The Ruling on Delaying the Funeral in Hospitals
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
In some hospitals, the funeral remains with them for a week.
Answer:
If there is a pressing need for that, such as for the arrival of someone who knows the deceased because he is unknown, or for the arrival of his awliya (close friends of Allah) to take charge of it, then if it is facilitated to expedite it, that is the sunnah (recommended practice): to hasten the funeral. If it is delayed for a necessity that cannot be avoided, some people may delay it until someone who knows him arrives because he is unknown, such as those who died in car accidents, and some people may be a stranger from the people of the town, so they wait in his matter until his family comes out and someone who knows him arrives for all these reasons.
In some hospitals, the funeral remains with them for a week.
Answer:
If there is a pressing need for that, such as for the arrival of someone who knows the deceased because he is unknown, or for the arrival of his awliya (close friends of Allah) to take charge of it, then if it is facilitated to expedite it, that is the sunnah (recommended practice): to hasten the funeral. If it is delayed for a necessity that cannot be avoided, some people may delay it until someone who knows him arrives because he is unknown, such as those who died in car accidents, and some people may be a stranger from the people of the town, so they wait in his matter until his family comes out and someone who knows him arrives for all these reasons.
Source
التعليق على بعض أحاديث صحيح مسلم، تابع شرح كتاب الجنائز (2) — islamhouse.com (30:14)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.