Al-Kafi · Hadith 8

The Book on Dying People · Hunut (Rubbing Camphor) on a Dead Body and Shrouding · Volume 3, book 3, chapter 19, Hadith 8

Original Arabic text

8ـ عَلِيٌّ عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنِ ابْنِ أَبِي عُمَيْرٍ عَنْ أَبِي أَيُّوبَ الْخَزَّازِ عَنْ عُثْمَانَ النَّوَّاءِ قَالَ قُلْتُ لأَبِي عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيْهِ الْسَّلام) إِنِّي أَغْسِلُ الْمَوْتَى قَالَ وَتُحْسِنُ قُلْتُ إِنِّي أَغْسِلُ فَقَالَ إِذَا غَسَلْتَ فَارْفُقْ بِهِ وَلاَ تَغْمِزْهُ وَلاَ تَمَسَّ مَسَامِعَهُ بِكَافُورٍ وَإِذَا عَمَّمْتَهُ فَلاَ تُعَمِّمْهُ عِمَّةَ الأعْرَابِيِّ قُلْتُ كَيْفَ أَصْنَعُ قَالَ خُذِ الْعِمَامَةَ مِنْ وَسَطِهَا وَانْشُرْهَا عَلَى رَأْسِهِ ثُمَّ رُدَّهَا إِلَى خَلْفِهِ وَاطْرَحْ طَرَفَيْهَا عَلَى صَدْرِهِ.

Published English translation

8. Ali ibn Ibrahim has narrated from his father from Ibn Abi ‘Umayr from abu Ayyub al-Khazzaz from ‘Uthman al-Nawwa’ who has said the following: “I once said to abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), that I give Ghusl (bath) to the deceased. He (the Imam) said, ‘Treat it very gently, do not pinch his body, do not touch his ears with camphor and when preparing turban for him, do not wrap it like the turban of an Arab.’ I then asked, ‘How must I do it?’ He (the Imam) said, ‘Hold it from its center and spread it on his head turn it to the back of the head and allow the rest to hang down his chest.’”

Narrator and transmission

See the transmission information preserved in the original source text.

Attributed scholarly assessments

Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi: مجهول كالحسن

Mirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (13/312)

Assessment transcribed from the source's named scholar and reference. No new grading or consensus is asserted; differing entries remain separate.

Shaykh Baqir al-Behbudi: صحيح

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Kāfī, vol. 1, p. 231

Assessment transcribed from the source's named scholar and reference. No new grading or consensus is asserted; differing entries remain separate.

Source, rights, and attribution

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edition: Al-Kafi, volume 3, Thaqalayn digital edition / Muhammad Sarwar translation
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translator: Muhammad Sarwar
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