Section: Ahmad said: 'It does not please me that she is shrouded in anything made of silk.' Al-Hasan, Ibn al-Mubarak, and Ishaq also disliked this. Ibn al-Mundhir said: 'I do not know of any disagreement from anyone else.' There are two possibilities (8) regarding the permissibility of shrouding a woman in silk; because the one that relies on analogy (qiyas) is permissibility, as it is among her garments during her life. However, we disliked it for her because she has moved beyond being a site of adornment and desire. Likewise, it is disliked to shroud her in saffron-dyed [cloth] (mu'asfar) and the like, for that same reason. Al-Awza'i said: 'The deceased shall not be shrouded in dyed garments, except for that which is 'asb, meaning that which is dyed with 'asb, which is a plant that grows in Yemen.' (9)

351 - Issue: He said: '(Her hair shall be braided into three plaits and let down behind her.)'

The totality of this is that the hair of the deceased woman is washed. Even if it were knotted, it is undone, then washed, then braided into three plaits: her two sides and her forelock, and it is cast behind her. This is the view of al-Shafi'i, Ishaq, and Ibn al-Mundhir. Al-Awza'i and the scholars of opinion (ashab al-ra'y) said: 'It is not to be braided, but rather let loose alongside her cheeks, from in front of her on both sides, then the head covering is released over it,' because braiding it requires combing it, which causes her hair to break (1) and be pulled out (2). We argue based on what Umm 'Atiyya narrated, who said: 'We braided her hair into three plaits and cast it behind her'—meaning the daughter of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Agreed upon (4). In the narration of Muslim: 'So we braided her hair into three plaits; her two sides and her forelock.' And for al-Bukhari: 'They made the head of the daughter of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) into three plaits. We undid it,'