ভূমিকা

Ruling 617. The following are recommended acts of burial: 1. * the depth of the grave should be equal to the height of an average person or be at the level of an average person’s shoulders; 2. the corpse should be buried in the nearest graveyard unless a further graveyard is better for some reason; for example, righteous people are buried there, or because people visit there more often to recite Sūrat al-Fātiḥah etc. for those buried there; 3.

the corpse should be placed on the ground at a short distance from the grave and be taken slowly towards the grave in three stages; and at each stage, the corpse should be placed on the ground and then lifted; and the fourth time the corpse is put down should be when it is lowered into the grave; 4.

if the deceased is male, then on the third time that the corpse is put down, it should be placed on the ground in a way that the head is at the feet end of the grave; and on the fourth time, it should be lowered into the grave head-first.

If the deceased is female, then on the third time that the corpse is put down, it should be placed at the side of the grave facing qibla and then lowered into the grave sideways; and a cloth should be held over the grave while it is being lowered into the grave; 5. the corpse should be taken out of the coffin and lowered into the grave gently; 6. the recommended duʿāʾs should be recited before and during the burial; 7.

* after the corpse has been placed in a niche in the side of the grave [as is done in some countries], the ties of the kafan should be unfastened. It is better that first the tie of the kafan at the head of the corpse be opened and the face of the corpse be placed on soil. An earthen headrest should be formed and placed under its head; 8. unbaked bricks or clods of earth should be placed behind the back of the corpse so that it does not come to lie flat on its back; 9.

In the blank spaces, one should say the name of the deceased person and the name of his father.