Kafan Measurements and Fabric Guide for Male and Female Shrouding

You're standing in a fabric shop or searching online, and you need to know exactly how much white cotton to buy for a kafan. The answer depends on the deceased's gender, body size, and which jurisprudential tradition the family follows — and getting it wrong means a last-minute scramble when time is already short.

Standard Male Kafan: Three Pieces

The Hanafi male shroud consists of three unstitched white cotton cloths:

• Lifafah (outer wrapper): Covers head to toe with excess at both ends for tying. Cut it at least 18 inches longer than the body — 9 inches above the head, 9 below the feet. For an average adult, that's roughly 7.5 feet long by 4.5 feet wide.
• Izar (body wrap): Covers from the hairline to just below the ankles. Approximately 6.5 feet long by 4 feet wide.
• Qamis (tunic): A sleeveless shirt-like piece from the shoulders to below the knees. About 4.5 feet long by 3.5 feet wide, with a slit cut for the head opening.

Total fabric for a male: Approximately 6 to 7 metres (roughly 20–23 feet) of 44-inch-wide unbleached white cotton, which gives enough material for all three pieces with modest allowance for trimming.

Standard Female Kafan: Five Pieces

The Hanafi female shroud adds two additional pieces for modesty:

• Lifafah, Izar, and Qamis: Same dimensions as the male kafan.
• Khimar (head covering): A rectangular piece roughly 3 feet by 2.5 feet, wrapped around the head to cover the hair, which is braided into three plaits and laid behind the back.
• Sinaband (chest wrap): A strip approximately 4 feet long by 1.5 feet wide, wrapped around the torso from the armpits to the hips and secured with a knot at the back.

Total fabric for a female: Approximately 8 to 9 metres (roughly 26–30 feet) of the same 44-inch cotton.

Fabric Selection and Preparation

The kafan must be simple, unadorned white cotton — no silk, no synthetic blends, no embroidery or gold thread. The cloth should be:

• Pre-washed (shrink it before cutting so the pieces don't shift during wrapping)
• Opaque when layered (hold it up to light — if you can see shapes through a single layer, double it or choose a heavier weave)
• Unstarched (stiff fabric resists folding and makes wrapping difficult)

Mosque burial committees and Muslim funeral directors typically stock pre-cut kafan kits at cost — often £30–£100 in the UK or $50–$150 in the US. These kits include all pieces pre-measured and sometimes include perfume, camphor, and cotton wadding. If the family prefers to source their own, any plain white cotton sheeting from a fabric store works.

Shia Variations

In Twelver Shia practice, the three obligatory (wajib) pieces are supplemented by recommended (mustahab) items: a raan paich (thigh wrap), seena band (chest binding), and two fresh jareeda twigs (arm-length green twigs placed inside the shroud). Families following Shia tradition should add an extra 2 metres of fabric for the supplementary wraps, plus source the twigs separately from a nursery or florist.

Layering Sequence

Lay the fabrics out on the washing table in this order, bottom to top:

1. Lifafah (widest, goes on the table first)
2. Izar (centred on top of the lifafah)
3. Qamis (on top, head opening aligned)
4. For women: khimar at the head end, sinaband at chest level

Place the dried body on the prepared stack, slip the qamis over the head, then fold the izar right-over-left, followed by the lifafah right-over-left. Tie strips of cloth at the head, chest, and feet to secure everything.

Our Muslim Funeral — South Asia guide includes printable measurement worksheets sized for different body frames, plus a step-by-step illustrated shrouding sequence for both Sunni and Shia traditions.