Short answer
It is allowed, but burying the person where they died is better. Hanafi scholars dislike moving a body far before burial because it delays the burial, often needs embalming and costs a lot. Moving a body after it is buried is not allowed except in rare necessity.
The sunnah is to bury a person in the graveyard of the place where they died. Moving the body a short distance (a mile or two) before burial is fine. Moving it further is disliked by many Hanafi jurists, especially when it causes delay or harm to the body. Exhuming a buried body to move it is not permitted.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- Moving a body to another town before burial is haram, except to near Makkah, Madinah or Jerusalem.
- Maliki
- Allowed for a valid benefit, such as burial near family, if the body is not harmed or exposed.
- Hanbali
- Allowed for a valid purpose when the body will not change.
Explanation
Many Muslims in the US, UK, Canada and the Gulf have family in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Somalia, Turkey or elsewhere, and parents often ask to be buried "back home". It is a natural wish, and it is not haram. But the sunnah points toward burying the person where they die.
Why scholars advise local burial:
- The sunnah is to hurry the burial, and repatriation often takes days.
- Airlines and countries may require embalming, which is not allowed without necessity.
- The cost is high, and that money could be spent as sadaqah for the dead person.
- After the battle of Uhud, the Prophet ﷺ had the martyrs returned and buried where they fell.
If the family still decides to send the body. The burial abroad is valid and nobody is sinful for it. Keep the delay short, refuse optional embalming, and pray the janazah before the body leaves, so the duty of the prayer is done where the person died. People at the destination may not pray it again in the Hanafi school unless the guardian (wali) did not pray the first time.
A will request. If someone wrote in their will that they want to be buried abroad, the heirs are not bound by it in the Hanafi school, but they may honour it when it causes no harm.
After burial. Digging up a grave to move the body is not allowed, except in necessity such as the land being taken by force. See how soon burial should happen.
The evidence
Sunan an-Nasa'i 2005
Graded sahih... ادفنوا القتلى في مصارعهم ...
"Bury the dead where they fell."
The Prophet ﷺ had the dead of Uhud buried where they died.
Sahih al-Bukhari 1315
Sahih... أسرعوا بالجنازة فإن تك صالحة فخير تقدمونها إليه ...
"Hurry with the funeral. If the person was righteous, it is good you are sending them to."
Long delays to transport the body go against this sunnah.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Salah, Bab Salat al-Janazah. Moving the body a mile or two before burial, the dislike of more, and the ban on exhuming.
- al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, Kitab al-Salah, chapter on jana'iz. Burial in the graveyard of the place of death.
- Minhaj al-Talibin, Kitab al-Jana'iz. The Shafi'i ban on moving the body before burial, with its exceptions.
This answer is pending review by the scholars on our team. 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.