Home » Shafi'i Fiqh » Qibla.com » Moving a Dead Body to Another Town for Burial

Moving a Dead Body to Another Town for Burial

Answered as per Shafi'i Fiqh by Qibla.com

Answered by Shaykh Amjad Rasheed

Is it permissible to move a dead body from the town where he died to another so he may be buried there?

Answer:
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

The most correct position in our school is that it is haram to move a dead body from the town of his death to another town to bury him, even if it [s. the body] does not decompose by the time it takes to move it, or even if he had decreed it by will. [The reason] is that it comprises delaying the burial and exposing the body to having its sanctity disgraced.

Imam al-Nawawi said in the Majmu`,

“It has been correctly related from Jabir, may Allah be well pleased with him that he said, ‘We were carrying our dead on the day of Uhud to bury them, so the crier of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, came and he said, ‘Verily the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him is commanding you to bury the dead where they died,’ so we returned them.'” Related by Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi and al-Nasa’i by authentic chains. Al-Tirmidhi said, “it is a sound and authentic hadith.”

However, the prohibition is excused if the dead body is close to Mecca or Medina or Jerusalem, for it is permissible to move it there. Imam al-Shafi’i explicitly mentioned this , may Allah be well pleased with him and have mercy on him, as has come in the Minhaj, and Imam al Muhabb al-Tabari also added to these three blessed places, any village in which there are righteous people.”

The opposite of this more sound position [which is also permissible to follow] in the Majmu` is that moving the dead body is disliked and not haram. This position was chosen by Imam al-Baghawi and Shaykh Abu Nasr al Bandanayji who are from amongst our greatest scholars, who said, “Because a proof has not come about its prohibition”, as mentioned in the Mughni (1/366).

(Translated by Sr. Shazia Ahmad)

السؤال : هل يجوز نقل الميت من البلد الذي مات فيه إلى بلد آخر ليدفن فيها ؟ الجواب : الأصح في مذهبنا أنه يحرم نقل الميت من بلد موته إلى بلد آخر ليدفن فيه وإن لم يتغير في مدة النقل ولو أوصى بذلك ؛ لما في ذلك من تأخير دفنه ومن التعريض لهتك حرمته قال الإمام النووي في “المجموع” :” وقد صح عن جابر رضي الله عنه قال :” كنا حملنا القتلى يوم أحد لندفنهم , فجاء منادي النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فقال : إن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يأمركم أن تدفنوا القتلى في مضاجعهم فرددناها “. رواه أبو داود والترمذي والنسائي بأسانيد صحيحة, قال الترمذي : حديث حسن صحيح “. اهـ لكن يستثنى من التحريم ما لو كان الميت بقرب مكة أو المدينة أو بيت المقدس فيجوز نقله إليها نص عليه الإمام الشافعي رضي الله تعالى عنه ورحمه كما في “المنهاج” وألحق الإمام المحب الطبري بهذه الأماكن الثلاثة المباركة القريةَ التي فيها صالحون . ومقابلُ الأصح كما في “المجموع” أن النقل مكروه لا حرام ، وبه قال الإمام البغوي والشيخ أبو نصر البندنيجي من كبار أئمتنا ؛ قالوا : لأنه لم يرد على تحريمه دليلٌ كما قاله في “المغني” (1/366)

This answer was indexed from Qibla.com, which used to have a repository of Islamic Q&A answered by various scholars. The website is no longer in existence. It has now been transformed into a learning portal with paid Islamic course offering under the brand of Kiflayn.

Read answers with similar topics: