The Shar'ee Procedure at the Time of Death

Recite Surah Yaseen at the time of death and make the person lie on his right hand side facing the qiblah if this will not cause any pain to him. If not, leave him as he is. It is also permissible to make him lie flat on his back with his feet pointing towards the qiblah and his head slightly elevated. The person sitting nearby should recite the kalimah in an audible voice. He should not ask the person to recite the kalimah because it is possible that he will refuse.

On passing away, take a broad strip of cloth or band and tie it from below his chin and above his head. Thereafter, close his eyes. Place the large toes of each foot together and tie them with a strip of cloth. Place his hands at his sides and not on his chest. Thereafter, inform the people of his death. Hasten towards his burial. First of all, make the arrangements for the grave and thereafter request for the following items for the kafan :

1. Two water-pots. (if there are utensils in the house, there is no need for this)

2. A can to pour the water.

3. A wooden bed or platform which is generally kept in the musjid.

4. Lobaan (a kind of incense).

5. Cotton wool.

6. Gilly flower (or any other fragrant flower).

7. Camphor.

8. Strips of timber or sticks for the grave, the length of which will be according to the measurements of the grave.

9. A mat made of palm leaves according to the measurements of the grave.

10. Kafan . The kafan should be made in the following manner: for men, take a stick that is equal in length of the deceased person. Make a mark on the stick in line with his shoulders. Place a piece of cotton in line with his chest and take it around his body until one end of the cotton goes round and meets the other end of the cotton. Cut off the cotton and keep that piece aside. Thereafter, take a cloth that is as wide as or more or less the same as the length of that piece of cotton. If the width of the material is less than the cotton, complete it by joining another piece of material. Take some sheeting and cut out a piece of cloth that is the same length as that of the stick. This is called the loincloth. Take another sheet that is the same width as the previous one and cut out another piece of cloth that is about a quarter metre longer than the loin cloth. This is called the lifafah or sheet. Take another piece of cloth that is as wide as the width of the deceased. Place one end of it on the mark on the stick till the end of the stick and cut double this length. Hold both the ends of this cloth together and cut out a circle at the opposite end which will be large enough for the head of the person to go through. This is known as the shirt. This is not used for a woman. Apart from this, there are two other pieces of cloth (for a woman), one is the chest band and the other, the head band. The chest band extends from below the arm-pits till the knees. It will be as wide as the piece of cotton that was originally used for measuring. The head band will be about one and three quarter metres in length and about three quarters of a metre in width. These are the masnun measurements for the kafan . There are certain things which are connected to the kafan . They are as follows:

(i) The tahband should be about 18 centimetres longer than the width of the body. For a large person, one and quarter metre in length will be sufficient. And for the width from the navel to the calf, about 80 centimetres will be sufficient. There has to be two pieces of this.

(ii) The gloves should be approximately 33 centimetres by 16 centimetres. There should be two of these as well.

(iii) The upper semi-circular covering of the bier of a woman who is big in body should be about three and half metres by two metres.

(iv) Preparations for the kafan and other items should be made together with the preparations for ghusl .

(v) We now feel it relevant to enumerate the kafan in the form of a table so that it will be easier to understand:

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Note : For the kafan of a man, approximately 10 metres of material is required. For the woman, together with the upper covering of the bier, approximately 21 metres is required. The tahband and gloves are not included in this. The kafan for a child should be calculated as explained previously.