What is the ruling on washing the deceased?

When a person dies, some people are obligated to hasten their washing, based on the hadith of Abu Hurairah: "Hasten with the funeral," and due to the command to wash the deceased in the hadith of the pilgrim (muhrim) whose camel threw him down: "Wash him with water and sidr," and his saying concerning his daughter Zaynab: "Wash her three, or five, or seven times." The majority of jurists hold that washing the deceased Muslim is an obligatory communal duty (fard kifayah).