Touching a dead human body
 | This section is a general introduction to the rulings of a fiqhi topic. |
Mass-i mayyit (Arabic: مَسّ مَیِّت) means touching a dead human body.[1] In the books of jurisprudence, touching a dead human body is mentioned in the chapter of the rulings of purity.[2]
Rulings of touching a dead human body
- According to the fatwas of Shia jurists, contact with the body of a dead person results in the obligation of ghusl if the dead body is cold and the contact is made before the ghusl of the dead body.[3]
- Touching the body of an Infallible person, a martyr of battle, and a person who has performed ghusl of the dead body before receiving prescribed penalty or retributory punishment does not entail the ghusl due to touching the dead human body.[4] However, some jurists have considered it possible that touching the martyr’s body entails the ghusl due to touching the dead human body.[5]
- The viewpoint among the majority of the jurists is that touching a dead human body does not invalidate wudu,[6] but some jurists believe that touching a dead human body invalidates wudu.[7]
- According to the fatwa of most marja's, touching a part separated from the human body, if it has bones, entails the mentioned ghusl.[8] On the other hand, Ayatollah Sistani believes that touching a part separated from the human body, even if it has bones and flesh, does not entail the ghusl.[9]
- According to some jurists, ghusl due to touching the dead human body is obligatory only for religious obligations that require wudu; such as performing prayer and touching the text of the Qur'an. Some consider touching the dead human body as a major ritual impurity (al-hadath al-akbar) [major invalidator of ablution]. Therefore, they consider it obligatory for all actions that require purity, such as daily prayer, circumambulation of the Ka'ba, fasting, and stopping at the mosque.[10]
See also
Notes
- ↑ Fāḍil Lankarāni, Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil, p. 541.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 2, p. 12.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 2, p. 3; Iṣfahānī, Wasīlat al-najāt, p. 60.
- ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 5, p. 307.
- ↑ Gharawī Tabrīzī, al-Tanqīḥ fī sharh-i ʿurwat al-wuthqā, vol. 8, p. 294-298.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 2, p. 9.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 2, p. 9.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 2, p. 5.
- ↑ Sīstānī, Minhāj al-ṣāliḥīn, vol. 1, p. 116.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 2, p. 11; ʿĀmilī, Miftāḥ al-karāma, vol. 4, p. 314-317.
References
- ʿĀmilī, Sayyid Jawād. Miftāḥ al-karāma fī sharḥ qawāʿid al-ʿallāma. Edited by Muḥammad Bāqir Khāliṣī. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1419 AH.
- Fāḍil Lankarāni, Muḥammad. Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil. Qom: [n.p.], 1426 AH.
- Gharawī Tabrīzī, Alī . Al-Tanqīḥ fī sharh-i ʿurwat al-wuthqā; taqrīrāt-i dars-i Aytullāh al-Khoeī. Second edition. [n.p.]: 1411 AH.
- Iṣfahānī, Abu l-Ḥasan. Wasīlat al-najāt. Edited by Sayyid Rūḥ Allāh Mūsawī al-Khomeinī. Qom: Markaz-i Nashr-i Āthār-i Imām Khomeinī, 1422 AH.
- Najafī, Muḥammad al-Ḥasan al-. Jawāhir al-kalām fī sharḥ sharāʾiʿ al-Islām. Edited by ʿAbbās Qūchānī & ʿAlī Ākhūndī. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1362 Sh.
- Sīstānī, Sayyid ʿAlī. Minhāj al-ṣāliḥīn. Seventh edition. Qom: Daftar-i Nashr-i Āyat Allāh Sīstānī, 1417 AH.
- Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, Muḥammad Kāẓim al-. Al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1419 AH.