Things that should be done with the deceased after his death

It is part of the Sunnah to hasten to prepare the deceased.

The Sunnah is taken from the common Hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Make haste at a funeral; if the dead person was good, it is a good state to which you are sending him to. However, if he was otherwise, it is an evil which you are getting rid of.”[1]   
                

The meaning of the Hadith is accelerating the funeral procedures as people carry it on their shoulders to bury it, but this is useful also in accelerating the preparation of the dead.

Al Qurtubi (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “The meaning of the Hadith is not be slow in burying the dead.”[2]                      

• A warning: Among the common mistakes of our time is slowing down the preparation of the deceased because of waiting for relatives or travelers who might be in another country, so a deceased is left for a day or more. This is an aggression against the deceased as it controdicts the Sunnah. As for the simple delay such as a person dies at the beginning of the day and its funeral is delayed to noon or afternoon. Or if a person dies on Friday morning and is delayed until Friday Prayer because of the large crowd, then there is no harm because the delay has a benefit for the deceased.

Accelerating the enforcement of the deceased's will.

Enforcing the will is either a Sunnah or obligatory according to the bequeathed. If the bequesed is essential such as blood money and others, accelerating to enforce it is obligatory, otherwise it will be a Sunnah.

It is important to hasten to pay the debt of the deceased

That is if he left wealth. The dealing needs to be initiated. Unfortunately, many people are slow with this. They are slow with this and delay it and do not feel that this is a serious issue for the deceased. This debt needs to be dealt with before dividing the inheritance, regardless of whether it is a debt for Allah Almighty such as Zakat, Kaffara, a warning of obedience or Hajj or debts for people, returning a trust (belongings), wrong doing, anger or other than that from the rights of people.

Proof of that:

A. The Hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “The believer's soul is suspended by his debt until it is settled for him.”[3]            .

B. The Hadith of Ibn Omar (may Allah be pleased with them) who said: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “All the sins of a martyr are forgiven except debt.” In a narration: “Death in the way of Allah blots out everything except debt..”[4]             

C. The Hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that “when the body of a dead indebted person was brought to Allah's Messenger ((peace be upon him)), he would ask whether he had left property enough to clear off his debt, and if the property left had been sufficient for that (purpose), he observed funeral Salah for him, otherwise he said (to his companions): You perform Salah for your companion. But when Allah opened the gateways of victory for him, he said: I am nearer to the believers than themselves, so if anyone dies leaving a debt, its payment is my responsibility, and if anyone leaves a property, it goes to his heirs.”[5]