Kamāl al-Dīn wa Tamām al-Niʿma 1, narration 24

Translation

Among the reports that prove his death during the lifetime of his father is one that was related to me by my father, who says: Narrated to us Saad bin Abdullah from Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Isa from Hasan bin Saeed from Fuzala bin Ayyub and Hasan bin Ali Fuzzal from Yunus bin Yaqoob from Saeed bin Abdullah Al-Araaj who said: Abu Abdillah Imam Ja’far Sadiq (as) said: When Ismail died I ordered that the cloth should be removed from his face. Then I kissed his forehead, chin and upper breast. After that I ordered him to be covered with cloth again. Then I said: Uncover his face. And again I kissed his forehead, chin and upper breast. Then I again ordered him to be covered. Then I ordered and he was given the funeral bath. I came to his corpse when he had been shrouded and said: Uncover his face. And again I kissed his forehead, chin and upper part of breast.<br> [Al-Saduq says:]: Many points can be derived from this narration. One is that it is lawful to kiss the forehead, chin and upper part of breast of the corpse before and after it is given the funeral bath. Except for the fact that one that has touched a corpse before it is given funeral bath while the body is still is warm is not obliged to perform the ritual bath for touching a dead body, but if he has touched the dead after it has gone cold, the ritual bath for touching a dead body is obligatory on him. And if one has touched a dead body after it has been give the funeral bath no ritual bath is obligatory. Thus if this narration has mentioned that Imam Ja’far Sadiq (as) performed the ritual bath after that or not we would have learnt whether he touched it before it was given the ritual bath, while it was still warm or he touched it after it had gone cold. Another point derived from this narration is that the Imam (as) said: ‘I ordered that the funeral bath be given to him’ and he did not say: ‘I gave him the funeral bath myself’. And this tradition also mentions that which disproves the Imamate of Ismail. None other than Imam can give a funeral bath to an Imam, in his presence.

Translation: Sayyid Athar Husain S. H. Rizvi — published with the edition, reproduced verbatim.