342 - Issue: He said: (If it increases, he should stuff it with cotton; if it does not hold, then with pure clay.)

The sum of this is that if an impurity exits from him after the seventh [washing], he does not return to washing. Ahmad said: Whoever washes a deceased person should not wash him more than seven [times]; he should not exceed it, whether something exits from him or not. It was said to him: Should we have him perform wudu' if something exits from him after the seventh? He said: No, because the Prophet (peace be upon him) commanded it this way: three, five, or seven, in the hadith of Umm 'Atiyya, and because increasing the washing and repeating it at every exit loosens the body and leads to difficulty. However, he should wash [only] the impurity and stuff its exit with cotton. It is said: It should be fastened with cotton as a woman with istihada (prolonged vaginal bleeding) and someone who has urinary incontinence does, and if that does not hold it, it should be stuffed with pure clay—which is the refined, solid [clay] that has the strength to close the area. Ahmad mentioned that he does not perform wudu'. It is possible that he is to perform wudu' as one does for prayer, like a person in a state of janaba (major ritual impurity) if they invalidate their purity after their bath, and this is better.

Section: A menstruating woman and a person in a state of janaba who die are treated like others regarding washing. Ibn al-Mundhir said: This is the view of those we have memorized from the scholars of the major cities. Al-Hasan and Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib said: No one dies but that they are in a state of janaba. It was said on the authority of al-Hasan: The person in a state of janaba is washed for the janaba, and the menstruating woman for the menses, then they are both washed for death. The first view is better because they have exited the regulations of religious responsibility (taklif), and there is no longer any obligatory worship upon them. Washing for the deceased is an act of devotion (ta'abbud), and [is done] so that he is in the most perfect state of cleanliness and freshness at the time he departs from this world. This is achieved with one washing, and because a single washing is sufficient for one in whose case two causes for it are found, if both menses and janaba occur together.

Section: The necessary requirements for washing the deceased are the intention (niyya), and the basmala (saying Bismillâh) according to one of the two narrations, and washing him once. This is because it is a ritual washing of devotion that is not due to an impurity affecting him, but rather a condition for the validity of prayer; thus, it is obligatory for him just as washing for janaba is. Ahmad has likened his washing to the washing for janaba. Since the intention and basmala are impossible for the deceased, they are considered in relation to the washer, because he is the one addressed by the [obligation of] washing.