Ritualized Death in Eastern and Islamic Culture

Kader, 2009

Folklorists and theologians have maintained an interest in the cultural and theological aspects of death and burial-funeral customs; popular beliefs about death, dying and the afterlife; the folklore of forewarnings of death; and so on. Death is not only a natural reality but also a social and cultural fact. As one of the most important events of the life, a great number of beliefs, customs, tradition, ceremonies, rites, pattern behaviors, transactions have been grouped around death. The forms and contents of these beliefs, customs, tradition, ceremonies, rites, pattern behaviors connected with death may differ in terms of time, society and culture. Turkey has very rich folkloric traditions, which have been kept alive for centuries. There is a special place of the folkloric traditions connected with death in Turkish culture. Such beliefs, customs, transactions, ceremonies and pattern behaviors, which accumulated around the death, are categorized under three groups: pre-death, during death and after death. Most of Turkish people are Muslims. Their folkloric traditions are impressed by Islamic values. But, in fact, Turkish death traditions are composition of pre-Islamic customs, Islamic principles and other traditions. In this article, we discuss the comprehension of the Muslim Turkish people about the death as a physical and spiritual matter. They mirrored the understanding of death in the decease customs. But, on the other hand, like other traditions, death customs are affected by globalization. INTRODUCTION Just as the evidences of burial are often the only data surviving from early Paleolithic cultures, mortuary constructions ore often the most impressive and revealing remains of early civilizations. The importance of ancestors in the religions of the Jews, Buddhists, Christians, and Muslims make tombs and burial customs important sources of data for classical and modern culture. The structure of customs designed for the dead seem to provide a special fund of information about the ideologies and values for ancient and modern societies. (Huntington 1980, 6) Funeral customs have traditionally diverse by religion. In Buddhism, death is ready for through meditation, and death itself is considered as a new beginning after death. The body is washed, rituals are performed over it, a wake is held, and then it is typically cremated. In early Judaism, with perhaps the simplest of all ceremonies,

Urban Anthropology and Studies of Cultural Systems and World Economic Development, 16 (2): 205-241., 1987

Death and Religion in a Changing World, 2014

Journal of Ethnography and Folklore, 2016

It is possible to identify the viewpoints of a society using various aspects that are illustrated in its proverbs. Based on the proverbs commonly used in Turkey, this study is aimed at identifying, analyzing and somehow systematizing ideas on death in Turkish culture, and determining how they reflect customs, traditions, and rituals from past to present. With this in sight, information is presented about various perceptions of death in the Turkish culture and several expressions about death in the Turkish language. Some elements pertaining to the ancient, pre-Islamic religion of Kok Tengri, as well as to Islamic Sufism, Islamic doctrine as well as (perhaps) non-religious, folkish good sense, are identified. Turkish proverbs are listed and examined under thematic issues such as: what death is; what are the causes of death; who dies; who doesn't die; killing; ways to die; better and worse things than death; the deceased; the funeral culture.

Springer, 2019

The Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery in Tehran, Iran, is one of the largest in the world, containing one and a half million graves. It is the main cemetery for a city of eight million residents. Due to the high volume of bodies arriving for burial everyday as well as the uniformity of Shia Islamic burial rituals, protocols have developed to implement an efficient division of labour and speed up the process. We study how this organizational and bureaucratic division of labour interacts with the communityoriented spirit of Shia Islamic burial rituals, the compromises that have to be, and the human impact. We also examine the implications of these developments for a number of existing theories regarding “modernity” and the “sequestration of death”.

2011

Islamic death rituals are quite thoroughly described and studies give in-depth insights in Islamic eschatology, the evolvement of Islamic death rites over time or in death rites as part of life cycle rituals among Muslims in the Netherlands. But often the focus is very much on Islam, its rules and regulations. We want to focus on Muslims and their dynamic and diverse ritual praxis in a specific (migration) context.