The shroud (kafan)

After the washing, the deceased is wrapped in simple white cotton cloths. For men there are three cloths, for women five, including a headscarf and a shirt. Jewellery and clothing are not left on the body; the kafan should be the same for everyone.

The funeral director keeps the cloths ready. Some families bring a kafan from Mecca or from the country of origin; that is permitted.

Coffin or shroud? In Islam, the deceased is laid directly in the earth without a coffin. In Hamburg, this has been permitted at the public cemeteries since 1998, the first federal state to do so. The Burial Ordinance (Bestattungsverordnung) expressly names shrouds as permissible. The 2012 state treaty with the Muslim associations guarantees the right to burial without a coffin. Those who nevertheless wish to have a coffin, for example for repatriation or for practical reasons, may use one. A coffin or a bier is used in any case for transport to the grave; at the grave, the deceased is then buried in the shroud.