Short answer
No, it is not required. After washing a dead body, a ghusl (ritual bath) is recommended in the Hanafi school, and the four schools agree it is not obligatory. Attending or carrying a funeral needs no bath at all, though you need wudu for the janazah prayer as for any prayer.
Ghusl after washing the dead is mustahabb (recommended), not wajib. Carrying the bier does not break wudu. Any impure fluid from the body that touched the washer's skin or clothes must be washed off.
Other madhhabs
- Hanbali
- Ghusl after washing the dead is recommended, not obligatory, but washing a dead body itself breaks the washer's wudu.
Explanation
Many families have been told that everyone who touches the body, or everyone who comes back from the cemetery, must bathe. That is not the ruling. The hadith says: from washing him, a bath, and from carrying him, wudu. The Hanafi school, like the other three, reads this as a recommendation, because the Companions did not treat it as binding.
Imam Malik reports that Asma bint Umays washed her husband Abu Bakr when he died, then asked the Muhajirun present whether she had to bathe on that cold day while fasting, and they told her no.
- The person who washed the body: ghusl is recommended. Wudu is enough for prayer if nothing else broke it (in the Hanbali school, the washing itself breaks wudu). Wash any skin or clothing splashed with impure fluid.
- The person who carried the bier: no ghusl and no wudu are needed, unless wudu was broken in another way.
- Those who attended the funeral or burial: nothing is required. Washing hands after handling earth at the grave is simply hygiene.
- The room: no need to wash it unless impurity fell on something.
The janazah is a prayer, so you need wudu for it. If you are not the guardian and fear missing the prayer while making wudu, the Hanafi school allows tayammum; see janazah with tayammum. For the full ritual bath, see how to do ghusl, and for washing the dead, see how to wash a dead body.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Maaida 5:6
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِذَا قُمْتُمْ إِلَى ٱلصَّلَوٰةِ فَٱغْسِلُوا۟ وُجُوهَكُمْ وَأَيْدِيَكُمْ إِلَى ٱلْمَرَافِقِ وَٱمْسَحُوا۟ بِرُءُوسِكُمْ وَأَرْجُلَكُمْ إِلَى ٱلْكَعْبَيْنِ ۚ وَإِن كُنتُمْ جُنُبًۭا فَٱطَّهَّرُوا۟ ۚ وَإِن كُنتُم مَّرْضَىٰٓ أَوْ عَلَىٰ سَفَرٍ أَوْ جَآءَ أَحَدٌۭ مِّنكُم مِّنَ ٱلْغَآئِطِ أَوْ لَٰمَسْتُمُ ٱلنِّسَآءَ فَلَمْ تَجِدُوا۟ مَآءًۭ فَتَيَمَّمُوا۟ صَعِيدًۭا طَيِّبًۭا فَٱمْسَحُوا۟ بِوُجُوهِكُمْ وَأَيْدِيكُم مِّنْهُ ۚ مَا يُرِيدُ ٱللَّهُ لِيَجْعَلَ عَلَيْكُم مِّنْ حَرَجٍۢ وَلَٰكِن يُرِيدُ لِيُطَهِّرَكُمْ وَلِيُتِمَّ نِعْمَتَهُۥ عَلَيْكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ ﴿٦﴾
O you who have believed, when you rise to [perform] prayer, wash your faces and your forearms to the elbows and wipe over your heads and wash your feet to the ankles. And if you are in a state of janabah, then purify yourselves. But if you are ill or on a journey or one of you comes from the place of relieving himself or you have contacted women and do not find water, then seek clean earth and wipe over your faces and hands with it. Allah does not intend to make difficulty for you, but He intends to purify you and complete His favor upon you that you may be grateful.
Wudu is required for every prayer, the janazah included.
Jami' at-Tirmidhi 993
Grading to be checked... من غسله الغسل ومن حمله الوضوء ...
"From washing him, a bath; from carrying him, wudu."
This is the basis of the recommendation, which the schools read as not obligatory.
Sunan Abi Dawud 3161
Grading to be checked... من غسل الميت فليغتسل ومن حمله فليتوضأ ...
"Whoever washes the dead should bathe, and whoever carries him should make wudu."
Another wording of the same recommendation.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Taharah, the recommended ghusls. Ghusl after washing the dead is listed as recommended.
- Nur al-Idah with Maraqi al-Falah, Kitab al-Taharah, Fasl fi al-ghusl al-masnun wa al-mustahabb. The sunnah and recommended baths.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.