Losing someone to death is a terrible experience for families, filling them with anguish as they try to cope with their loss.

At the time of COVID-19, the feelings of grief are accompanied by fear of failing to hold proper funerals as many people have lost their jobs over the past year.

To help people at this difficult time, Faizan e Madina mosqie in Slough, Berkshire, has started offering free funeral services for the town’s Muslim community.

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“We wanted to provide ease for the Muslim community especially for people who have lost loved ones,” Waqas Attari, 33, a volunteer who is also on the management team, told Berkshire Live.

“Lots of people have lost jobs so they don’t have the finances to pay for a janazah (Islamic funeral prayer) so we wanted to help them with that.

“We’re working with Dawat-e-Islami who runs this mosque and we’re doing this throughout the country, offering it free of cost to make it easier for families.”

The funeral service would include giving ghusl, shrouding the body, holding the body of the deceased until the burial and holding the funeral prayer in line with the Qur’an and Sunnah of the Prophet.

“We thought about people having to pay and it’s not appropriate for people to pay to see their dead relatives,” Waqas added.

“We have a group of volunteers who wash the body free of charge and are fully trained and use PPE.”

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Funerals in Islam

Islam calls for respecting human beings whether alive or dead.

A Muslim’s dead body should be immediately taken to a mortuary for washing and preparation.

Two or three adult Muslims should wash the body and then put on the shroud (kafan). Before the burial, Muslims should perform a funeral prayer.

The burial should be done as soon as possible. It is makruh (reprehensible) to delay the burial of the dead.