Death: The Role Of Grief In Muslim Culture

Death

The goal of all life is death. Death is a reality that is feared the most no matter how hard we try, we can’t escape. We are totally powerless to overcome death. Regardless of gender, age, race, religion, geographical area or time period, death unifies us all. While death experience is universal, the behaviors associated with expressing grief are very much culturally bound. Death and grief being normal life events, all cultures have developed ways to cope with death in a respectful manner, and standing in the way with these practices can damage people’s ability to handle the grieving process.

It is important to understand the different cultural and religious views on death so that our involvement will be appropriate to the cultural context

Muslims believe there will be a day of judgment by Allah (God). Until then, the deceased remain in their graves but on judgment day they will either go to Heaven or Hell. Muslims accept death as God’s will. At the time of death, the eyes of the deceased will be closed and the body is laid out with their arms across their chest and head facing Mecca (right direction). The body will be washed by family or friends. It will be wrapped in a white shroud and prayers will be said. Contact between the body and non-Muslims is discouraged. If a non-Muslim needs to touch the body, gloves should be worn. Male staff should handle male patients while female with female patients. During the burial, no women are allowed to go into the graveyard. Mourners are discouraged from excessive demonstrations of grief. The body will not be cremated as this is not permitted in Islam. The deceased will be buried with their face turned to the right facing Mecca. A coffin is usually not used but a chamber dug into the grave and sealed with wooden boards so no earth touches the body. The grave will be usually simple without any fancy decoration. After the burial, three days of mourning follows where visitors are received and a special meal to remember the departed. Male family members go to visit the grave daily or weekly for 40 days. There will also be prayer gatherings at home for

However, cultures differ on how they mentally visualize death and what happens when a person dies. In some cultures, death is conceived to involve different conditions, including sleep, illness and reaching a certain age. In other cultures, death is said to occur only when there is a total end of life. Similarly, certain cultural traditions view death as a transition to other forms of existence; others propose a continuous interaction between the dead and the living, some cultures conceive a circular pattern of multiple deaths and rebirths, and yet, other view death as the final end, with nothing occurring after death. These different conceptions have a noticeable influence on their lifestyles, their readiness to die for a cause, the degree to which they fear death, their expression of grief and mourning, and the nature of funeral rituals. Any reasonably broad understanding of death issues would necessarily have to incorporate these various cultural