Cultural Perspectives of Death and Dying

Islamic culture is one of the richest cultures that exist in the world. It is a rich culture since it is defined by a great composition of the moral and religious set of behaviors and practices. The Islamic view of death and dying is one that is highly contentious however. In the Islamic culture, death is the last step in human life. It is the end of life of a human being on earth and could signify many issues. The process of dying is also interpreted in various ways depending on different perspectives. The Islamic culture however heavily negates the way that end-of-life practices conventionally happen. Hospice care is also limited due to the beliefs of the Islamic people. There is therefore a need for hospice care providers, nurses and medical practitioners to have a greater understanding of the culture in order to provide more culturally-lenient end of life care for this culture. 

The cultural view of Islamic people on death is that it is an inevitable step that every human being will have to go through. According to the Islamic sharia law, death is the only way that a human being can understand the activities of the supernatural (Al-Meshhedany & Al-Sammerai, 2010). In the natural form and especially while one is alive, the understanding of the supernatural being can only be by faith. However, death now brings one to the realization that life on earth is just for a while and at last, one has to be translated to the supernatural state that they are always trained about. There is no defined age that one can be certain that they will die according to Islamic culture. One can therefore die at any instance and only the supernatural being God knows the time of life that everyone is entitled after which death is inevitable.

According to Muslims death means not only physical separation but also eternal separation. Once one dies, it is believed that they face a supernatural power. The supernatural power has a record of their deeds while they were alive and determines whether they are entitled to eternal life or not. The decision is however not just made on vague grounds. Some laws are stated in the Muslim Holy Book the Quran whereby the manner of rightful living are inscribed. Therefore, according to the rules, upon death, one may secure a place in heaven where they can spend their eternity happily or be thrown in hell where they would spend their eternity being punished for their unlawful deeds (Rassouli & Sajjadi, 2014). According to the Muslim faith, therefore, death would mean an entirely new happy life or a life that is filled with woes and suffering.

Dying according to the Islamic culture is however not just a process like any other. They believe that there is some good death and some bad death. According to Muslims, a good death is one that follows some basic perspectives. One, it must be in accordance to the rules of Allah. That is the death need not be forced or coerced. A good death, therefore, does not involve willful destruction of human life through abortion, murder of suicide. It has to be in line with the teachings and beliefs of Allah. The other aspect of good health is that it should be respectful of the self-esteem of the individual (Tayeb et al., 2010). It should also be affordable and need not be draining of the family so much financially. Again, it should not cause excessive pain to the victim, need to be timed such that the individual can have time to say goodbye to their family members among others. 

According to the Islamic perspective of good health, therefore, it is one that ought to be entirely considerate of the spiritual and emotional side of the concerned individual. They deserve some dignity and their views ought to be respected as they are believed to have some higher degree of where they are going that is above the understanding of the other people (Tayeb et al., 2010). Dying, therefore, should be allowed to happen as the person who is believed to be dying believes. Often, dying at home or in a sacred place such as the mosque are the most accepted places with the view that the individuals have a better way to make peace with their creator and their family members. Due to the cultural beliefs, end-of-life care and hospice care are so hard to execute in the Islamic cultures because most people want to spend their last moments in their homes or in holy places.

Though the Islamic culture is one that is very categorical concerning the end of life moments, the culture does not explicitly out-rule hospice care. Hospice care still remains a necessary part of the Islamic people and a commendable number of people receive hospice care. Though not expressly examined, at least 90% of people in Islamic nations who are terminally ill once in a while seek hospice care. The statistical variability also expresses that women are likely to access hospice care than men since they have an express 93% turnout opposed to the 88% turnout of men (Tayeb et al., 2010). Therefore, though potentially the culture does not seem to be inclined to hospice care, most of the Islamic people still access hospice care.

Barriers that oppose culturally appropriate end of life care are some such as a poor understanding of the Islamic culture, the hard stance of medical practitioners in preserving human life and the native outlook of Islamic natives that suffering while dying can be a sign of better life upon death. Most of the practicing nurses in Islamic environments do not have a great understanding of the cultures surrounding dying in the Islamic way. They are therefore not well-versed on how to relate to the dying patients and their families. Again, most of the nurses providing hospice care do not allow families to carry away their terminally ill patients from hospital in a bid to protect their lives which makes other Islam people fear to take their terminally ill for hospice care. Lastly, the choice to suffer in pain is also another factor that has enhanced the inability for the provision of hospice care to patients at the end of their lives.

After observing the barriers of end-of-life care in Islamic culture, to recommendations are necessary. One is to train nurses the views of death and to die in the Islamic culture (Azami-Aghdash et al., 2015). That would make the nurses be more careful and to be consistent with cultures of the Islam people while advising them regarding the end of life care. Another recommendation is that hospitals and institutions to hire hospice consultants who would be facilitating talks between the nurses and the patients and their families for a more facilitated end of life care to be realized among Islamic people (Miller, Ziad-Miller & Elamin, 2014). Using the two recommendations, hospice and end of life care would improve among Islamic people with utmost regard for their culture being made. 

References

Al-Meshhedany, A. A. H., & Al-Sammerai, N. S. M. (2010). Facing Finality: Cognitive and Cultural Studies on Death and Dying” Arabic Culture”. English Language Teaching, 3(1), 12-15.

Azami-Aghdash, S., Jabbari, H., Bakhshian, F., Shafaei, L., Shafaei, S., Kolahdouzan, K., & Mohseni, M. (2015). Attitudes and knowledge of Iranian nurses about hospice care. Indian journal of palliative care, 21(2), 209.

Miller, A. C., Ziad-Miller, A., & Elamin, E. M. (2014). Brain death and Islam: The interface of religion, culture, history, law, and modern medicine. Chest, 146(4), 1092-1101.

Rassouli, M., & Sajjadi, M. (2014). Palliative Care to the Cancer Patient: The Middle East as a Model for Emerging Countries.

Tayeb, M. A., Al-Zamel, E., Fareed, M. M., & Abouellail, H. A. (2010). A “good death”: perspectives of Muslim patients and health care providers. Annals of Saudi medicine, 30(3), 215.