What is the ruling on offering the funeral prayer over bodies missing some parts due to disasters and calamities? A violent storm struck a Muslim country, resulting in many mortalities. The competent authorities rushed to recover the victims' bodies from under the ruins. However, while some bodies were retrieved intact, only parts of others were found. Should the parts of the bodies that were found be washed and the funeral prayer performed over them?

Scholars unanimously agree on the obligation to bury deceased Muslims who lost their lives in hurricanes or similar disasters after washing their bodies and offering the funeral prayer over them. This is based on the established principle that the sanctity of a deceased person is equivalent to the sanctity of a living person. When only fragments of a body are recovered, these remains must be treated as a complete body — they should be washed and funeral prayer is to be performed over them, regardless of the quantity of parts found, provided the individual’s death has been confirmed.

 

Manifestations of honoring mankind in Islamic law

Islamic law has honored the human being in all of their states; Allah Almighty says, “Indeed, We have honored the children of Adam and carried them on land and sea, and We have provided them with good things and preferred them greatly over much of what We have created”
(Quran, 17:70). Among the manifestations of this honor is the obligation to wash, shroud, perform funeral prayer, and bury the deceased — acts that preserve their dignity, conceal their body, and uphold their sanctity. Jurists have agreed the burying the deceased is a religious obligation, as stated by Ibn Hazm Maratib al-Ijmaʿ (p. 34).

It is also established in Islamic law that the sanctity of a person in death is equal to their sanctity in life. The mother of the believers, ʿA’isha (may Allah be pleased with her), reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Breaking the bone of a deceased person is like breaking it while they are still living” (recorded by Abu Dawud in his Sunan). This hadith demonstrates that the sanctity of a believer is preserved after death, maintaining the same status as during their lifetime, as elucidated by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani in Fath al-Bari (9/113).

 

Procedures for managing bodies recovered from disaster-stricken areas

In the case of widespread fatalities caused by natural disasters such as earthquakes and violent storms, it becomes a collective obligation (fard kifayah) for the competent authorities to exert every possible effort to recover the bodies from under the rubble. It is also a collective obligation for the Muslim community to wash, shroud and perform the funeral prayer before burial, to the extent possible — provided it is reasonably presumed that the deceased were Muslims. If some individuals undertake this duty, the obligation is lifted from the rest of the community; otherwise, all are sinful for neglecting the obligation. See: Rawdat al-Talibin by Al-Nawawi (2/98) and al-Mughni by Ibn Qudamah (2/400-402).

 

Islamic procedure for handling recovered human body parts

In instances where only incomplete human remains are recovered, as described in the question, then the opinion chosen for fatwa dictates that these remains must be washed, shrouded, and prayed over before burial, regardless of whether a single body part is all that has been recovered. This applies only when the death of the individual to whom the part belongs is unequivocally confirmed.

The inviolability of individual body parts is equivalent to that of the whole body. Given that a small number of body parts constitute part of the whole body which Islamic law requires to be prayed over, then the lesser takes the ruling of the greater: the recovered parts are to be washed and the funeral prayer performed over them. The funeral prayer should be offered with the intention of praying over the whole body, including both the recovered and the missing parts. This ruling is premised on reports from some of the Prophet’s companions, that they performed the funeral prayer over the body parts of deceased persons. Examples include:

• Abu Ayyub al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) offered the funeral prayer over a severed leg (recorded by Ibn Shayba in Al-Musannaf).
• Umar Ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) prayed over some bones recovered in the Levant.
• Abu ʿUbaydah (may Allah be pleased with him) prayed over some heads recovered in the Levant.

Furthermore, it is was narrated that a bird dropped a severed hand in Mecca from a body on the battleground of the Battle of the Camel. The severed hand was identified by a ring as belonging to ʿAbd al-Rahman Ibn ʿAttab Ibn Asid. The people of Mecca prayed over it, in the presence of some of the companions. See: Al-Talkhis al-Habir by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (2/329).

 

Imam Ibn Qudamah cited in Al-Mughni (2/401) the consensus of the Prophet’s companions that any recovered body parts of a deceased person are to be washed and the funeral prayer performed over them.  

Jurists have determined several signs to determine the death of an individual. Examples include:

• That the recovered body part is a vital organ essential for sustaining life.
• That the number of recovered body parts exceeds those that are missing.
• That [the recovered body parts] bear signs indicating that they belong an individual known to have passed away — as the people of Mecca recognized from the ring mentioned in the above-mentioned narration.
• That the remains are recovered from the site of a devastating incident, such as an explosion or a violent storm, as is the case under discussion.

The opinion that the funeral prayer should be performed over the recovered body parts is the position adopted by the majority of jurists from the Shafi’i and Hanbali schools of jurisprudence. It is likewise the position of Maliki scholars such as Ibn Habib, Ibn Maslamah, and Ibn al-Majshun who stated that whatever is recovered from the remains of a deceased — even if it is only a single part of the remains — then that part should be washed, shrouded, and the funeral prayer performed over it. However, the only exception according to Hanbali scholars, are the hair, teeth, and nails due to the absence of life in them.

On this subject, the Maliki scholar, imam Ibn Naji al-Tanukhi, mentioned in Sharḥ Matn al-Risilah (1/268), “It is said that the funeral prayer is to be performed over whatever is found of the body, even if very little — as stated by Ibn Ḥabib, Ibn Abu Maslamah, and Ibn al-Majshun.”

Imam al-Nawawi observed in Al-Majmuʿ (5/253–254), “The statements of al-Shafiʿi (may Allah have mercy on him) and the prominent scholars of the school are in agreement that if a body part of a confirmed deceased individual is found, it is to be washed and the funeral prayer should be offered over it … There is no distinction between a small or large portion ... Our scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) have said that when the funeral prayer is performed over a body part, the intention should encompass the entire body rather than that particular part.”  

Imam Abu al-Saʿadat al-Buhuti, the Ḥanbali scholar stated in Kashf al-Qinaʿ (2/146) that if part of a deceased individual whose death has been verified is found, other than hair, nails, or teeth due to the absence of life in them, it must be washed, shrouded, prayed over and buried as a legal obligation.

 

The ruling

Based on the above, it is unanimously agreed that, according to Islamic law, it is obligatory to bury the bodies of Muslims who lost their lives in violent storms, following the rituals of washing and prayer. In cases where only fragments of the body are recovered, it is obligatory that these remains be washed and prayed over, regardless of their number. This applies only in instances where the individuals’ death has been verified. The intention for the funeral prayer should encompass the entirety of the deceased’s body.

And Allah the Almighty knows best