AskImamDarul Iftaa Mahmudiyyah (AskImam)

How can we find out the religion of dead woman body?

Fatwa 17836English
Misc. Fiqh

Question

How can we find out the religion of dead woman body?

Answer

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Assalaamu `alaykum waRahmatullahi Wabarakatuh

If the religion of a deceased person is unknown, efforts should be made to locate any relatives, friends, members of the deceased person’s community, or anyone else who may have known the person. If the person’s relatives are unknown or the person is unknown to others, then one must look for signs or evidence to determine whether that person is Muslim. If there are no such signs, then one must look at the community they are in, i.e. if the person lived in an area which consists of a vast majority of Muslims. If this is the case then the person will be considered Muslim and should be washed, enshrouded, and buried in a Muslim cemetery according to the laws of Shari’ah.

(Al-Bahrul Raaiq, 2/174, Rashidiyya)

And Allah knows best

Wassalamu Alaikum

Ml. Asif Umar,
Student Darul Iftaa

Checked and Concurred by:

Ml. Yusuf bin Yaqub
Darul Iftaa

References (Arabic / Urdu sources)

ولو اختلط موتى المسلمين بموتى الكفار يغسلون إن كان المسلمون أكثر وإلا فلا ، ومن لا يدرى أمسلم أم كافر ؟ إن كان عليه سيما المسلمين أو في بقاع ديار الإسلام يغسل وإلا فلا

Answered by
Ml. Asif Umar
Checked by
Ml. Yusuf bin Yaqub
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