They perhaps considered that what was done with the fallen of Uḥud was dictated by necessity—that is, the difficulty of washing so many bodies. Among the jurists of the provinces who adopted their view was ʿUbayd Allāh ibn al-Ḥasan al-ʿAnbarī.
Ibn al-Mundhir relates that Abū ʿUmar was asked about washing a martyr and replied: “ʿUmar was washed, shrouded, embalmed, and the funeral prayer was offered over him, and he was a martyr—may Allah have mercy on him.”
Those who agree that a martyr slain while fighting the idolaters is not to be washed differ over martyrs killed by bandits or by people other than the unbelievers. Al-Awzāʿī, Aḥmad, and a number of scholars said: they are to be treated like those slain by the idolaters. Mālik and al-Shāfiʿī, however, held that such martyrs must be washed.
The root of the disagreement is whether the exemption from washing is triggered by martyrdom as such, or only by martyrdom at the hands of unbelievers. Whoever held that martyrdom itself is the cause said: none whom the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—explicitly declared a martyr after being killed is to be washed. Whoever held that the cause is death at the hands of the unbelievers restricted the ruling to that case.
As for a Muslim washing a non-Muslim, Mālik said: A Muslim does not wash or bury his unbelieving parent, unless he fears the body will be lost, in which case he may cover it with earth. Al-Shāfiʿī said: There is no harm in a Muslim washing and burying his polytheist relatives; this was also the view of Abū Thawr, Abū Ḥanīfah, and his colleagues. Abū Bakr ibn al-Mundhir said: There is no established Sunnah concerning the washing of a dead polytheist, though it has been reported that “the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—ordered that his uncle be washed when he died.”
The basis of the dispute is whether washing the dead is an act of worship or simply a matter of cleanliness. If it is worship, washing an unbeliever is impermissible; if it is for cleanliness, it is permissible.
[Section Three: Who May Wash the Deceased]
Concerning those permitted to wash the dead, the scholars are unanimous that men wash men and women wash women. They differ, however, when a woman dies among men or a man dies among women, and the two are not spouses, into three opinions:
• Some say: each group may wash the deceased of the other over their clothes.
• Others say: each should perform dry ablution (tayammum) for the deceased; this is the view of al-Shāfiʿī, Abū Ḥanīfah, and the majority of scholars.
• And another group said: