Words you may hear

The residuary heirs. After the fixed shares, what remains goes to the nearest male relative, and to sisters alongside daughters.

Also: asaba, asabah, residuary heirs

See: Inheritance calculator · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6732; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6736

An examination of the body after death, which a medical examiner or coroner may order after a sudden death. Some US states let families object on religious grounds; ask the medical examiner’s office what applies, and ask them to work quickly. In England and Wales you cannot object to a coroner’s post-mortem, but you can ask to be told when and where it will take place.

Also: post-mortem, postmortem

See: Autopsy, embalming and organ donation · GOV.UK, What to do after someone dies: When a death is reported to a coroner

When the fixed shares add up to more than the whole estate, the base is raised and every share is reduced in proportion.

Also: awl, aul

See: Inheritance calculator · Ruling of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb with the Companions; al-Sirājiyyah, chapter on ʿawl

The burial follows straight after the janazah prayer, in a Muslim cemetery or a Muslim section of one. Often the largest cost is the grave: the plot and the fee to open and close it.

Also: dafn, dafan

See: Funeral costs · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1315

A fund some masajid run: families join for a yearly fee, and it then covers a member’s funeral. The directory lists them where we have found them.

Also: funeral fund, janazah fund

See: Funeral costs

Giving charity in the name of the one who has died. A man asked if he could give charity for his mother, who died suddenly, and the Prophet ﷺ said yes; families often ask for it instead of flowers.

Also: sadaqah, sadaqa, instead of flowers

See: Telling family · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 2760

After a sudden or unexplained death, a coroner or medical examiner may need to examine the body, which can delay burial. The coroner releases the body once the examinations are done.

Also: medical examiner, ME, procurator fiscal

See: Autopsy, embalming and organ donation · GOV.UK, What to do after someone dies: When a death is reported to a coroner; Government of Alberta, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner: overview

The official record of the death. Banks, insurers and government offices each want a certified copy, so order several through the funeral home or the vital records office.

Also: certified copy

See: When someone dies

The wider relatives, such as a daughter’s children or a maternal uncle. They inherit only when no heir with a fixed share and no residuary heir survives, apart from a spouse, who takes the full share first.

Also: dhawul arham, dhawi al-arham, wider relatives

See: Inheritance calculator · al-Ḥaṣkafī, al-Durr al-Mukhtār, with Ibn ʿĀbidīn’s Radd al-Muḥtār (Ḥanafī) 6/791–792, Bāb tawrīth dhawī al-arḥām; al-Buhūtī, Kashshāf al-Qināʿ (Ḥanbalī) 4/460–461

A personal prayer to Allah, in any language. Families ask for duʿāʾ for the one who has died, and any sincere duʿāʾ in your own words is heard.

Also: dua, du‘a, duaa, supplication

See: Duʿāʾs for the grieving · Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 919

Funeral homes may ask for embalming before a public viewing, which a Muslim funeral does not have. No US state requires routine embalming, so families ask for no embalming and no viewing.

Also: embalm

See: Autopsy, embalming and organ donation · Federal Trade Commission, The FTC Funeral Rule

Everything the person left. It is paid out in order: the funeral, then the debts, then any bequest from up to a third, then the heirs. Nothing is inherited until the funeral and debts are settled.

Also: tarikah, what was left

See: Inheritance calculator · al-Sirājiyyah (al-Sajāwandī), opening chapter

A nearer heir can shut out a farther one. The mother excludes every grandmother, and any descendant, the father or the grandfather excludes the maternal half-siblings.

Also: hajb, ḥajb, excluded heir

See: Inheritance calculator · Consensus on the sixth (Sunan Abī Dāwūd 2894, chain graded weak); Ibn Qudāmah, al-Mughnī, on the schools’ differences

The person named in the will to carry it out, who leads what follows the death. In Ontario the title is estate trustee, in Alberta personal representative and in Quebec liquidator; in England and Wales the executors apply for probate.

Also: personal representative, estate trustee, liquidator, administrator

See: Write your will · GOV.UK, Applying for probate; Government of Ontario, Apply for probate of an estate

Islamic inheritance: the fixed shares the Qurʾān gives children, parents, spouses and siblings, divided after the funeral, the debts and any bequest.

Also: faraid, fara’id, Islamic inheritance, fixed shares

See: Inheritance calculator · Qurʾān, al-Nisāʾ 4:11; Qurʾān, al-Nisāʾ 4:12; Qurʾān, al-Nisāʾ 4:176

The volunteers at a masjid who arrange the washing, the shroud, the prayer and the burial, and usually know which funeral home to use. They are the first call after a death.

Also: janazah committee, mosque funeral service

See: When someone dies

In the US, the business that files the death certificate and burial permit, and often has a room where the committee can wash. It must give you an itemized General Price List, and you pay only for what you choose.

Also: funeral director, mortuary

See: Funeral costs · Federal Trade Commission, The FTC Funeral Rule

The washing of the body after death, the last service a family gives the one who has died. Men wash men and women wash women, usually trained volunteers from the masjid. A wife may wash her husband by agreement; most scholars allow a husband to wash his wife, but the Ḥanafī school does not.

Also: ghusal, ghusul, washing the body

See: Ghusl and kafan · Ibn Qudāmah, al-Mughnī (Ḥanbalī, with the other schools), 2:390; Ibn ʿĀbidīn, Radd al-Muḥtār (Ḥanafī), 2:198–199; Sunan Ibn Mājah 1465 (ḥasan, al-Albānī, Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Mājah 1206; ḍaʿīf, Darussalam); Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1253

After the burial, those present stay a little at the grave and ask Allah to forgive the one who has died and keep them firm. Someone who missed the janazah prayer may be able to pray it at the grave; ask your imam.

Also: qabr, kabr

See: Duʿāʾs for the grieving · Sunan Abī Dāwūd 3221 (ṣaḥīḥ, al-Albānī); Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1337

A widow’s waiting period after her husband’s death: four months and ten days, or until she gives birth if she is pregnant. Her mourning lasts the length of her ʿiddah.

Also: iddah, idda, iddat, waiting period

See: Iddah · Qurʾān, al-Baqarah 2:234; Qurʾān, al-Ṭalāq 65:4; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1280

The one who leads the prayer. In the janazah prayer he stands with the body in front of him and everyone follows him; where the schools differ, the guides say to follow your imam.

Also: imaam

See: The janazah prayer · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1245

“We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return.” Words from the Qurʾān that Muslims say on hearing of a death or any loss, and always right to say to a grieving family.

Also: inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiun, inna lillah, istirja

See: Duʿāʾs for the grieving · Qurʾān, al-Baqarah 2:156; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 918

Dying without a valid will. The law then divides the estate, not the Qurʾānic shares, and each US state, UK nation and Canadian province has its own rules; a spouse and children often receive very different amounts.

Also: intestate, dying without a will, no will

See: Write your will · Legal Information Institute (Cornell Law School), Wex: intestate succession; Administration of Estates Act 1925, s. 46 (succession on intestacy); Succession Law Reform Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. S.26, ss. 44–47

The Muslim funeral: the washing, the shroud, the prayer and the burial. It is done as soon as possible, because the Prophet ﷺ told us to hurry with the funeral.

Also: janaza, jenazah, janāzah, funeral

See: When someone dies · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1315

A printable card for masjid entrances with the four takbīrs of the janazah prayer and what is said after each, in Arabic and transliteration.

Also: janazah prayer card

See: Janazah card · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1245

The funeral prayer, prayed standing with no bowing and no prostration. The imam leads with the body in front of him, everyone stands in rows behind, and it has four takbīrs.

Also: ṣalāt al-janāzah, salat al-janazah, salatul janaza, funeral prayer

See: The janazah prayer · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1245

A page written in advance: who to call, the burial, the washing, debts, your wasiyyah and where your papers are. It is a record of wishes, not a legal will.

Also: funeral wishes, final wishes

See: Plan ahead · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 2738

The shroud. A man is shrouded in three plain white sheets; many scholars recommend five pieces for a woman (a lower wrap, a shirt, a head covering and two sheets), though the ḥadīth behind the five is graded weak and one garment that covers the body is the minimum.

Also: kafn, kaffan, shroud

See: Ghusl and kafan · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1264; Sunan Abī Dāwūd 3157 (graded weak); Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1276

A school of Islamic law. The site gives the rulings of the four Sunni schools, Ḥanafī, Mālikī, Shāfiʿī and Ḥanbalī, and says where they differ.

Also: madhab, mazhab, school of law

See: Inheritance calculator · al-Mawṣilī, al-Ikhtiyār li-Taʿlīl al-Mukhtār (Ḥanafī), Kitāb al-Farāʾiḍ; al-Dasūqī, Ḥāshiyah ʿalā al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr, with Mukhtaṣar Khalīl (Mālikī), Bāb al-Farāʾiḍ; Ibn Ḥajar al-Haytamī, Tuḥfat al-Muḥtāj, with al-Nawawī’s Minhāj (Shāfiʿī), Kitāb al-Farāʾiḍ; Ibn Qudāmah, al-Mughnī, and al-Buhūtī, Kashshāf al-Qināʿ (Ḥanbalī), Kitāb al-Farāʾiḍ

A mosque (plural masajid). Most have an imam or a funeral committee who will arrange a funeral or know who to call.

Also: masajid, mosque, masjed

See: Directory

The prescribed mourning (iḥdād): setting aside adornment, such as perfume, jewellery, kohl, henna and clothes worn to look beautiful, for a set period. A woman keeps it for no more than three days for any death, except for her husband: then four months and ten days, or until she gives birth if she is pregnant.

Also: ihdad, iḥdād, hidad, three days

See: Iddah · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1280; Qurʾān, al-Baqarah 2:234; Ibn Qudāmah, al-Mughnī (Ḥanbalī), 8:154–163; Ibn ʿĀbidīn, Radd al-Muḥtār (Ḥanafī), 3:530–538

The closest relative. The funeral committee will ask who it is, and in many US states the closest relative has the legal right to decide about burial unless you named someone else in a signed document.

Also: nearest relative, closest relative

See: When a convert dies

The Islamic marriage. In England and Wales a nikah with no civil marriage may not be a marriage in law, so a widow by nikah alone may not inherit or apply as a wife.

Also: nikkah, nikaah, Islamic marriage

See: When someone dies (UK) · Court of Appeal, Attorney General v Akhter and Khan [2020] EWCA Civ 122, media summary

Scholars differ. The International Islamic Fiqh Academy permitted it under conditions, including the donor’s consent and no sale of organs; other scholars do not permit it.

Also: organ donor, transplant

See: Autopsy, embalming and organ donation · International Islamic Fiqh Academy, Resolution 26 (1/4), 1988

What the Prophet ﷺ urged on his grieving daughter: be patient and hope for reward. Real patience is at the first blow of the loss; weeping is a mercy, but wailing and tearing clothes are not.

Also: sabr, ṣabr

See: Duʿāʾs for the grieving · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1284; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1302; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1294

The legal right to deal with the estate. Ask each bank whether it needs it: small estates often have a simpler process, Scotland uses confirmation instead, and in Quebec a notarial will needs no probate at all.

Also: grant of probate, letters of administration, confirmation

See: When someone dies · GOV.UK, Applying for probate; Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, Small estates; Government of Ontario, Apply for probate of an estate; Gouvernement du Québec, Probating the will

The direction of prayer. In the janazah prayer everyone stands in rows behind the imam, facing the qiblah.

Also: qibla, kiblah

See: Janazah card · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1245

What the family asks the hospital or hospice for as soon as the death is pronounced: releasing the body quickly so the washing and burial can happen, usually within a day.

Also: release of the body

See: When someone dies · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1315

When something is left after the fixed shares and there is no residuary heir. In the Ḥanafī and Ḥanbalī schools the leftover returns to the share-holders in proportion, never to a spouse; the schools differ on the rest.

Also: return of the surplus

See: Inheritance calculator · al-Ikhtiyār (Ḥanafī); Kashshāf al-Qināʿ (Ḥanbalī); al-Dasūqī on al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr (Mālikī); Nihāyat al-Muḥtāj (Shāfiʿī)

The funeral prayer in absentia, prayed with no body present, as the Prophet ﷺ prayed in Madinah for al-Najāshī. The Shāfiʿī and Ḥanbalī schools allow it; the Ḥanafī school holds it is not valid, and the Mālikī school dislikes it.

Also: salat al-ghaib, salatul ghaib, funeral prayer in absentia

See: The janazah prayer · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1245; Ibn ʿĀbidīn, Radd al-Muḥtār (Ḥanafī), 2:209; Al-Dardīr, al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr, with Ḥāshiyat al-Dasūqī (Mālikī), 1:427; Dār al-Iftāʾ al-Miṣriyyah, fatwā 4248: the funeral prayer in absentia (2004)

Lote-tree leaves added to the water of the ghusl. The body is washed an odd number of times, and camphor is added to the last washing.

Also: lote leaves, camphor, kafur

See: Ghusl and kafan · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1253

Saying Allāhu akbar. In the janazah prayer there are four: after the first comes al-Fātiḥah (or praise of Allah, in the Ḥanafī and Mālikī schools), after the second blessings on the Prophet ﷺ, after the third the duʿāʾ for the one who has died, and after the fourth the salām.

Also: takbir, takbeer, Allahu akbar

See: The janazah prayer · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1245; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1335; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3370; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 963

Condolence: consoling the family, urging patience and praying for the one who died. It is usually offered in the first three days, but someone who was away or heard later can still offer it. All four schools give about three days.

Also: taziyah, taziya, condolence

See: Visiting the family · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1284; Sunan Ibn Mājah 1601 (graded ḍaʿīf by Darussalam; al-Albānī first weakened it, then graded it ḥasan li-ghayrihi, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb 3508); Ibn ʿĀbidīn, Radd al-Muḥtār (Ḥanafī), 2:241; Al-Dardīr, al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr, with Ḥāshiyat al-Dasūqī (Mālikī), 1:419; Al-Nawawī, al-Majmūʿ (Shāfiʿī), 5:306; Al-Buhūtī, Kashshāf al-Qināʿ (Ḥanbalī), 2:160

A Muslim’s will, and the bequest in it. A bequest may give up to a third, and not to an heir, and a Muslim who has something to will should have it written.

Also: wasiyya, wasiya, wasiyat, Islamic will, bequest

See: Write your will · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 2742; Sunan Abī Dāwūd 2870 (ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ); Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 2738