5-Endless Bliss Fifth Fascicle - Hakikat Kitabevi

elly] of the lifâfa are tied with a piece of cloth. A big boy is
shrouded like a man, and a big girl is shrouded like a woman. A
small boy is shrouded in one item, and a small girl is shrouded
in two items. A child born dead or aborted or a human limb,
[e.g. an arm], is not shrouded; they are wrapped in some cloth
and buried.
When an exhumed naked corpse is found, it is shrouded and
buried as prescribed by the sunna if it has not yet putrefied. If it
has putrefied it is only wrapped in some cloth and buried.
The amount of the shroud prescribed by the sunna is bought
with the dead person’s (left) property (or money). Before his
debts, will and inheritance, the money for his shroud is set
apart. If the dead person has no property, his relatives for whom
it is wâjib to subsist him buy his shroud together, each
contributing as much as the rate of the inheritance he would
receive. As a matter of fact, they would share the expenses for
his subsistence when he was alive. However, if he has two
children each of them foots half the expense. For, the
subsistence to be given by the children is not in proportion to
the inheritance they would receive; they share the expense
equally.
If a dead person has his father and a son left alive, his son
alone provides the shroud. Even if a woman is rich, her
husband provides her shroud. If a dead person has had no one
to support him, his shroud is provided by the Beyt-ul-mâl. If the
Beyt-ul-mâl does not function properly, it becomes fard-i kifâya
for any Muslim who hears of his death to provide a shroud for
him. If the person who hears of his death is poor, he asks for a
shroud of necessity, that is, a cloth large enough to make a
shroud, from others. In Istanbul it is customary to buy seven
metres of cambric for a man’s shroud and eight metres of it for
a woman’s. It is usually 130 to 140 centimetres wide. The coffin
is closed, covered with a new bedsheet, and bound up with
ordinary cord, which is also used in lowering the coffin into the
grave. The top of the coffin is covered with a green blanket with
(Islamic) inscriptions on it; its sides are pinned to the bed-sheet.
With women, a triangular head-wrap is also spread on the head
side of the blanket. The coffin must be made from dovetailed
wood without using any nails. After a short prayer and a general
forgiveness of any past unjust actions, the corpse (in the coffin)
is taken to the musallâ (the stone bench on which the coffin is
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