How many steps the bier should be carried

Question

Here, when the janaza is carried, there is a practice whereby four men carry the bedstead-bier holding it, and after every ten steps they change shoulders (lit. “neck”); finally, after one place (?), when the first man comes back to his first place, i.e. forty steps are completed, then they carry it to the graveyard. What is the basis of this? This is very widespread here, and some people are so harsh about it that they quarrel with those who act otherwise. Therefore your fatwa is urgently needed.

Answer

Let four men lift the janaza, and let each carrier walk forty steps with it. As for halting after every ten steps, this is not a ruling of the Shari‘a but a newly invented custom; it should be reformed: [ar]ويسن لحملها أربعة رجال، وينبغي لكل واحد حملها أربعين خطوة[/ar] “It is sunna for four men to carry it, and each one should carry it forty steps” (Maraqi al-Falah).

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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