salaam please advise us accordingly to the Islamic way of who can cleanse the body, how many women can wash the body (is there a limit?). I am a revert and so is my terminally ill sister in law. She has requested one particular person to wash her but I wanted to know if myself and my other sister in law can also attend and perform the ghusl as we are her relative?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Dear sister, first of all, we thank and praise Allaah Who guided you to Islam and we ask Him to make you firm and steadfast on His Religion until the Day you meet Him.

We advise you to seek beneficial knowledge, perform good deeds and befriend righteous and pious women, as these are the best things that help a Muslim woman remain steadfast on her religion.

As regards your question, the person who is more entitled to wash the dead is the person for whom the dead made a will to this effect, like if a deceased man had made a will before his death that it is his brother or his father who would wash him. Hence, the person for whom he made the will comes in priority in washing him.

In case the deceased did not make any will, then if it was a man, it is his male relatives who have priority in washing him.

In his Kash-Shaaf Al-Qinaa’, Al-Buhooti who is one of the Hanbali scholars, said: “The person who is more entitled to wash the dead (man) is the person for whom he had made a will if the latter is just (and trustworthy) as this is the right of the deceased so he was put in priority over others..... then his father because of his love and kindness (to his children), then his grandfather or grand grandfather, then his son or grandson, then those who are closest to him and then those who come after them in degree (of closeness to the deceased). So, the full brother [i.e. from the father’s and mother’s side] comes in priority over the brother from the father’s side only, then the nephew from the full-brother, then the nephew from the brother who is from the father’s side only, then the uncle from the father’s and mother’s side, and then the uncle from the father’s side only, and so forth.” [Abridged]

If the deceased was a female, then the person who comes in priority in washing her is the female for whom she made a will to wash her and then the other females who are closest to her and then the females who come after in degree (of closeness to the deceased) and so forth.

Kash-Shaaf Al-Qinaa’ reads: “In regard to washing a deceased woman, then the women who are more entitled to wash her after the woman for whom she made a will according to the aforementioned sequence are (respectively): her mother and her grandmother and then her daughter and her granddaughter and then the female relatives who are closest to her and then those who come after them in closeness. So, a full-sister comes in priority over a sister from the father’s side only – in the same manner as in regards to men – and her paternal aunt and her maternal aunt are alike, like her niece from her brother or her niece from her sister.” [Abridged]

On the other hand, Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen said: “It is known that such a sequence is needed when there is a dispute, but when there is no dispute like the case in our present time, then it is the one who washes the general public  who should do the washing, and this is what is applied now. So, when a person dies, you will find that there are people who are ready to wash him/her, so they are asked to come and they would wash him/her.”

Finally, there is no specific number of people mentioned in the Sharee’ah for washing the dead; rather, the person who is needed for washing would be brought for this purpose and the presence of a person who is not needed is disliked. Since the woman to whom you referred to in the question had made a will for a particular woman to wash her, then this particular woman comes in priority over others. Nonetheless, it is permissible for you to attend the washing if the woman who washes the deceased needs your help; otherwise your presence is disliked.

For more benefit on the method of washing the dead, please refer to Fatwa 84697.

Allaah Knows best.