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Is it permissible for a man to do ghusl for a woman from among his mahrams other than his wife?

Praise be to Allah. It

is not permissible for a man to wash any female other than his wife,

whether they are his mahrams or not, apart from young girls who die

before the age of seven years, in which case he may wash her. On this

basis, if a woman were to die among men, and she does not have a husband

and there are no women present, tayammum should be done for her, instead

of wudoo’ and ghusl, with the purpose of protecting her ‘awrah. For

usually the one who does ghusl for the deceased, even if he just pours

water over the body, is bound to look at part of the ‘awrah and turn

the body over so that he can pour water over the entire body. So if

tayammum is done for a woman who has died and has only men around her,

that will be on the safe side with regard to protecting her ‘awrah.

With regard to a man doing ghusl for his slave woman, the same rulings

apply as in the case of his wife, if he owned her according to sharee’ah

and she was permissible for him, i.e., she was not married to another

man and was not within the ‘iddah period (following divorce or death

of her husband) at the time of her death.

And Allaah is the Source of strength. May Allaah bless our  Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions.

Source: IslamQA (Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid)
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