What is the wisdom behind washing the dead person?

Dear Brother / Sister,

It is fard al-kifayah for Muslims to wash and enshroud the dead body of a believer, to perform his janazah prayer and to bury him. (1) When this duty is performed by one or more Muslims, the other Muslims will be relieved of the responsibility. However, if nobody fulfils this duty, all Muslims will be responsible. 

It existed in the shari’ah of the previous ummahs to wash and enshroud the dead body, to perform his janazah prayer and to bury him. According to what is reported from Ubayy b. Kab (d.21/642), when Hz. Adam died, the angels came with the shroud and scents they brought from Paradise; they washed and enshrouded him and spread some nice scent. Then, they performed his janazah prayer and placed him in the grave they had prepared; then, they covered it with mud-brick and leveled it with soil. After fulfilling this duty, they addressed Hz. Adam’s sons as follows:  

"O sons of Adam! What we did is your shari’ah, which is your Sunnah. Do the funeral ceremony and the burial of your dead people from now on as you have seen us do it."(2)

All dead people have been buried like that in all heavenly religions since Hz. Adam.

As a matter of fact, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), the prophet of Islam, the last heavenly religion, stated that it was one of the duties of the Muslims to wash the dead body of a believer; he showed them how to do it and ordered them to do it like that when a believer died. All of the mujtahid imams agreed unanimously that it is fard al-kifayah to wash and bury the body of a dead Muslim and to perform his janazah prayer upon this order of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). (3)

It is a respect shown to a dead person to wash him. It was rendered fard to clean him and to honor him.

Man’s dead body also deserves respect. This respect is a consolation to the relatives and friends of the dead person; it also aims to indicate that death is not non-existence, that the dead person goes to his real hometown and that it is necessary to send him there in pure and clean form. The washing of the dead body as if it is a newborn child symbolizes this rebirth in a way; it represents elimination of the dirt, dust and smears that this ephemeral journey, that is, the worldly life, left on him. After this washing, he is enshrouded just like a baby is wrapped with a onesie and placed into the cradle with care.

Footnotes:

1. Ibnul-Humam. Kamaluddin Muhammad b. Abdulwahid, Sharhu Fathil-Qadir, vol. I, p. 447. Bulaq, 1315 H; Tahtawi, Hashiyatu Ala Maraqil-Falah, p. 447. Egypt, 1970.
2. Ibn Kathir. al-Bidaya wan-Nihaya. vol. I. p. 98, Beirut, 1977; A. b. Hanbal, Musnad, vol. V, p. 136.
3. Kabir Hayatı, Doç Dr. Süleyman Toprak.

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