How the Martyrs Were Buried

It is sunnah to bury the martyr where he died, and not to move him to a different location, because when some of the Companions were taking the dead bodies toward Madīnah, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "Return them, and have them buried at Uḥud." That is where the cemetery of the martyrs is, at Uḥud, even though Madīnah was close by and they could have carried them there — so the scholars say it is sunnah to bury the martyrs where they died.

Al-Bukhārī relates that Jābir, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would place one piece of clothing over each two of the men killed at Uḥud, and then would ask which one of these had a better knowledge of the Qur'an. He would then place the one indicated in the grave first, saying, 'I will testify for these on the Day of Judgment.'" This shows how poor they were: they could not afford wrapping everyone in a shroud of their own, so they had to share, and probably because of the exhaustion they ended up burying more than one person in each grave, placing the one who had memorised more Qur'an first, then the second. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) ordered that they be buried in their blood; he did not pray over them, nor were they washed — this too is in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī.^*** This shows that the sunnah is that the martyr is not washed, and that no funeral prayer is offered for him, because the funeral prayer is for the dead, and since the martyr is alive, no funeral prayer is offered for him. And they were buried in their blood, so that these wounds, and this blood, would go on giving off the scent of musk.