Death rituals in Pakistani society: A curse in the garb of virtue

A culture is not always composed of gentle, soft, good and fair things. Sometimes, many illogical, exploitative and unethical things penetrate, become an ‘integral’ part and then a whole society starts following them from generation to generation. In the
Pakistani society, any nonsense norm does not take long time to become a ‘fair’ and ‘auspicious’ practice.

Taking a look on the death rituals that our mosque-based Mullahs have made a crucial part of religion, you will find a number of oppressive and unmerited things. When a person dies, his/her hires have to call in all relatives and friends. A number of uninvited
people also creep in to condole. In order to fill up the bellies of all these so-called sympathisers and well-wishers, the family of the deceased one has to arrange eatables continuously during first three days.

This mess does not end here. It is to be repeated for once each after seven days and forty days. Abundant of food items and fruits are arranged along with tents and beds for the condolers every time. Thus, a death costs much money and time.

The problem is this that all families and classes of the society are forced to follow these rituals to save them from the strict ‘futwas’ (religious decrees) of the Mullahs and maintain their pseudo egos. As more than forty percent population is living below
poverty line, most of the times, the heirs of a deceased person seek loans to fulfil the imposed custom. These loans also contain interest which goes higher and higher with every passing month, and in certain cases, such families go bankrupt.

The one who does not afford to comply with this rite, he/she is regarded as irreligious, uncultured and unfaithful to the deceased one. Our society does not accept such dissident people. Mullahs come up to declare them infidels and relatives spit on them.
In some cases, they are ostracised from the social set-up. What a hell! What nonsense!

There is no place of these mistaken practices in Islam which is purely based on humanitarianism. This religion, which is actually a complete code of life, never puts extra burden on any member of the society. It never wants anyone to suffer. In the era of
the Prophet (PBUH), no such type of things existed.

We squander a lot of time and money on the deceased ones who do not need these things at all. We should use our time and money to make better the lives of those who are living. Instead of lighting a lamp on a graveyard, you must light it in the house of
a poor living being who cannot afford it or in the hearts of those who are lying in the dark drenches of ignorance.   

After readiing this article, do not label me as ‘Wahabi’ or something like that. I am a muslim and a human being, no more no less.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=5194

Posted by Sharjeel Ahmad on Nov 30 2011. Filed under Pakistan, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry