Some are wrapped in mournful silence. A man is at once dispatched to make the grave ready, another to bring white shrouds and incense and earthenwares. In a piece of ground in the family garden is dug a temporary grave, called lahd, and there the dead is washed and bathed. Then this grave is closed up and made green with tufts of grass.
Water carriers and others engage themselves in the act of washing the corpse, and two or three near relations rub the body, while the water carrier spurts water from his mashk—a goat-skin containing water. The big toes of the dead person are tied with a strip of white muslin, and a white sheet is carried right up to the head and knotted there. Benzoin burns all the time and the lahd is curtained all round. Then the wooden frame, like a bedstead, is brought forward, a white cloth is spread on it and the corpse, supported by six people, is transferred from the lahd board on to the bedstead. Two sheets cover the dead body and the corners are tied at the ends by white strips, and then the jenaza (the funeral) preparations are completed.
A rose perfume is sprinkled over the janāza, no flowers are laid there, but in some families the outer cover of the bedstead is inscribed with verses from the Korān. The burial takes place as soon as possible. A short prayer called fātiha is read before lifting the bier, which is then carried on shoulders, the six nearest relatives supporting the bedstead, four at each corner and two in the middle; no one goes in front of the janāza.
If the dead is a woman all the ceremonies are the same, but the washing, ghusl (Persian—bath) is done by a female of the family, usually the mother or some other elderly person. The bier is then carried from the female quarters to the courtyard, where the funeral service is performed.
When people hear that So-and-so is dead they utter these sentences from the Koran: "Inna lillahā wa inna
