Chapter on Guiding the Dying, Positioning Them at Death, Procedures for Their Final Moments, Washing Them, and Placing Them in Shrouds

Tahdhīb al-Aḥkām|Volume 1|Book 1|Chapter 13

Tahdhīb al-Aḥkām

Book 1, Chapter 13

Chapter on Guiding the Dying, Positioning Them at Death, Procedures for Their Final Moments, Washing Them, and Placing Them in Shrouds

Hadith #84

وَ بِهَذَا اَلْإِسْنَادِ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ يَعْقُوبَ عَنْ عِدَّةٍ مِنْ أَصْحَابِنَا عَنْ سَهْلِ بْنِ زِيَادٍ عَنِ اَلْحَسَنِ بْنِ مَحْبُوبٍ عَنِ اَلْعَلاَءِ بْنِ رَزِينٍ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ مُسْلِمٍ قَالَ: سَأَلْتُ أَحَدَهُمَا عَلَيْهِمَا اَلسَّلاَمُ عَنِ اَلْمَيِّتِ فَقَالَ« يُسَلُّ مِنْ قِبَلِ اَلرِّجْلَيْنِ وَيُلْزَقُ اَلْقَبْرُ بِالْأَرْضِ إِلاَّ قَدْرَ أَرْبَعِ أَصَابِعَ مُفَرَّجَاتٍ وَ يُرَبَّعُ قَبْرُهُ».

And through this chain of narrators, from Muhammad ibn Ya‘qub, from a group of our companions, from Sahl ibn Ziyad, from al-Hasan ibn Mahbub, from al-‘Ala’ ibn Razin, from Muhammad ibn Muslim: He said: I asked one of the Imams about the deceased. Imam said: "He should be lowered into the grave from the side of his feet, and the grave should be leveled with the ground, leaving a height of about four spread fingers. The grave should also be shaped as a rectangle."

Ali Akbar al-Ghaffari
Tahdhīb al-Aḥkām fī Sharḥ al-Muqniʿah, vol. 1, p. 335