By: Abdul-Ganiyy Raji

Every mosque, Muslim community, and Islamic organisation needs to have trained individuals who handle the washing, shrouding and burial of the dead.

It is not uncommon to see the family of a dead Muslim waiting endlessly for someone to arrive from a distant community or city for the washing and shrouding processes because nobody living nearby can handle the processes involved in preparing the deceased for burial.

It is a bigger challenge if the deceased is a female. In many mosques and Muslim communities, it is a serious headache to get females who have the technical skills and courage to handle the processes. Most of our respected mothers who could handle the processes efficiently have either died or are already ageing.

Mosques and Muslim organisations should have people paid to handle burial processes from washing to shrouding, leading the Janāzah (i.e., pre-burial) prayer and the final interment.

In Saudi Arabia, at the Haram Mosque and the Prophetic Mosque where Janāzah Prayer is performed after every obligatory prayer, the people handling the processes do not render free services. They are people placed on salaries.

We also need to have people we pay to handle these processes in our communities and mosques. These are not processes that we should choose random people to handle for us.

How many mosques or Muslim communities have a dedicated place for washing and shrouding a dead Muslim?

How many Muslim communities and Muslim organisations have decent cemeteries? Most Muslim communities and families only run around to get a Muslim corpse handler or a cemetery when they lose someone.

Our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and friends deserve respect and honour not only when they are alive but also after their death.

The respect we give our dead ones includes how we prepare them for their next journey and the place where we bury them.

What is the condition of most of the cemeteries around us? Some of our cemeteries are poorly managed. Well, the managers of such cemeteries may not actually be blamed as they can only use the resources available to them.

These cemeteries are places we will all go someday. Why are we ignoring the need to maintain them? Are we preparing these places for the day we will also come there?

Those of us who have gone on Hajj have had the privilege of seeing cemeteries in Saudi Arabia and how well-maintained they are. Is the story the same for our own cemeteries?

Cemeteries should have people who work there as managers and maintainers, and such people should not be placed on fī sabīli-Llāh (i.e., pro bono services). They should be paid salaries. Where will their salaries come from? You may want to ask. Their salaries will come from every Muslim member of the host community and every Muslim philanthropist who cares about the dead. Their salaries will come from bequests, Waqf (Islamic endowments) and Sadaqah. The funds to maintain Muslim cemeteries should also come from these sources.

Abdul-Ganiyy Raji is the National Da’wah Officer of NASFAT