Hadith literature played a central role in determining how Islamic jurists ought to conduct various forms of funerary rites in order to treat the dead in a religiously appropriate manne
Trang 1With the rise of Hadith literature, or literature relating
to traditions established by Muhammad, in the two
centu-ries after the Prophet’s death (in 632 c.e.) new sacred
canoni-cal texts emerged introducing a legal system of practices and
doctrines to the Muslim community Hadith literature played
a central role in determining how Islamic jurists ought to
conduct various forms of funerary rites in order to treat the
dead in a religiously appropriate manner Based on this
litera-ture, precise religious rulings, called fiqh, were carried out by
diverse medieval Muslim communities, highlighting shared
patterns of funeral practices
Central to the Koranic concept of resurrection is the
be-lief that the decomposed, scattered corpses of the deceased
will be recomposed for the Day of Judgment The ritual
treat-ment of the corpse, accordingly, has played a significant role
in Islamic history, especially in the medieval period As with
birth and marriage, medieval Muslims held diverse attitudes
toward death, such that various practices were employed in
the treatment of the corpse Nevertheless, in accord with
overarching Islamic theology and practices, Shia and Sunni
communities alike have shared certain funerary customs
Also, Islamic death ceremonies share many features with
Christian and Jewish ceremonies, as the ritual of earth burial
plays a predominant role in the funerary proceedings of the
three religions
Medieval Muslim funerary rites usually involved the
three stages of preburial, burial, and postburial proceedings
For deceased males, in the preburial stage, bereaved women of
the family and community would wail, and senior male
fam-ily members of the deceased—or hired hands—would wash
the corpse three times, in order to protect it from earthly
con-tamination In the case of a deceased female, usually the
se-nior female members of the household or professional corpse
washers would perform the washing The washing ritual
would resemble the ritual ablution performed by Muslims
before prayer in being a physical and symbolic display of
en-tering a temporary stage of bliss and meditation
Fragrance would be applied to the body, which would
then be covered with clean cloth or a shroud, called a kafan,
which was usually white but at times green—especially if the
deceased was believed to be a descendant of the Prophet The
only two exceptions to this particular ritual performance
oc-curred when the person had died while performing the ritual
purity (ihram) ceremony during the pilgrimage to Mecca or
when the person had died a martyr’s death while fighting for
God In such cases, the body would be quickly buried with
the clothes on without the performance of the washing ritual
Otherwise, the washed body would be taken to the cemetery
on a bier before the end of the first day of death The place of
burial typically would be somewhere outside a city; however,
at times a Muslim cleric or major saint would be buried in a mosque At the burial stage a cleric or pious man would lead the prayer for the deceased, and the assembly of faithful, both men and women, would recite the prayer and patiently attend the burial The body would be placed in the grave with the head facing in the direction of Mecca Immediately after the burial, food would be offered to the family of the deceased, completing the burial stage
The postburial stage would include the performance of three major commemorative ceremonies: mourning ceremo-nies on the seventh and 40th days after the death and on the first anniversary of the death In these ceremonies animal slaughter, communal feasting, and public recitation of the Koran and sayings of the Prophet would be central features After the first anniversary ceremony the family of the de-ceased would occasionally visit the grave, washing the tomb-stone with water and performing prayers
According to certain Sunni theological schools of thought, attending to the deceased after the proper stages of
Tombstone, marble, Iran, 12th century (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Nasli M Heeramaneck, Photograph © 2006 Museum Associates/ LACMA [M.73.7.1])
death and burial practices: The Islamic World 289