Washing the deceased

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever washes a deceased person and conceals (the faults and defects of the body that appear to him during it), Allah Almighty will purify him from his sins (so completely, as though he had become entirely free of sin); and if he also shrouds him, Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, will honour him with garments of the fine, delicate silk of Paradise."
Imam Abu Ya'la al-Mawsili recorded this hadith in his Musnad. The hadith scholars have criticised the memory of a narrator in its chain named Abu Ghalib; however, other narrations with the same meaning about concealing the faults of the deceased and about washing and shrouding him are also found in al-Mustadrak of al-Hakim and the Sunan of al-Bayhaqi, and they support this virtue.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that Ata (may Allah have mercy on him) asked him whether a ritual bath (ghusl) becomes obligatory (on the one who washes) because of washing a deceased person. He replied: "If that were so, it would mean that you have declared this companion of yours (the deceased) impure."
And in another chain of this same narration it is reported from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that he said: "For it (washing the deceased), merely performing ablution (wudu) is sufficient."

It is narrated from Yunus bin Ubayd that Imam al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) did not consider a ritual bath (ghusl) obligatory upon the one who washes a deceased person, (that is, he did not hold) "that he should (himself) take a bath (because of washing the deceased)."
This athar (report) is narrated in the Musnad of Imam Abu Ya'la, and its chain up to al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) is sahih (authentic).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah and Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) delivered a sermon to us; then the narrator mentioned a long hadith, which contains these words, that he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever washes a deceased person and fulfils the trust regarding him will receive, for every hair on the body of the deceased, the reward of freeing a slave, and by it he will be raised one hundred degrees." At this, Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), how is the trust regarding the deceased fulfilled?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "He covers his awrah (the parts that must be covered) and conceals his faults and defects; for if he exposes his faults and does not cover his awrah, Allah Almighty will expose his own faults and hidden parts before all of creation."
The chain of this narration contains liars such as Dawud bin al-Muhabbar and Maysarah bin Abd Rabbih; therefore this narration is extremely weak and at the level of mawdu' (fabricated).

It is narrated from Sayyidah Asma bint Abi Bakr (may Allah be pleased with her) that she said (while making her final bequest before her death): "When I die, wash me, shroud me, apply hanut (the special perfume for the deceased) to me, and perfume my shroud with incense (of aloeswood or frankincense); but do not sprinkle (additional dry) perfume on my shroud, and do not follow me (when the bier is carried) with a censer."
Imam Abd al-Razzaq recorded this same narration through Ma'mar from Hisham bin Urwah with these words: She ordered that her garments be perfumed with incense over a censer, but that a censer not be carried behind the funeral; and Sayyidah Asma (may Allah be pleased with her) also left the bequest: "Do not put perfume on my bier (that is, the bed or coffin)."