Tawḍīḥ al-Aḥkām - Abd Allah al-Bassam - (1/309)

Tawḍīḥ al-AḥkāmAbd Allah al-Bassam

are mortal, and they too are mortal” (39:30), meaning: you will all die. As for a human being who has already departed this life, the lighter form is used, as in His saying, “Is he who was dead, then We revived him…” (6:122).

Death is the separation of the soul from the body. It is indicated by obvious changes that occur immediately after life has gone, and by subtler ones that develop more slowly. The very first sign of death is the cessation of breathing.

– man: a jussive conditional particle that governs two verbs. The first is the protasis—ghassala (“washes”)—which appears with a fatḥah and is in the jussive position; the second is the apodosis and consequence, which is likewise in the jussive mood because of the lām of command. The whole clause is the answer to the condition, and the initial faʾ links it to the apodosis.

The same parsing applies to: “wa-man ḥamalahu fal-yatawaḍḍaʾ” (“and whoever carries it must perform ablution”).

Points derived from the hadith
1 – The outward sense of the report is that ghusl (a full ritual bath) is obligatory for anyone who washes a corpse, whether he washes the whole body or only part of it.
2 – Its general wording covers every deceased person—young or old, male or female, Muslim or non-Muslim—whether a barrier such as a cloth is used or not.
3 – The jurists state that the ghāsil (washer) is the one who turns the body and handles it, even once; the person who merely pours water, or who performs tayammum (dry ablution) for the deceased, is not counted as a washer.
4 – This hadith is confronted by the narration recorded by al-Bayhaqi (1/306) from Ibn ʿAbbās, that the Prophet ﷺ said: “No ghusl is required of you after washing your dead. Your dead die in a state of purity and are not impure. It is enough for you to wash your hands.” Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar graded it ḥasan.

Reconciling the two reports, one may say that the command in Abu Hurayrah’s narration is for recommendation, not obligation. This is supported by what ʿAbd Allah, the son of Imām Aḥmad, transmitted from Ibn ʿUmar: “We used to wash the deceased; some of us would bathe afterwards and some of us would not.” Al-Ḥāfiẓ said, “Its chain is sound, and it is the best way to harmonize these two ḥadiths.”

مَيِّتٌ وَإِنَّهُمْ مَيِّتُونَ (٣٠)﴾ [الزمر: ٣٠] أي: ستموتون، وأَمَّا الإنسان الذي فارق الحياة فبالتخفيف؛ قال تعالى: ﴿أَوَمَنْ كَانَ مَيْتًا فَأَحْيَيْنَاهُ﴾ [الأنعام: ١٢٢]. والموتُ: مفارقةُ الرُّوح للجسد، وتدلُّ عليها تغيُّراتٌ ظاهرة تحدُثُ إثرَ مفارقة الحياة، وأُخرى خفيَّة تحدث ببطء، وأَوَّل ما يحدثُ في الموت وَقْفُ التنفُّس. - مَن: اسمُ شرطٍ جازمٌ يجزم فعلين، الأوَّل: فعل الشرط، وهو "غسَّلَ" المبنيُّ على الفتح في محل جزم، والثاني: جوابه وجزاؤه، وهو المجزومُ بالسكون بلام الأمر، والجملة جواب الشَّرْط، والفاء رابطةٌ للجواب. وهكَذا إِعْراب: "وَمن حمله فليتوضَّأ". * ما يُؤْخَذُ مِن الحديث: ١ - ظاهر الحديث وجوبُ الغُسْل على من غسَّل ميتًا كله أو بعضه. ٢ - عمومُ الحديث يفيدُ عمومَ الأموات، من كبيرٍ أو صغيرٍ، ذكرًا كان أو أُنثى، مسلمًا كان أو كافرًا، بحائلٍ أَوْ بِدون حائل. ٣ - قال الفقهاء: الغاسل: هو من يقلِّبه ويباشره ولو مرَّةً، لا من يَصُبُّ الماء ونحوه، ولا من ييمِّمه؛ فليسوا بغاسلين. ٤ - عارض هَذا الحديثَ ما رواه البيهقي (١/ ٣٠٦) عن ابن عبَّاس؛ أَنَّ النَّبي ﷺ قال: "ليس عليكم في غُسْلِ ميتكم غُسْلٌ إذا غسَّلتموه، إنَّ ميتكم يموت طاهرًا وليس بنجس، فحسبكم أنْ تغسلوا أيديكم"، قال الحافظ ابن حجر: حديثٌ حسن. والجمع بين الحديثين: أَنَّ الأمر في حديث أبي هريرة للنَّدب، ويؤيد هذا الجمع: ما روى عبد الله ابن الإمام أحمد عن ابن عمر قال: "كُنَّا نغسِّل الميت، فمنَّا من يغتسل، ومنَّا من لا يغتسل"، قَال الحافظ: إسناده صحيح، وهو أحسن ما جمع به بين هذين الحديثين.