Book of Rulings Concerning the Deceased
Chapter One: What it is recommended to do for the dying person and thereafter
The matters dealt with in this book—namely, the rights the dead have over the living—fall into six sections:
- What is recommended at the time of death and immediately afterwards.
- Washing the deceased.
- Shrouding him.
- Carrying the bier and accompanying it.
- Offering the funeral prayer over him.
- Burying him.
Chapter One: What it is recommended to do for the dying person and thereafter
It is recommended that the dying person be prompted, as death approaches, to utter the testimony that there is no god but Allah, in light of the Prophet’s—peace and blessings be upon him—words:
“Instruct your dying ones to say, ‘There is no god but Allah.’”
He also said:
“Whoever’s last words are ‘There is no god but Allah’ shall enter Paradise.”
Scholars have differed over the desirability of turning the dying person toward the qiblah. Some considered it commendable, while others did not. It is reported from Mālik that, concerning this practice, he said, “It is not among the early practices.” Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab likewise rejected it. No report attributes the instruction to orient the dying person toward the qiblah to any of the Companions or the Followers—meaning the command to turn him.
When death has occurred, his eyes should be closed, and it is recommended to hasten his burial, for the transmitted reports urge this—except in the case of one who has drowned, for he