its board, and a cloth is laid over the private area to conceal it. The washer then wraps a rag around his hand and performs istinjāʾ, washing the deceased’s front and back private parts until they are clean. After that he removes the rag and washes his own hands just as one normally does before ablution. He next takes a cloth moistened with water, wipes the teeth and mouth, and cleans the nostrils in place of rinsing and drawing water into the nose; he must not pour water into the mouth or nose, for were he to do so it might flow down into the body and later seep out, causing distress to those washing the corpse.

He then washes the face, the arms up to the elbows, wipes the head, and washes the feet, completing a full ablution. After this, he prepares water in which powdered lote-tree leaves (sidr) have been beaten by hand until they form a foam; he takes that foam and washes the head of the deceased with it, then uses the remaining sidr-water to wash the rest of the body.

A woman may be washed only by women; even her father, her son, or any other maḥram may not wash her—only women or her husband may do so. Likewise, a man may be washed only by a man; neither his mother nor his daughter nor any woman may wash him except his wife. Thus the husband may wash his wife, and the wife may wash her husband; beyond that, no male washes a female and no female washes a male.

When the women gathered to wash Zaynab, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, he said, “Begin with her right side,” meaning that the right precedes the left—the right hand before the left.