assalam alaikum.i am a female medical student.in the course of studying anatomy,we practice on the dead body,so we have to touch the cadaver,and it happens to be of a male kafir,is it haraam to touch his body,since he is not our mahrim?thank you and Jazakallah khair.

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. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

There are authentic narrations which prove that it is prohibited for a woman to touch the body of a marriageable man, and vice-versa. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 86523.

It appears that this ruling is still applicable even after death. It is for this reason that the jurists stated that if a man dies among women who are not his Mahaarim (i.e. plural of Mahram, who is a person whom one is permanently prohibited from marrying due to suckling, marital, or blood relations), then they should not wash him, rather one of them should perform Tayammum (dry ablution to him) for him with a piece of cloth without touching him. However, some of them are of the view that they should wash him by pouring water over his long shirt [Qamees]; this means that both groups of jurists agree that she is not permitted to touch him. Moreover, many jurists stated that if a woman touches the body of a marriageable man to her, her ablution is invalidated even if it is a dead body. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 84366.

All this is evidence proving that the ruling of the prohibition of a woman touching the body of a marriageable man and a man touching the body of a marriageable woman is still valid even after death. 

Therefore, it is not permissible for a woman to touch the body of a dead marriageable man whether he is a Muslim or a non-Muslim, and we cannot issue a Fatwa permitting this for a necessity because the necessity of washing a dead body did not urge the jurists to mention that women are allowed to touch his body.

It is possible for you when studying anatomy to practise on a dead body of a woman, and a man (male student) should practise on the dead body of a man.

For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 84787.

Allaah Knows best.