Chapter on Guiding the Dying, Positioning Them at Death, Procedures for Their Final Moments, Washing Them, and Placing Them in Shrouds

Narrated by Sa'd bin Abdullah, from Muhammad bin Al-Husayn, from Safwan, from Abdullah bin Muskan, from Ayyub bin Al-Hurr: Abu Abdillah عليه السلام, was asked about a man who died while in a ship at sea. How should he be treated? Imam عليه السلام said: “He should be placed in a clay jar, its mouth sealed, and then cast into the water.” Shaykh (Al-Mufid), may Allah سبحانه وتعالى support him, said: If a Muslim man dies among non-Muslim men and Muslim women, but there is no Mahram (close male relative) for him among the women, then one of the non-Muslims is instructed to wash him under the guidance of the Muslim women according to the method of Islamic washing. Similarly, if a Muslim woman dies among Muslim men without a Mahram and non-Muslim women, then the men instruct one of the non-Muslim women to perform her washing in accordance with Islamic practices. This indicates that: