5-Endless Bliss Fifth Fascicle - Hakikat Kitabevi

15 – THE SALÂT of JANÂZA
The salât of janâza is fard-i kifâya for men who hear (of the
death), and, if there are no men, for women. It is not makrûh for
one woman to perform it alone or for more than one women to
form a jamâ’at (and perform it in jamâ’at). A person who slights
(the janâza salât) becomes a kâfir (unbeliever). There are six
conditions to be fulfilled for the salât (of janâza) to be
acceptable:
1 - The dead person must be a Muslim.
2 - The corpse must have been washed. If it has been
interred before having been washed but has not been covered
up with earth yet, it is taken out and washed and then the salât
is performed. The place where the corpse and the imâm are
must be clean. It is not a condition for the jamâ’at’s place to be
clean. For, the fard will have been carried out by only the
imâm’s performing the salât. If the clothes, the shoes and the
place stood on are najs (foul) the salât will not be sahîh.
Tahtâwî ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’aleyh’ states in his explanation
entitled Imdâd: “If the corpse is in a clean coffin and if you take
off your shoes the upper parts of which are clean and stand on
them, the ground’s being najs does not give any harm.” If a
woman or jâriya conducts the salât as the imâm the fard will
have been carried out. For, though the salât of the men who
follow the woman will not be accepted, the woman’s salât of
janâza will be accepted and the fard will have been carried out
by one person having performed the salât. It is permissible for a
child to wash the corpse, but it is not permissible for it to
conduct the salât of janâza.
3 - The corpse or half of the corpse and its head or more
than half of it without its head must be ahead of the imâm.
4 - The corpse must be on the ground or close to the
ground, held with hands or placed on a stone (bench). If the
corpse is at some other place or on a beast or raised on hands,
the salât of janâza will not be accepted. The corpse’s head
must be to the imâm’s right and its feet must be to his left. It is
sinful to place it the other way round.
5 - The corpse must be ready and in front of the imâm.
6 - The awrat parts of the corpse and of the imâm must be
covered.
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