The Impurity of the Dead and the Ruling on Washing After Washing the Dead
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah preserve you, does a person become ritually impure when he dies?
The Shaykh:
No, a believer does not become ritually impure upon death, he does not become ritually impure upon death, he is not ritually impure. The impurity is in the carcasses of non-humans, whereas a human being is not ritually impure. Nor is washing the dead done for the sake of removing impurity, nor for the sake of removing a state of ritual impurity, because death does not lift a state of ritual impurity. If we said that death is a state of ritual impurity, then even if we washed him, the state of ritual impurity would not be lifted. Therefore, washing the dead is an act of worship, and Allah knows best. Washing the dead is an act of worship, not for the sake of impurity, nor for the sake of a state of ritual impurity, but rather it is a purely devotional command.
Another questioner:
The washing is upon the one who washed.
The Shaykh:
It is a recommended practice (sunnah), meaning it is recommended for the one who washed the dead to take a full ritual bath, but it is not obligatory. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah preserve you, does a person become ritually impure when he dies?
The Shaykh:
No, a believer does not become ritually impure upon death, he does not become ritually impure upon death, he is not ritually impure. The impurity is in the carcasses of non-humans, whereas a human being is not ritually impure. Nor is washing the dead done for the sake of removing impurity, nor for the sake of removing a state of ritual impurity, because death does not lift a state of ritual impurity. If we said that death is a state of ritual impurity, then even if we washed him, the state of ritual impurity would not be lifted. Therefore, washing the dead is an act of worship, and Allah knows best. Washing the dead is an act of worship, not for the sake of impurity, nor for the sake of a state of ritual impurity, but rather it is a purely devotional command.
Another questioner:
The washing is upon the one who washed.
The Shaykh:
It is a recommended practice (sunnah), meaning it is recommended for the one who washed the dead to take a full ritual bath, but it is not obligatory. Yes.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، تابع باب الآنية - 2 — islamhouse.com (42:14)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.