Generally yes. Embalming is not usually legally required for prompt local burial, which suits Islamic practice.
The Canadian position
Generally yes. Embalming is not usually legally required for prompt local burial, which suits Islamic practice.
Provincial law governs the detail, so confirm the position where the estate will be administered.
The Islamic position
The fixed shares apply to the net estate after funeral expenses, debts and any bequest capped at one third.
Where a Canadian instrument has no classical counterpart, treat it as a contemporary question for a qualified scholar.
Washing, shrouding, praying over and burying a Muslim are communal obligations — fard kifayah — discharged for everyone once some carry them out. What the schools differ on is who. The order of entitlement to perform the ghusl runs four different ways; the Hanafi school alone bars a husband from washing his wife; and on whether a woman may follow the bier the schools run from open permission to near-prohibition. The Hanbali and Maliki schools give the deceased’s appointed wasi the first right; the Hanafi and Shafi’i schools do not give effect to a direction in the will at all.
All four Sunni schools researched and sourced. Reviewed 2026-09-01. Full positions, evidence and sources — Ghusl, kafan and salat al-janazah — who performs them?.
Related madhhab issue: How soon must a Muslim be buried?.
Making an Islamic will in Canada — province by province, and what makes one valid where you live →
This is legal information only. For advice on your own circumstances, speak to a lawyer.
Citations & sources
Every factual claim on this page traces to a source below. Details change — check the original source before relying on any figure, fee or legal position. Anything under “further reading” is related material, not a source for what is stated here.
- What to do when someone dies — Government of Ontario
- Conflicting wills which one governs ontario — Treadstone Law
- Building without required minor variance consequences ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law