https://rsc.byu.edu/deity-death/death-dying-middle-east
Death and Dying in the Middle East
Sami A. Hanna
Death and dying are universal realities for all creations in every country and cultural area. What makes death and dying so interesting is that its treatment varies from one country to another and from one culture to another. For example, if we take Europe as a whole, its people meet death and behave differently from the people of the Middle East.
We know something about the people of the Middle East, but we are not well acquainted with certain important cultural patterns of that area. When we go as Americans or Europeans, we focus our attention on movements, tourist attractions, etc., but we seldom care to see or investigate how the Middle Eastern people respond to death and dying.
Since this area is predominantly Muslim, our attention is focused on the attitudes and beliefs of the people of this faith. Most examples presented are derived from the Holy Qur’an, the
Hadith, and other Islamic texts. Other basic sources are
Hughes’ Dictionary of Islam, the
Encyclopedia of Islam, and my own personal experiences and observations. I have relied on these latter books through this presentation, but I have not sought to cite page numbers in every instance, except when quoting from passages in the Qur’an.
First, however, I would like to share with you my impressions, as a Middle Easterner, of my first experience with an American funeral, which took place in Salt Lake City. The father of one of my very close friends died. I wanted, of course, to express my condolences to him but learned that such condolences are expressed in a mortuary. I located the mortuary and went there. I found myself in a large building with several rooms, each of which was reserved for a deceased person. A man ushered me into one of the rooms. When I entered and approached the family, I was utterly shocked. The family was standing in line, friends were also standing in line, so I stood in line. When my turn came, I expressed my sympathy to my friend. However, what was even more shocking to me was the spirit in which the family received me. “Look how nice he is. Doesn’t he look wonderful?” These and other things were said in a joyful spirit. To be honest, I expected to see the family of the deceased crying and screaming as in the Middle Eastern culture. But that was not the case. After viewing the deceased in his half-open casket, I returned home wondering how death in America, at least in this Mormon setting, could be received with such joy and happiness. When I asked my friend about this attitude, I was told that death is a transition—a bridge to a happy and everlasting life in heaven.
Such a belief caused me to ponder and to ask myself why we receive death completely differently in the Middle East than in the West? Why do we cry and scream for at least a year? Why do men wear black ties and women black garments? Why do we abstain from everything sweet, from food, from even listening to the radio? Why do the neighbors turn off their radios as a token of sympathy? Why do we remain in mourning for at least forty days?
