Rules of the Dead 41item A person dies in a collision or by falling from a height. What is the duty in case bleeding continues after death? Is it obligatory to wait till it stops by itself or by using medical means, or can it be buried despite the continuation of the bleeding? Does touching an organ or body part which has been separated from a dead body obligate performing of ghusl of touching a corpse? There are four graves in the way of one of the roads, which obstruct the continuation of its construction. As there are shar‘ī problems involved in the opening of the graves, please guide us regarding what needs to be done so that the municipal authority does not commit an act violating Islamic law. According to some traditions, such as the one in the book “La‘ālī al-Akhbār, it is mustaḥabb to sprinkle water on graves. Is this recommendation limited to the day of burial or is it general, as maintained by the author of this book? What is your eminence’s opinion? Do the rules pertaining to touching a corpse apply to touching a Muslim martyr who had been buried in his clothes? Does touching a bone that has flesh on it and has been amputated from a living person require the ghusl of touching a corpse? We request your eminence to reply to the following three questions: i. If a woman dies in childbirth, what the rule is pertaining to the unborn baby in the womb in the following circumstances: a. If the soul has recently entered it (after three months or more) and there is a strong possibility of its death upon being removed from the womb. b. If the age of the fetus is seven months or more. c. If the fetus has died in the womb. ii. If a woman dies during childbirth, is it obligatory for the others to fully ascertain whether the unborn baby is dead or alive? iii. If a woman dies during childbirth while the baby is still alive in her womb, and a person orders, in violation of the common practice, the mother’s burial along with the unborn child even if it is alive, what is your opinion in this regard? A child fell into a well and died in it, and its water prevents the body from being retrieved. What is the rule applicable to it? Brothers in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps frequently travel between Mahabad and Urumiyeh (in Iran) and other areas where they are at times ambushed and engaged in combat by elements hostile to the Islamic Revolution leading, sometimes, to their martyrdom. Is it obligatory to give them ghusl or tayammum, or will it be considered a battlefield? A person buys a shroud for himself and he always spreads it out to offer obligatory and mustaḥabb prayers and to recite the Noble Qur’an on, and at the time of death it is used for shrouding him. Is this permissible? Is it correct from the Islamic point of view for a person to buy for himself a shroud and write Qur’anic verses on it with the sole purpose of being shrouded in it after death? In a village there is a graveyard that is neither the private property of anyone nor an endowment. Is it permissible for the inhabitants of the village to prevent the dead from the city or other villages, or someone who has willed to be buried there, from being buried in it? Is it permissible for a person to shroud his father, mother or a relative with a shroud that he had bought for himself? My father was buried thirty-six years ago in a graveyard and, presently, I am thinking of using that grave for myself with the permission of the Endowments Department. On this basis, is it necessary for me to get the permission of my brothers in this regard if this graveyard is an endowment? Is it obligatory to direct the dying Muslim towards qiblah? A medical team is constrained, for the purpose of conducting medical research and experiments, to remove the heart and some other organs from a corpse and to bury them a day after the study. Please answer the following questions: i. Is it permissible for us to undertake such an activity despite our knowledge that these corpses on whom the tests are conducted belong to Muslims? ii. Is it permissible to bury the heart and some body organs separately? iii. Is it permissible to bury these parts with another corpse, especially when we are certain that the separate burial of the heart and these organs will cause many problems? 123