<b>Funeral: Shrouding</b>
1. According to Sunnah a man’s shroud consists of three pieces- one shirt, a loincloth and a sheet. It is also permissible to shroud him with two cloths, i.e. loincloth and covering sheet. But in case of exigency or unavoidable circumstances using less than three pieces in a shroud is also permissible.
2. A woman’s shroud consists of five pieces according to Sunnah-one shirt, a loincloth, a chest band, a head band and a covering sheet. The loincloth should be from head to the feet in length and the covering sheet should be longer than it by one arm’s length. The shirt should be from neck to feet but without sleeves and side pieces.
The headpiece should be three hands in length. The chest band be from breasts to thighs in length and should be broad enough to be wrapped around the body. A woman may also be shrouded in three cloths only-a loincloth, a headband and a covering sheet due to lack of means or cloth. But shrouding in less than three clothes is execrable and not proper. But in case of exigency or unavoidable circumstances using less than three pieces in a shroud is also permissible.
3. The chest band may be from the breasts to the navel, but it is better that it should be down to thighs.
4. The shroud may be perfumed three or five or seven times before putting the dead body in it.
Method of shrouding
5. First spread the covering sheet on the cot, table etc. the chest band, then loincloth and shirt over it. After placing the body over it, the shirt should be put on first. For a woman, spread her hair on her chest by dividing it in two equal parts on right and left side. Then spread the headband over head and the hair. It should not be tied or wrapped. Then loincloth should be wrapped first on the left side and then on the right side. Then the chest band should be wrapped and finally the covering sheet should be wrapped first on the left and then on the right side. Then tie the whole shroud with strips of cloth behind the head, over the chest and below the feet so that the body may not slip out of the shroud on the way to the graveyard.
6. If the chest band is wrapped after headband before wrapping loincloth, then it is permissible.
7. When a dead body has been shrouded the women should leave it so that men may take it to offer funeral prayer and then to the graveyard for its burial.
8. It is permissible for women to offer funeral prayer.
9. It is not proper to put any pledge or genealogy of his predecessors or any other du’a etc. in the shroud or grave. It is also not proper to write with camphor or ink some Kalima etc. on the chest of the dead or on the shroud.
10. If a baby is born alive and dies immediately or shortly after birth, it should be given a bath, shrouded and buried after funeral prayer. The body should also be given a name.
11. If a baby is born dead without any sign of life (stillborn), it should also be given a bath as described, but instead of proper shroud, it should be wrapped in a clean cloth and buried. This body should also be given a name.
12. In case of an abortion, if the limbs of the child have not been formed, it should be buried without a bath and wrapped in a piece of cloth. But if the limbs have appeared, it should be disposed of according to the instructions given in No. 11 above. This child should also be given a name.
13. If at the time of birth of a child only the head came out and the child died, then it should be disposed of as described at No. 11 above. But if more than the head came out when the child died, then it will be treated as a child born alive and should be disposed of as described in No. 10 above.
14. If a minor girl, who has not attained puberty, dies she should also be given a shroud of five pieces, but if one cannot afford five pieces, then three would suffice. The instructions about an adult woman also apply to virgin and near maturity girls. In case of women they are stressed (muakkadah) but preferable (ghair muakkadah) in the case of minor girls.
15. If a very minor girl dies, she should also be given a shroud of five pieces. But to bury her with two pieces, loincloth and covering sheet is also allowed.
16. The same instructions apply to boys but in their case a shroud of three pieces is required.
17. In case of a man a shroud consisting of a loincloth and covering sheet is also permissible. But less than two pieces is execrable. In case of lack of means to provide two pieces even then providing one cloth is permissible and it is not execrable in such case.
18. The sheet that is spread over the shroud or a coffin is not part of the shroud.
19. One should be buried in the graveyard of the locality. It is not appreciable to carry the body somewhere else at a distance of more than four kilometers.
20. If anyone’s grave opens up somehow and the dead body also comes out and happens to be without shroud, then it should be shrouded again as described above provided that the body has not decomposed and disintegrated. But if it is disintegrating, then mere wrapping it in a clean cloth will be sufficient and it should be buried again.
