5-Endless Bliss Fifth Fascicle - Hakikat Kitabevi

permissible to put cotton in its mouth, nostrils, ear-holes or on
its eyes.
In Hanafî Madhhab a woman cannot be washed or touched
by her husband. For the nikâh becomes void as soon as the
wife dies. It is permissible for him to look at her. In the other
three Madhhabs it is permissible for the husband to wash the
wife. It is permissible in Hanafî Madhhab also for the wife to
wash her husband. For, after the death (of the husband) the
nikâh (marriage) goes on until the period of ’iddat [four months]
is over. Men cannot wash women, and women cannot wash
men. They must make a tayammum by wrapping a cloth
around their hands. A man who makes a tayammum cannot
look at the bare arms of a nâmahram woman. If she is a
mahram relative of his, there is no need to wrap a cloth. For it is
permissible to look at and touch the arms and the face of
mahram relatives.
If only a person’s head or half of its body (without the head)
is found, it is not washed and the salât of janâza is not
performed. It is only buried. If more than half of the body without
the head or if half of the body with the head is found, it is
washed and the janâza salât is performed.
It brings much thawâb to wash the corpse free of charge. It
is permissible to demand payment, but it is not permissible if
there is no one else to wash it free of charge. So is the case
with the payments for transporting corpses and digging graves.
A person drowned is washed three times, or moved three times
in the water with the intention to wash. A person soaked by rain
is washed, too.
Washing corpses existed in all the (past) Sharî’ats. Angels
washed Adam (’alaihissalâm), and they said, “Wash your dead
like this.”
When an ownerless corpse is found which is not known to
belong to a Muslim or a disbeliever, it is washed and the salât of
janâza is performed if it has the signs of Islam. Signs of Islam
are circumcision, dying the beard, and shaving the pubes.
Today all three of these are no longer signs of Islam. If it does
not have any sign of Islam, it is to be considered to belong to a
Muslim if it is found in a Muslim country.
If corpses of Muslims are mixed with those of disbelievers
and if they do not have signs of Islam, the salât of janâza is
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