Loss and Bereavement among Israel's Muslims: Acceptance of God's Will, Grief, and the Relationship to the Deceased

Abstract

The manner in which people manage their grief and mourning for loved ones who have died is a window into a culture and people. The beliefs and practices of Muslim citizens in Israel stem from a cultural-religious world-view that organizes the public and private experience of loss and bereavement. Prolonged public expression of grief and ritualized mourning are discouraged in Islamic practice which places great value on the acceptance of God's or Allah's will with restraint and understanding. The distinction between the return to functioning following loss and the management of memories and attachments to the deceased are fundamental to the Two Track Model of Bereavement (Rubin, 1999). The distinction is also relevant to the analysis of Israeli Muslims' responses to loss. Following an introduction to Islamic attitudes to death and loss, a number of basic elements of response to loss are considered. The Islamic emphasis on acceptance and a return to functioning is clear cut. The myriad ways in which the memory of the deceased and the relationship to him or her is bound up with the life lived following death is an area that leaves significant room for individual variation.