5-Endless Bliss Fifth Fascicle - Hakikat Kitabevi

Thus washing and shrouding will be easy.
Before he becomes cold, his clothes are taken off and he is
covered with a wide, light bed sheet. One end of the sheet will
be put under his head and the other end under his feet.
Something [a knife or anything made of iron] is placed on top of
his stomach, on or under the sheet, thus to prevent the corpse
from swelling. It should be over a hundred grams. Books
containing sacrosanct knowledge must not be used for this
purpose. Greatest care must be taken to protect the corpse
from things that would accelerate putrefaction and rotting. As
the soul leaves the body, incense (bahûr) must be burned near
the dying person. His neighbors, relatives and friends must
immediately be informed of his death.
Though there are (some savants) who say that it is makrûh
to read Qur’ân-al-kerîm near a dead person before he is
washed, it is permissible to read it silently, without touching his
bed, and while he is covered.
Once death has been diagnosed, it is sunna to hurry, which
becomes even wâjib in any likelihood of putrefaction. If there is
some doubt in the diagnosis of death, you wait till it becomes
certain. Rasûlullah ‘sallallâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ would not
approve of a corpse being left with his household. It is wâjib to
detain those who die of a heart attack until their death becomes
certain when the corpse becomes cold and putrefaction begins.
First incense is burned and carried around the washing
bench three times. It may be carried five times as well. Incense
is a plant. It is mixed with the filings of aloa wood and the resin
of storax and the mixture is burned in a container while the
washing bench is suffused with the smokes.
The corpse, being covered, is laid on its back or in any easy
manner on the incensed washing bench. It is washed, between
the navel and the knees being covered. For, a woman’s awrat
part that must be covered from other women is like a man’s
awrat part that must be covered from other men. It is sunna to
lay it toward the qibla on the washing bench. If its shirt is long
enough, it is washed in its shirt.
It is fard-i-kifâya to wash it, to shroud it, to perform the
janâza prayer, and to inter it. That is, after these are done by a
sufficient number of people, it will no longer be fard for other
people to do them. [It is necessary to do these fards for the
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