure and spotless.
2. Washing the dead is obligatory: it is a communal duty according to the majority, whereas the Mālikīs deem it a sunnah, which is a weak opinion. If no water is available, many jurists hold that the deceased is given tayammum, but Ibn Taymiyyah preferred that it is not prescribed, for it brings no tangible cleanliness, which is the objective.
3. The rule is that only women may wash a deceased woman, and only men may wash a deceased man, except for the cases that are exempted