The funeral rite is fast, cheap and deliberately identical for everyone. The body is washed an odd number of times by relatives of the same sex — a duty, not a service bought in — with camphor in the final wash, then wrapped in three plain white sheets for a man and five for a woman, the same cloth regardless of wealth. The funeral prayer is offered standing, with no bowing or prostration, and is a communal obligation: if enough people perform it, it lifts from the rest. Burial is on the right side facing Mecca, ideally within a day, traditionally without a coffin, which is why Muslim burial is a running negotiation with municipal law in Europe and North America. Embalming and cremation are refused. Excessive wailing is discouraged and grief is not; the mourning period for a widow is four months and ten days. The whole design argues that death removes distinctions, and the identical shroud is the argument in physical form.