381 - Issue; he said: (And if he is carried and has a remaining spark of life, he shall be washed and prayed over.)

The meaning of his saying "a remaining spark of life" (ramaq) is a stable life. Such a person is to be washed and prayed over, even if he is a martyr, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) washed Sa'd ibn Mu'adh and prayed over him, even though he was a martyr; Ibn al-'Ariqah had shot him with an arrow on the day of the Trench, which severed his brachial vein (akhal), and he was carried to the mosque where he remained for days until he passed judgment on the Banu Qurayzah, after which his wound reopened and he died. The apparent meaning of the words of al-Khiraqi is that if his life continues for a long time after being carried, he is to be washed and prayed over; whereas if he dies on the battlefield or immediately upon being carried, he is neither washed nor prayed over. Similar to this is the opinion of Malik, who said: If he eats, drinks, or remains for two or three days, he is to be washed. Ahmad said in one place: If he speaks, eats, or drinks, he is to be prayed over. The opinion of the followers of Abu Hanifah is similar to this. It is also narrated from Ahmad that he was asked about a wounded person who remains on the battlefield for a day until nightfall and then dies, and he held the opinion that he should be prayed over. The followers of al-Shafi'i said: If he dies during the war, he is not washed or prayed over, and otherwise he is. The correct position is to define it by the length of the interval or the act of eating, because eating only occurs from one who possesses a stable life, and a long interval indicates the same, and the consideration of these two has been established in many places. As for speech, drinking, and the state of war, it is not correct to define it by any of them, because it is narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said on the day of Uhud: "Who will look..."