Fiqh-us-Sunnah Volume 4, Funerals and Dhikr, Fiqh 4.034.

Section : Shrouding a Pilgrim.

If a pilgrim dies, he is to be washed the same way any non-pilgrim is washed. He should be shrouded in his ihram (two pieces of seamless cloth which the pilgrims don during umrah or hajj. His head should not be covered, nor should any perfume be applied to his body, because the restrictions of ihram still apply to him. This is based on what the group reported from Ibn ‘Abbas, who said: “During the last hajj, a man, mounted on a horse, was close to Allah’s Prophet, peace be upon him, and was trying to learn more from him, when he suddenly fell off his mount. The horse kicked him and killed him. When the Prophet, peace be upon him, was told about him, he said: ‘Wash him with water and lotus (leaves), then wrap him in his two sheets, and do not perfume his body nor cover his head, for Allah, the Exalted, will raise him on the Day of Resurrection with talbiyah (The prayer uttered during hajj by the pilgrims) on his lips’.”

The Hanafi and Maliki schools hold that when a pilgrim dies, then his state of ihram is terminated, so that thereafter he may be shrouded like any non-pilgrim. His shroud may be sewn, his head may be covered, and he may be perfumed. In their opinion the case of the man who died while with the Prophet, peace be upon him, during the Hajj season is of a special case and does not set a precedent for other cases. Nevertheless the reason given (for not covering his head or perfuming his body…) applies generally. The statement that he will be raised on the Day of Judgement with talbiyah on his tongue clearly applies to all who die in the state of ihram, because it is a well established juristic principle that a ruling true for one case is also true and applicable to other similar cases, unless there is something indicating that the case is specific in nature and limited in scope.

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