Chaplain's Guide to Death in Islam:: Philosophical, Jurisprudential, Moral, and Legal Considerations

By Safi Haider

This book is about the final rites and processes of Muslims and their families. It takes on the philosophical and psychological perspectives of death and dying for the families of the deceased. Every Chaplain needs a chaplain. We all need counseling at some time in our lives, and this is particularly true for pastoral counseling. This book also deals with the jurisprudential and moral considerations for the end of life processes for Muslims.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9781984583826

Safi Haider

Maulana Syed Safi Haider Abidi is a graduate of Religious Studies from Hartford Seminary and is currently pursuing his higher education at New York Theological Seminary, where he will be getting a degree in pastoral counseling. He is also a graduate of William Paterson University, where he did his bachelors in religious studies. He is also currently pursing his traditional Islamic Education with Ayatullah Syed Hosseing Saberi. The Syed is a prolific speaker and author who has spoken at numerous venues. His first book, which goes to prove his educational prowess, was on the mysticism of Mulla Sadra.

Book preview

CHAPLAIN’S GUIDE

TO DEATH IN ISLAM:

Philosophical, Jurisprudential,

Moral, and Legal Considerations

Safi Haider

Copyright © 2020 by Safi Haider.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 07/24/2020

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

815365

CONTENTS

Acknowledgement

Introduction

Chapter 1 Islamic Philosophy of Death and Dying

Chapter 2 Pastoral Counseling and Death

Chapter 3 Fiqh of Death and Dying

Chapter 4 The Islamic Will and Islamic Inheritance

Appendix 

DEDICATION:

For My Uncle

Syed Zishan Haider Abidi

image%201_B%26W.jpg

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to personally thank everyone who helped me in this endeavour. Particular thanks to my parents for their love and support and for my siblings for their consistent love and encouragement for me to pursue the field of Islamic chaplaincy. I would like to thank my teacher Ayatullah Sayed Hossein Saberi for the insights that he has provided me regarding traditional Islamic education.

Special thanks to those individuals who edited this book for me for their insightful notes and thoughts they shared. I would like to thank my maternal uncle Gul Mamoo for his encouragement in helping me write this book and for his editing it as well.

The final responsibility on the work is wholly mine

-Safi Haider

INTRODUCTION

This work seeks to be a general guide for every hospital chaplain regarding the Muslim perspective on death and dying and the various jurisprudential, pastoral, and legal considerations of the process of death. It seeks to shed light on the fact that death and dying is a dynamic process and that the chaplain counseling muslims must understand this fact. Once this is understood, the deeper understanding of what death is in Islam and how to help Muslims cope with the issue of death.

This work starts with the issue of death and dying from the philosophical perspective of death and dying in Islam. A Quranic analysis is necessary in accomplishing this task. The Qur’an is the foundational text in the Muslim world and every Muslim treats it as the untampered word of God. Although this is the case, there exist great variance between schools of thought and within the schools of thought as related to Qur’anic exegesis. Therefore, it is important to note the various nuances between these views to help make a better understanding of the Islamic philosophy of death.

What follows is a discussion on Pastoral counseling and death and resurrection. The various paradigms of pastoral counseling are take into consideration and the various nuances of every possible circumstance chaplains will face follows.

Afterwards is a discussion of death and resurrection from the various jurisprudential schools of thought. An effort has been made to include all schools of jurisprudence in this, the Ja’fari school for Shi’is, and the four schools of Sunni jurisprudence. As most Shi’i’s perform taqlid of Ayatullah Syed Ali al-Husaini al-Seestani and previously Ayatullah Abul Qasim al-Khoei, we have used their books as reference for the Shi’i jurisprudence.

Lastly, a discussion on the Islamic will is necessary as it forms the legal framework of inheritance. It is necessary to establish an Islamic will to address the rules of inheritance because if no will is present, the state reserves the right to appoint an arbiter to determine what should be done with the deceased person’s estates.

CHAPTER 1

Islamic Philosophy of Death and Dying

Death is a part of everyone’s life: everyone who enters this world must leave it through death. But death itself is not the cessessation of life. From the Islamic perspective, it is a transition from one phase to another, a more holistic living. The similitude of life in this world and death is that of a fetus and birth: we leave this transient existence and transition