Short answer
To stop fluids leaking onto the kafan and to keep the body clean until burial. It is not a ritual or a requirement. Hanafi books say there is no harm in placing cotton, often with perfume or camphor, in the nostrils, mouth and ears after the washing.
Placing cotton in the nostrils, mouth and ears after the ghusl is permissible (la ba's), not sunnah or wajib. Most Hanafi scholars disliked pushing it into the private openings. Perfume (hanut) and camphor are sunnah on the head, beard and the places of sujud.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- Recommends placing cotton with perfume over the body's openings and on the places of sujud.
Explanation
People who see a Muslim body prepared for burial sometimes notice cotton in the nose or ears and wonder what it means. The answer is practical. After death, fluids can come out of the body's openings. Cotton stops them soiling the white shroud and keeps the body clean and decent during the janazah and burial.
What the Hanafi books say. After the washing, there is no harm in placing cotton in the nostrils, mouth and ears. The washers often put a little perfume or camphor on it. Pushing cotton into the private openings was disliked by most scholars, because it involves handling the body more than needed. If something does come out after the washing, it is simply wiped away; the ghusl is not repeated.
What is sunnah. The sunnah, from the hadith of Umm Atiyyah about washing the Prophet's ﷺ daughter, is to wash the body an odd number of times, with sidr in the water and camphor in the last wash, and to put perfume on the body, especially the forehead, nose, palms, knees and feet, the places that touched the ground in sujud.
- Cotton is optional. Funeral teams use it because it helps.
- Use clean, plain cotton, gently, without forcing it in.
- Do not put anything in the body that is not needed, and never cut or open it.
Other customs, such as tying the jaw and the big toes, are also practical steps to keep the body composed; see what to do after someone dies and how to wash a dead body.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Israa 17:70
۞ وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا بَنِىٓ ءَادَمَ وَحَمَلْنَٰهُمْ فِى ٱلْبَرِّ وَٱلْبَحْرِ وَرَزَقْنَٰهُم مِّنَ ٱلطَّيِّبَٰتِ وَفَضَّلْنَٰهُمْ عَلَىٰ كَثِيرٍۢ مِّمَّنْ خَلَقْنَا تَفْضِيلًۭا ﴿٧٠﴾
And We have certainly honored the children of Adam and carried them on the land and sea and provided for them of the good things and preferred them over much of what We have created, with [definite] preference.
Keeping the body clean and covered is part of honouring it.
Sahih al-Bukhari 1253
Sahih... اغسلنها ثلاثا أو خمسا أو أكثر من ذلك ...
"Wash her three or five times, or more if you see the need."
The washing is done carefully and as many times as needed to make the body clean.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, Kitab al-Salah, chapter on the jana'iz, section on washing. No harm in placing cotton in the openings of the face; disliked in the private openings.
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Salah, Bab Salat al-Janazah, washing the dead. Perfume and camphor on the places of sujud.
- Minhaj al-Talibin, Kitab al-Jana'iz, shrouding. The Shafi'i recommendation of perfumed cotton on the openings.
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.