Death and Dying—a Muslim Perspective
Year: 1998
Type: article
Abstract: Islamic law (Shariah) defines expected behaviors at the time of death. Since these expectations are followed by most of the 2 million Muslims in the UK it is important for British health professionals to be familiar with them. For Muslims death marks the transition from one state of existence to the next and is therefore not resisted. Ideally Muslims wish to die at home. When this is not feasible certain changes in hospital routine are recommended including not restricting the number of friends and relatives who come for daily prayers provisions for ablution before prayer and positioning the bed of the dying person in the direction of Mecca. Since it is a religious requirement that the dead be buried as soon as possible family stress can be avoided by timely production of the death certificate. Both postmortem examinations and organ donations are generally prohibited.
Author: Aziz Sheikh
Institution: Imperial College London
Language: English
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W152282521