Adieu, the final farewell, an exploration of death!
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Quick Links:
| Definition | Hadith |
| Branches | Dying |
| – Shia | Death |
| – Sunni | The deceased |
| – Sufi | Funeral |
| Central Body | Burial |
| Belief | Women |
| Prayers | Grave |
| Shahada | Mourning |
| Quran | Angels of death |
| Afterlife | Judgement Day |
The second largest religion is Islam, practicised by around 25% of world population or 1.9bn Muslims.
Indonesia has the biggest number of Islamic followers with some 87% of its 274m population being Muslim. Other significant countries are Pakistan with 96.5% of its population or 200m Muslims, India has only 14% of its population Muslim but this is still 195m, Bangladesh has 90.4% Muslims or 154m,
Nigeria has 50% Islamic or 99m, Egypt is at 92.4% with 88m, Iran is 99.4% and 82m, Turkey has 99.2% or 80m, and so on. China has 28m Muslims, and Russia has 20m.
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There are three branches of Islam – Sunni, Shia and Sufi.
Sunnis represent 90% of global Muslims. Sunnis are the majority in over forty countries – China and central Asia, Europe including Russia and Turkey, South and Southeast Asia, Africa and the Arab World and in the United States. Sunnis believe expressly in the Prophet and cross their arms while praying. Sunnis observe five daily prayer sessions.
Shias focus instead upon the teachings of the Prophet’s lineage and of a series of imams. Shias are mostly based in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Bahrain and Azerbaijan. Shiites when praying keep their arms by their sides. Shiites are governed by more hierarchical structures, and follow living religious leaders. Shiites observe either three or five daily prayer sessions.
Sufis are an orthodoxy that sits across both Sunni and Shia beliefs, usually based around a tariqa, or order, and they follow a wali, or teacher. They seek to return to an original state of purity. Sufi literally means ‘one who wears wool’, the traditional garb of ascetics and mystics.
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There is no central hierarchy that manages the Islamic clerics, each operates in a decentralised way, there is no formal chain of command. Clerics are therefore free to pronounce their own fatwas, that provide interpretations of Islamic law. As a result, it is difficult to separate religion and politics.
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We will try, respectfully, to present this religion in a uniform way.
Muslims worship, in mosques, where there is a separate room set aside for men and for women. The floor carpet has ridges to show where people should line up for prayer. They believe in the one God, Allah, and Muhammad is his Messenger. Islam has six articles of faith – belief in one God, belief in his prophets (Muhammad was the last), belief in his angels, belief in the teaching of scripture, belief in fate, and belief in resurrection and a Day of Judgement.
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The call to prayers is made from the mosque’s minaret by a muezzin, this process is called adhan.
The first call to attend the mosque is called salat and the second call, to take their places, which is called iqamah. Prayers are made five times per day, Fajr at dawn, Zuhr at noon, Asr at mid-afternoon, Maghrib at sunset and Isha in the evening.
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Muslims hope that just before death they can recite the Shahada, this is their profession of faith and one of the Five Pillars of Islam. These are shahada (declaration of faith), salah (prayer), zakat (alms-giving), sawm (fasting) and hajj (pilgrimage).
The shahada states ‘I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.’ A Shia will usually add, ’…and I testify that Ali is the wali (or viceregent) of Allah’.
The shahada is whispered by the father into the ear of a newborn child, and it is whispered into the ear of a dying person who is unable to recite it. The five canonical daily prayers each include a recitation of the Shahada. Making it your last words, or having them whispered into the ears of the person dying, will permit the individual to enter Jannah, Heaven.
The two statements of the shahada do not appear together in the Quran side by side. Their colocation is a hadith, a practice or saying attributed to Muhammad (peace be upon him).
| [FACTOID: The black flag used by jihadist organisations like Islamic State, al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab, Hamas… depicts white Arabic text on a black background, this text states the ‘shahada’.] |
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Most of the Islamic customs and beliefs about death are derived from hadith or from Shari’ah law, rather than taken directly from the Quran.
Islam believes that at death an individual’s body is cast off and the rūḥ, soul, enters the afterlife. It is a natural event, a simple transition from the material world to an unseen one.
There is no belief in reincarnation, so there is just the one chance to live properly. A Muslim’s entry into Paradise is entirely dependent upon their life on Earth. The Quran says ‘Every soul shall taste death, and only on the Day of Judgment will you be paid your full recompense.’
The Day of Judgement marks the end of the world. It is when the dead will be granted eternal peace in Heaven or eternal suffering in Hell.
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There is a belief that the body is sacred which leads to several conclusions. One is an avoidance of postmortems, in part because of the delay this would cause to the funeral. Indian Muslims are against organ transplants as it does not appear in the Quran or hadith, though not all Muslims dismiss them, yet mechanical prolongation of life is generally discouraged.
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There is some reluctance to bury a suicide. Suicide is considered as a major sin, euthanasia too is considered to be wrong. Yet Jihadist groups declare that Istishhad, or martyrdom, is an example of heroic death, a form of self-sacrifice. Al-Qaeda stress that these suicides die in ‘the way of God’ and so will be forgiven by Allah and pass directly to Paradise without having to wait for Judgement Day. They suggest that suicide is done through despair, martyrdom is done in faith.
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Most Muslims would prefer to die at home. It is considered important, upon impending death, to ask for forgiveness of sins and for violations against others. The individual is given zam zam (holy water) to drink and Quran verses are recited as they redeclare their faith.
One school of opinion is that Malak al-Maut, an angel of death, appears to the individual dying and extracts the soul – painlessly for the righteous and painfully for the sinner. The deceased’s soul enters an intermediary realm until the Day of Resurrection.
At death the deceased should be turned towards Mecca, or in a hospital their head may simply be turned to the side to face Mecca. The eyes and mouth are closed and the legs are straightened, the left hand is placed on the chest and the right placed above it.
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On the announcement of death, collective prayers, Salat al-Janazah, are held in the community. Individuals recite a quote from the Quran, ‘Truly we belong to God and to Him we shall return.’
The body is washed with heated water after death by someone of the same sex, using a cloth or sponge, while wearing gloves – this is ghusl al-Mayyit. The exact process varies by region. There is a custom for the body to be washed three times, or else an odd number of times.
Then the body is covered in the kafan, white cotton or linen sheets, there is no embalming. The white sheets have usually been pre-prepared by the deceased during his/her lifetime. A man is usually shrouded in three sheets, a woman in five.
The body is usually then held at their home, facing Mecca, while the relatives sit around it and pray. There is usually not enough time for a viewing of the body by friends and colleagues. This custom of facing Mecca, the holy city, is so that it helps to connect all Muslims while at prayer. Islam being largely pursued in hot countries there is a focus on speed between death and burial, so normally it is done within twenty-four hours. This is largely a sanitary matter, and a minimising of health risks.
There is also a desire for haste given the custom that the relatives should not eat until after the funeral. Some groups introduce their own delays by returning the body to their homelands – these bodies are often embalmed to preserve them during the journey.
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A funeral is a dignified affair but lasts a little under an hour. Non-Muslims are encouraged to attend.
A family car is often used rather than a hearse. There is seldom an undertaker involved as relatives do not wish to abandon the body. Four men carry the body to the graveside. Grave diggers will have prepared the plot, and stones or wood are placed in the bottom to avoid the body resting on the soil – this because coffins are seldom used.
The person lowering the body into the grave prays, ‘In the name of God and according to the religion of the Messenger of God’. Stones or wood are placed above the body, again to stop direct contact with the soil. Traditionally it is the relatives who then replace the earth. In the West each mourner throws in three handfuls of soil, then, in some regions, it is the gravediggers who, supervised by the elder son, complete the job.
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Women are discouraged from attending a funeral because of the fear of their displaying excessive forms of mourning. Or else they are permitted provided they do not cry, wail or hit themselves, these are considered as questioning Allah.
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At burial the deceased is laid on their right side so that they face towards Mecca. The grave is set to be lying perpendicular to the Qibla at Mecca.
The grave may be raised to stop visitors inadvertently stepping on it. Ostentation of the grave is discouraged. It is not customary to send wreathes or flowers, though some regions of the World do scatter flowers or rose water upon the grave. No collections or donations are expected.
After the funeral a wake is held for men and women, usually in the form of a meal.
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Bereavement usually lasts for three days during which prayers are said. Those who visit the bereaved’s home wear simple clothes and no make-up or jewellery. Shoes are removed before entering the home, of course. Turkish Muslims believe that the rūḥ, or soul, may roam around the corpse during these few days.
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A wife is expected to remain indoors for four lunar months and ten days, the iddah. If she is pregnant, she remains indoors until the child is born. If living in the West, religious dispensation can be sought from these customs.
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Two angels, Munkar and Nakir, question the dead and test their faith. Believers are given heavenly rewards, the unbeliever is passed to Zabaniyya, the angels of hell, the tormentors.
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The body is believed to be raised from the dead on Judgement Day. On that day a horn will be blown and the deceased is questioned by angels about their beliefs and practices. Because of the belief in this resurrection, cremation is not practised. A coffin is not always used, when they are it is of very simple design, often retained by the community for subsequent use.
Islam: Forward to Hinduism – Famous Cemeteries - Back to Christianity
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