5-Endless Bliss Fifth Fascicle - Hakikat Kitabevi

3 - Lifâfa: It extends beyond the head and the feet and is
wider. Its ends over the head and below the feet are puckered
up and fastened with a piece of cloth.
It is stated in (the book) Berekât that it is makrûh to wrap an
imâma (a turban) round the corpse’s head. It is added (in the
same book) that this fact is written also in the book Sherh-i-
Sirâji, by Sayyid Sherîf Jurjânî. Also, it is makrûh to put a
turban or other ornaments on the coffin. Some (savants) said it
is permissible, while others said otherwise, to use a shroud
consisting of more than three parts; Imâm-i Rabbânî says that it
is bid’at. It is sunna for the shroud to be new, clean, and of a
valuable material. A shroud compatible with the dead person’s
financial status must be made. It is sunna for it to be made of
white linen [cambric]. It is harâm to shroud a man in silk. Also, it
is harâm to cover his coffin with silk. Silk is permissible for
women. It is better to make the shroud from the dead person’s
own halâl property than for somone else to give it. It is good to
prepare a halâl shroud when you are alive. A shroud washed
with zemzem is permissible in Hanafî, but harâm in Shafi’î
Madhhab. According to Hanafî Madhhab, all the zemzem
disappears when the shroud becomes dry. But according to
Shâfi’î, its traces still remain on the shroud, and this causes the
zemzem to be dirtied by the corpse’s blood and pus. It is not
permissible to write the Basmala, âyats or sacrosanct names on
the shroud or to put such writings in the grave. It is useful to
make shrouds from the underwears or clothes of pious Muslims
or Walîs or to put them in shrouds or on a corpse’s face or
chest. This fact is written in the third letter of the fourth volume
of Ma’thûmiyya.
It is sunna for a woman’s shroud to consist of five parts:
Qamîs, Izâr, Lifâfa, Khimâr, and Breast Cloth.
Khimâr: It is a head-wrap, which is about seventy-five
centimetres long. Its ends are left hanging over the face instead
of being wrapped around the face.
Breast cloth: It extends from the shoulders to the knees.
It is permissible to wrap men who are poor or who have
many debts in izâr and lifâfa and such women in qamîs, lifâfa
and khimâr only, but it is makrûh to go below this limit. In case
of great difficulty, only lifâfa is necessary both for a man and for
a woman. If the dead person has no property, it is fard for
others, e.g. for the Bayt-ul-mâl [the State] to give the shroud. It
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