MUSLIM
A multi-national Muslim perspective (Adapted from the presentation of Nancy Ali)
“Bismillah-ar-rahman-nir-raheem! In the Name of God, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful, peace be upon you.”
History and culture. Muslims share one religion, Islam, but they come from many different countries of the world. More than one billion people worldwide practice the Muslim faith. Most live in Central and East Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East. About eight million Muslims live in the United States. While the burial rites are basi- cally the same in most Muslim countries, grief reactions will vary. Within each cultural group, gender, economic status, educational background, and level of family support will also influence grief reactions. Because Muslims come from so many countries with such a wide array of different customs, providers must be especially sensitive to the needs of individual family members rather than relying on preconceived ideas about Muslim traditions.
Muslims share one religion, Islam, but they come from many different countries of the world.
Muslims believe in one God and honor Mohammed as his prophet. They believe Abraham, Moses, and Jesus were also prophets. The prophet Mohammed wrote the Muslim bible, the Holy Qur’an. Devout Muslims pray five times every day: at sunrise, noon, late afternoon, sunset, and late evening. They kneel to pray and face toward the Holy City of Mecca, where the Prophet Mohammed was born in 570 AD.
Muslim society is built around the nuclear and extended family. Most Muslim families tend to have a similar social structure—strongly patriarchal and hierarchical. The father of the family has authority and makes decisions. Women are subordinate to men and younger people to older people.
The Islamic faith teaches nothing that happens is an accident or coincidence. Rather, every event has a meaning and a purpose, which is known to God alone. Inshallah (if God wills) is a phrase Muslims use to acknowledge God’s power over all life’s cir- cumstances. While this is a general Muslim belief, providers must not assume family members will relate to the healthcare system—or for that matter, any of life’s experi- ences—passively. When faced with difficulties, the Muslim does everything possible to either remove or deal with them. If removing the problem is impossible, a Muslim tries to be patient and steadfast with what the Qur’an calls a “beautiful patience.” However, a sense of hope in the face of difficulties, even impending death, always remains.
General bereavement customs. Islam does not discourage grieving, which it considers a mercy from God. Even the Prophet Mohammed wept when his infant son Ibrahim, the only son born to his wife Miriam, died. He said, “The eyes shed tears and the heart feels pain, but we utter only what pleases our God. O Ibrahim! We are aggrieved at
52 VOICES FROM THE COMMUNITY: CROSS CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS OF GRIEF AT THE LOSS OF AN INFANT
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