Muslim Funeral Traditions

Like most religions, Islam demands certain traditions for burying their dead. Before death, the soon to be deceased is encouraged to recite the “shahada”, a prayer confirming that Allah is the only God. Family and close friends of the dying person are to be with them until the die, at which point they are to say: “Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un” meaning “Verily we belong to Allah, and truly to Him shall we return”. Then they close the eyes and mouth of the dead, cover the body with a clean sheet, and give supplication to Allah. The body must be buried as quickly as possible, so funeral plans must be made immediately. That also means that embalming is not typically allowed and most communities prohibit moving the body to another country to be buried. Cremation is also prohibited and autopsies are seen as a desecration of the body, however organ donation is allowed as it follows the teaching “Whosoever saves the life of one person it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind”. To prepare for the funeral, the body is washed at least three times and wrapped with three sheets.  Once the sheets are secured to the body with ropes, it is transported to a Mosque for funeral prayers. The funeral prayers are not actually performed inside the Mosque but in the courtyard, a prayer room, or study room at the mosque. Because of the urgency to bury the body as soon as possible, there is no pre-funeral viewing of the body. After prayers, the body is immediately taken to the cemetery to be buried. In most communities, only men are allowed to attend this part of the funeral. The body is lowered into the grave, facing perpendicular to Mecca, with a prayer and each mourner in attendance places three handfuls of dirt into the grave. A headstone may be placed to mark the grave, however it may not be anything large or to elaborately decorated.

I chose to research this topic because in The Kite Runner, it caught my interest how at Baba’s funeral, Amir had to go to a different location to talk to his wife. I was curious to learn how funerals of the Islamic faith were different than a Christian funeral or I suppose, an average American funeral. This information helps me to understand just a little bit more about the Islamic faith and it’s values.

Works Cited

“Muslim Funeral Traditions.” Everplans. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.