Rules regarding Kafan
576. The dead body of a Muslim should be given Kafan with three pieces of cloth: a loin cloth, a shirt or tunic, and a full cover.
577. The loin cloth should be long enough to cover the body from the navel up to the knees, better still if it covers the body from the chest up to the feet. The shirt should be long enough to cover the entire body from the top of the shoulders up to the middle of the calf, and better still if it reaches the feet. The sheet cover should be long enough to conceal the whole body, so that both its ends could be tied. Its breadth should be enough to allow one side to overlap the other.
578. The Wajib portion of the loin cloth is that which covers from navel up to the knees and Wajib portion of a shirt is that which covers from the shoulders up to the middle of the calf of the legs. Whatever has been mentioned over and above this is the Mustahab part of the Kafan.
579. There is no objection, if permission given, in charging from the estate of the heirs of the deceased, who are adults (Baligh), for the Mustahab parts of Kafan, which is mentioned in the foregoing rule, and as per precautionary measures, the Mustahab parts of Kafan should not be charged from the shares of minor heirs.
580. If a person makes a will that the Mustahab quantity of the Kafan should be paid for from the 1/3 of his/her estate, or if he/she has made a will that 1/3 of the estate should be spent for himself or herself but has not specified the type of its expenditure, or has specified it for only a part of it, then the Mustahab quantity of Kafan can be taken from 1/3 of the estate.
581. If the deceased has not made a will that Kafan may be paid for from the 1/3 of his estate and if they wish to take it from the estate, it is better that they must not draw anything but the amount of Wajib Kafan, whose value should be according to the status of deceased.
582. The Kafan of a wife is the responsibility of her husband even if she owns her own wealth. Similarly, if a woman is given a revocable divorce, whose rulings will be mentioned later, and she dies before the expiry of her Iddah, her husband should provide her Kafan. And if her husband is not adult or is insane, the guardian of the husband should provide Kafan for the wife from his property.
583. It is not obligatory for the relatives of deceased to provide his Kafan, even if they were his dependents during his life time.
584. As per obligatory precaution, it must be ensured that each of the three pieces used for Kafan is not so thin as to show the body of the deceased.
585. Kafan for a dead person must not be of a skin of carrion or usurped, even if nothing else is available. If the Kafan is usurped and the owner has not given the permission, then Kafan should be removed even if the body has already been buried.
586. It is not permissible to give a Kafan which is Najis, or which is made of pure silk, or which is woven with gold, except in the situation of helplessness, when no alternative is to be found.
587. It is not permissible to give Kafan made of hide or skin of a dead Najis animal, in normal circumstances. In fact, as per obligatory precaution, even the skin of a dead Pak animal, who has been slaughtered according to Shariah, should not be used. However, Kafan made of wool, fur or skin of a slaughtered Halal animal can
be used for the purpose. However, as per recommended precaution, above mentioned two types of Kafan should be avoided.
588. If the Kafan becomes Najis owing to the Najasat of the dead body itself, or owing to some other Najasat, and if the Kafan does not become totally unusable, its Najis part should be washed or cut off, even after the dead body has been placed in the grave. And if it is not possible to wash it, or to cut it off, but it is possible to change it, then it should be changed.
589. If a person who is wearing Ihram for Hajj or Umrah dies, he should be given Kafan like all others and there is no harm in covering his head and face.
590. It is Mustahab that one keeps his Kafan and "Sidr" leaves and camphor ready during lifetime.