The ruling on a woman who dies and no one is available to wash her body except her son

Question: The second question concerns the washing of a woman’s body. The questioner says: A woman passed away in a place where there is no washing facility and she has no husband, but her son is present. Does her son wash her body, or does he not?

Answer:
The stronger view is that he does not wash her, but rather performs tayammum (dry ablution with clean earth) for her. That is, her guardian performs tayammum for her, so her son performs tayammum for her. He strikes the earth with his hands and wipes her face and hands with them, with the intention of washing the deceased, and this is sufficient. This is because a woman’s body is washed only by one of two people: either a woman, or her husband or master to whom she is lawful. In this situation, if only her son, her brother, her paternal uncle, or a non-mahram (a relative one may not marry) is present, she is to be given tayammum according to the stronger view. That is, he strikes the earth with his hands and wipes her face and hands with them, with the intention of washing her body after death.

The presenter: Does this tayammum resemble the tayammum for prayer?

The Shaykh: Yes, it is like the tayammum for prayer, exactly the same.

The presenter: He does not wipe, for example, the rest of her body.

The Shaykh: Never. Her face and hands only, just like for prayer, like one who is in a state of major ritual impurity and has no water. Yes.