Washing the bodies of the deceased who suffered from contagious diseases
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Fatwa number ( 14658 )
All praise is due to Allah alone, and peace and blessings be upon the one after whom there is no prophet. After that: The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta has reviewed what was sent to His Eminence the Grand Mufti from His Excellency the Director of Religious Affairs in the Armed Forces, under number (3\10\4196), and referred to the Committee by the General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Scholars, under number (19 T) and dated 4\1\1412 AH. The questioner asked a question, the text of which is as follows: I hope you will inform us about some cases of death in the hospital, where some of these cases are highly contagious, such as the case of immune deficiency (AIDS disease), and some cases of death from epidemic liver disease , where doctors state that these diseases are contagious, and some corpses that have parts decomposing while they are in the refrigerator, and the deceased who has been there for a long time until filth appears in him. I hope you will inform us regarding whether to wash them or not, or to perform tayammum with dust, and whether to open the plastic bag over the face, or to perform tayammum over the plastic if tayammum is permissible out of fear of infection.
After the Committee studied the question, it answered as follows: The deceased in the cases mentioned are to be washed like other deceased, and the diseases mentioned are not contagious by their nature, because this is from the belief of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance,
they attribute the action to other than Allah the Exalted; therefore, it is established from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Sunan Ibn Majah 3539 , but it may occur by the will of Allah the Exalted, due to the mixing of the healthy person with the sick person, something of infection. Therefore, there is no harm in taking protective measures such as vaccination, masks, gloves, and the like of means. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad and his family and his Companions.
All praise is due to Allah alone, and peace and blessings be upon the one after whom there is no prophet. After that: The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta has reviewed what was sent to His Eminence the Grand Mufti from His Excellency the Director of Religious Affairs in the Armed Forces, under number (3\10\4196), and referred to the Committee by the General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Scholars, under number (19 T) and dated 4\1\1412 AH. The questioner asked a question, the text of which is as follows: I hope you will inform us about some cases of death in the hospital, where some of these cases are highly contagious, such as the case of immune deficiency (AIDS disease), and some cases of death from epidemic liver disease , where doctors state that these diseases are contagious, and some corpses that have parts decomposing while they are in the refrigerator, and the deceased who has been there for a long time until filth appears in him. I hope you will inform us regarding whether to wash them or not, or to perform tayammum with dust, and whether to open the plastic bag over the face, or to perform tayammum over the plastic if tayammum is permissible out of fear of infection.
After the Committee studied the question, it answered as follows: The deceased in the cases mentioned are to be washed like other deceased, and the diseases mentioned are not contagious by their nature, because this is from the belief of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance,
they attribute the action to other than Allah the Exalted; therefore, it is established from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
There is no ‘Adwa, no omen, no Hamah and no Safar.
لا عدوى ولا طيرة ولا هامة ولا صفر
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.