Write your janazah wishes
Who to call first, where you want to be buried, who should wash you, what you owe and what you are owed, and where your papers are. One page your family will be grateful for in the first hour.
For Muslim families in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and France
Life is temporary. Leave things in order.
When a Muslim dies, the family has a day, perhaps two, to wash, shroud, pray and bury, then months to settle what was left behind. We help you prepare for that day, and walk your family through it when it comes.
Who is this for?
Someone has diedWhat to do in the first hours and days, one step at a time I’m planning aheadWrite your wishes and see how your estate dividesGuides for the United States · the United Kingdom · Canada · Australia · France. The directory also covers Ireland and New Zealand.
Free, no ads, no account. Every ruling sourced. Listings are never paid for.
كُلُّ نَفْسٍۢ ذَآئِقَةُ ٱلْمَوْتِ
Every soul will taste death.
Qurʾān, Āl ʿImrān 3:185 · Saheeh International
Three things to do this month
A little work now spares your family a great deal later.
Worked example
A man leaves a wife, two sons and a daughter.
- Estate
- $260,000
- Funeral costs
- −$9,000
- Debts
- −$11,000
- For the heirs
- $240,000
| Wife | 1⁄8 | $30,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Each son | 7⁄20 | $84,000 |
| Daughter | 7⁄40 | $42,000 |
Computed by the calculator on this site. The four schools agree on this case.
See how your estate divides
Funeral costs first, then debts, then any bequest of up to a third. What remains goes to your heirs by the shares Allah set in Sūrat al-Nisāʾ. See each heir’s share in dollars, with the evidence for every rule.
Know who to call
Masjid funeral committees, Muslim funeral homes, cemeteries and burial funds: 558 listings across 47 US states and in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and France so far, each checked against a public page and dated. Save the number now, so nobody is searching for it on the day.
Why this exists
Because every family will need it.
When someone dies, the family has hours to arrange a burial and months of paperwork after it, and most of us have never been shown how. I made Life Is Temporary so that what a family needs on that day, who to call, what to do and how the estate divides, is in one place, free, and linked to its sources.
If something here is wrong or missing for your city, write to me at [email protected] and I will fix it.
HamzaFounder, Inheriting Islam
Life Is Temporary is an Inheriting Islam app. The guide, the calculator, the wishes page and the directory are free and will stay free. What you type in the calculator and the wishes page stays in your browser. Privacy
Rulings linked to the Qurʾān, ḥadīth or a classical textDone
Qurʾān text taken byte for byte from TanzilDone
Calculator tested against textbook casesDone
Review by a qualified scholarArranging
The Friday letter
One reminder. One small task.
Every Friday: a short reflection on this life and the next, and one thing to do that week. Find the deed. Tell your spouse where the passwords are. Write one line of your wishes.