Washing of bodies
A funeral ritual of different religions and cultures is called corpse washing , in which the corpse of a deceased is washed with water. In some religions, ablution is essential.
Islam
The washing of the corpses ( Arabic غسل الميت ghusl al-mayyit , DMG ġuslu l-maiyit ) is seen as a communal duty of the Muslim community . It is only one of several occasions on which a ritual cleansing (" Ghusl ") of the entire bodytakes placein the Gasilhane . The goal is less to cleanse the body than to achieve ritual purity (" Tahāra ").
A deceased person is cleaned three times with fresh water each time, lotus is added to the first water, camphor is added to the second , and the third washing is done with pure water.
Muslim martyrs ( Shahid ), on the other hand, are not washed because they have already reached a state of ritual purity.
Judaism
In Judaism, too, a ritual full body washing of the deceased is prescribed, here also called tahara . It is often performed by a funeral society ( Chewra Kadisha ) established by the community . It takes place shortly before the burial, according to the regulations within three hours before the burial, in order to ensure that the corpse remains in a state of ritual purity until the burial and is not contaminated again. The ablution can be done in a special Tahara house in the cemetery or at home. The Tahara house has a stone table for washing and an oven for heating the water, but is otherwise simple.
Christianity
In Christianity, the washing of corpses is not part of the prescribed religious burial rite, but it is still part of the hygienic care of the dead , i.e. the preparation of the corpse for burial.