Screening it is more feasible and further removed from resembling women, in addition to the fact that it involves following the companions of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
367 - Issue: He said: (And her mahram [unmarriageable relative] places her in it; if there is no one, then the women; if there is no one, then the elderly men).
There is no disagreement among the scholars that the most entitled person to place a woman in her grave is her mahram, who is anyone for whom it was permissible to look at her during her lifetime and with whom she was permitted to travel. Al-Khallal narrated with his chain of transmission from Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, that he stood at the pulpit of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, when Zaynab bint Jahsh passed away, and said: "Beware (1)! I have sent to the women for someone to place her into her grave?" They replied: "Someone who was permitted to enter upon her during her lifetime." I saw that they spoke the truth (2). When Umar’s wife passed away, he said to her family: "You are more entitled to her (3)." This is because her mahram is the most entitled of people to her guardianship during life, and likewise after death. The apparent meaning of Ahmad’s words is that relatives are prioritized over the husband. Al-Khallal said: The narration from Abu Abd Allah is consistent that if the guardians (awliya) and the husband are both present, the guardians are more beloved to him. If the guardians are not present, then the husband is more entitled than a stranger, due to what we mentioned of the report of Umar, and because the husband’s marital status has ended with her death, while the kinship remains. Al-Qadi said: The husband is more entitled than the guardians, because Abu Bakr placed his wife into her grave instead of her relatives, and because he is more entitled to wash her than they are, so he is more entitled to place her into her grave, as is the case in matters of consensus; and whichever of them is prioritized, the other follows. If neither of them is present, it has been narrated from Ahmad that he said: It is more beloved to me that the women place her in, because it is permissible for them to look at her, and they are more entitled to wash her.
(1) Omitted from: the original. (2) Extracted by al-Bayhaqi, in: The Chapter on the deceased being placed in his grave by men... etc., from the Book of Funerals. al-Sunan al-Kubra 4/53. And by Ibn Abi Shaybah, in: The Chapter on the woman, who places her in her grave and who is responsible for her, from the Book of Funerals. al-Musannaf 3/324. (3) Its extraction was mentioned previously on page 408.
