janazah
This guide has not yet been reviewed by qualified imams or scholars. Please consult your local imam for rulings specific to your situation.

Shrouding

Kafan al-Mayyit

After ghusl is complete, the body is wrapped in the kafan (shroud) before the janazah prayer. The kafan should be white, clean, and large enough to cover the body fully.

From the Sunnah

The Prophet ﷺ was shrouded in "three white Yemeni garments made of cotton, with neither a shirt nor a turban."

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1264

Male Kafan

3 pieces total.

Pieces

1

Lifafah — large outer sheet

240 cm × 200 cm · bottom layer

2

Izaar — middle sheet

240 cm × 200 cm · middle layer

3

Qamees — shirt

120 cm × 90 cm · fold in half, cut a neck opening while folded (one cut left, one cut right), creating a slit the head passes through

The awrah cover from ghusl stays on during the transfer. It is removed once the Izaar is folded over and the body is covered.

How to lay out and wrap

  1. Lay the Lifafah flat on the stretcher.
  2. Lay the Izaar on top of the Lifafah, centered.
  3. Place the Qamees in the center of the Izaar.
  4. Transfer the body onto the sheets (see the Washing page for transfer technique).
  5. Slip the head through the neck opening of the Qamees, then lay the fabric flat over the body and overlap/wrap it to cover the torso.
  6. Fold the right side of the Izaar over the body first, then the left side over it.
  7. Slide out and remove the ghusl awrah cover from underneath — the body is now covered by the Izaar.
  8. Fold the right side of the Lifafah over, then the left side over it.
  9. Secure with 3 cloth ties at:
    • Above the head
    • Waist
    • Below the feet
  10. Knots should be simple and easy to untie at the grave.

Before you begin

  • Confirm the kafan area is clean and the stretcher is ready.
  • Ensure all pieces are laid out and measured before transferring the body.
  • Prepare cloth ties — 3 for a male, 5 for a female.
  • Maintain privacy and keep the awrah covered throughout.
  • If the family wishes to see the face before the final wrap, leave the top open, allow a brief farewell, then close and tie.

Special Cases

Miscarriage

  • Less than 4 months: wrap in a piece of white cloth and bury. No ghusl, no Salat al-Janazah.
  • More than 4 months: may be washed and shrouded in one or two winding sheets. Salat al-Janazah is optional.

Baby (born alive)

  • If the baby showed any signs of life after birth, full shrouding applies.

Child (before puberty)

  • For a female child: use a shirt and two winding sheets.
  • For a male child: two or three winding sheets may be used.

Martyr (Shaheed)

  • A martyr is not washed and not shrouded.
  • They are buried in the same clothes they died in.
  • The strongest scholarly opinion is that Salat al-Janazah is not performed for martyrs, as the Prophet ﷺ did not perform it for the martyrs of Uhud.

Died in ihrām

Hadith on Shrouding

Ṣaḥīḥ — authentic; the highest level of hadith authenticity

Ḥasan — good; slightly weaker chain but still acceptable for practice

Ḍaʿīf — weak; not reliable enough to establish rulings

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1264 · Muslim 941 · Abū Dāwūd 3151 · Tirmidhī 996 · Ibn Mājah 1469

Ṣaḥīḥ

ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها narrated: "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was shrouded in three white Yemeni cotton garments — with no shirt and no turban."

The foundational basis for the Sunnah of three sheets. Imam al-Tirmidhī and others classify this practice as mustaḥabb (recommended), not wājib (obligatory).

Sunan Abī Dāwūd 4061 · Tirmidhī 994 · Ibn Mājah 1472

Ṣaḥīḥ

Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: "Wear white garments, for they are among your best clothes, and shroud your deceased in them."

Imām al-Nawawī noted there is ijmāʿ (scholarly consensus) on the recommendation of white cloth for shrouding.

Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 943

Ṣaḥīḥ

Jābir ibn ʿAbdullah رضي الله عنه reported that the Prophet ﷺ mentioned a man buried at night in a light shroud, expressed displeasure, and said: "When you shroud your brother, shroud him well."

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1276 · 1277 · Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 940

Ṣaḥīḥ

Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr رضي الله عنه was martyred at Uḥud and only one sheet was available. When his head was covered his feet were exposed, and when his feet were covered his head was exposed. The Prophet ﷺ said: "Cover his head and place grass over his feet."

Confirms that one cloth is valid when only one is available. The minimum requirement is that the entire body is covered.

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1387

Ṣaḥīḥ

ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها reported that Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq رضي الله عنه instructed: "Wash my clothes and shroud me in my old garments, for the living are more in need of new clothes than the dead."

Extravagant or expensive shrouds are discouraged. Simplicity is the Sunnah.

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1277

Ṣaḥīḥ

Sahl ibn Saʿd رضي الله عنه narrated: A woman brought a woven cloth to the Prophet ﷺ. A man asked for it, and when questioned, he said: "I swear by Allah that I did not ask for it to wear it — I asked so that it would be my shroud after my death." And indeed, it was used as his shroud.

Indicates the permissibility of preparing one's shroud before death. Scholars note it is permissible but not specifically recommended, as the Prophet ﷺ did not advise people to do it — though it is soundly narrated that some Companions did. Ibn Battaal commented: "The best to prepare for death is when you have plenty of time ahead of you."

al-Sunan al-Kubrā lil-Bayhaqī 6655 · al-Mustadrak 1/362

Ḥasan

The Prophet ﷺ said: "Whoever washes a deceased Muslim and conceals his faults, Allah will forgive him forty times. Whoever digs a grave and buries him, he will be rewarded as though he provided him a dwelling until the Day of Resurrection. And whoever shrouds him, Allah will clothe him on the Day of Resurrection with silk and brocade of Paradise."

Authenticated by al-Ḥākim and al-Dhahabī; graded ḥasan by Ibn Ḥajar and al-Albānī.

Aḥmad — discussed in Aḥkām al-Janāʾiz p. 85 · Nayl al-Awṭār 2/688

Ḍaʿīf

"The Prophet ﷺ was shrouded in seven garments."

Rejected by Shaykh al-Albānī and others as unreliable.

Abū Dāwūd 3157 · Musnad Aḥmad 6/380 — discussed in Naṣb al-Rāyah 2/258

Ḍaʿīf

The narration of Laylā bint Qānaf describing five garments for a woman has a weak chain (contains an unknown narrator). Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar, however, authenticated the five-piece practice through a separate ṣaḥīḥ chain via Umm ʿAṭiyyah رضي الله عنها — and this is the basis accepted by the majority of scholars and masājid.

Sources

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