in the grave, he said: “From it We created you, and into it We shall return you, and from it We shall bring you forth once again (55). In the name of Allah and upon the creed of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.”

4 – Imam al-Shāfiʿī said that those who lower the body into the grave are the ones who should pronounce these words. The commentator on al-Adhkar added that the situation is one of supplication and a plea for mercy and bounty, so it is appropriate to repeat the formula according to the number of people speaking.

5 – Burying the deceased is a fard kifāyah (collective obligation). It is established in the Book of Allah, where He graciously says: “Have We not made the earth a receptacle, for the living and the dead?” (77:25-26). And He says: “Then He caused him to die and assigned him a grave” (80:21). Allah honored him by having him buried. Al-Khāzin commented: “This is a distinction granted to the children of Adam over all other creatures.”
Numerous hadiths confirm the ruling of burial, among them the report in Abū Dāwūd (3159) in which the Prophet ﷺ said, “It is not fitting that the corpse of a Muslim be kept among his family.” Thus burial is kindness to the deceased and obedience to the Lord, and it has been the practice of Muslims since the time of the Companions.

6 – With regard to the prohibition in hadith 475 against breaking the bones of the deceased, Shaykh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Saʿdī explained: The human body is inherently inviolable; its sanctity may only be set aside when the principle of balancing benefits and harms applies. Therefore, a person afflicted with gangrene may have the diseased limb amputated to save the rest of the body, and it is permissible to perform procedures such as opening the abdomen in order to treat illness. Whatever brings greater benefit than harm is not forbidden by Allah. The Almighty has pointed to this principle in several places in His Book, among them His words: “They ask you about wine and gambling. Say, ‘In them is great sin and yet some benefit for people; but their sin is greater than their benefit’” (2:219).

7 – Based on this human sanctity afforded to the dead, the former Grand Mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm Āl al-Shaykh, issued a fatwa stating: “It is not permissible to exhume graves, nor is it permissible to run a road over them, because that constitutes a desecration.”