Encyclopedia of Islam

funerary rituals

Funerary rituals are concerned with the disposal 

of the dead and provide the living with ways 

to channel deeply felt emotions caused by the 

loss of a loved one. They are occasions when 

a society’s beliefs about life and 

death

 and the 

sacred and profane are most visible and when 

the bonds that hold people together as families 

and communities are affirmed and tested. In 

Islamic communities, as in Jewish and Chris-

tian ones, funerary rituals involve different 

kinds of activities: preparations for death and 

burial, interment of the body, mourning, and 

memorialization. These rites combine practices 

prescribed by religious tradition, local cultural 

customs, and improvised actions called forth by 

the specific circumstances present when a death 

or a funeral occurs.

f

iqh

 literature, composed by experts in Islamic 

law, sets forth the formal ritual requirements and 

taboos that Muslims are expected to observe. 

K  250