Each religion preaches its own attitude towards death, respectively, the customs and rituals of seeing off the dead and their burial in each faith are different. The Muslim religion is no exception. It has fairly strict rules for the burial of the dead, and certain requirements are put forward for Muslim monuments. What is allowed to be installed on the graves of Muslims, what can be depicted on their monuments, and what is strictly prohibited by the Koran and Sharia, we will consider in our article. For a clear example, here are some photos of Muslim monuments.
Muslim attitudes towards death
First of all, you should know that the Islamic religion has its own understanding of death. For a Muslim, his death is not something terrible, and it cannot be unexpected. People of this religion perceive death as an inevitable phenomenon, and for the most part they relatetowards her fatalistically. It is believed that a good Muslim, who belonged to Allah during his lifetime, returns to him after death. It is forbidden to regret this.
Muslim funerals should be modest and discreet. Unlike Christians, Muslims do not openly grieve and cry loudly. Only women and children are allowed to shed tears for the dead. Since after death the deceased goes to Allah and he is granted prosperity, it is forbidden to write sad words about the death of the deceased, regrets and promises to grieve for him for a long time on Muslim monuments.
Modesty, devoid of all sorts of rich excesses
Practically all people who adhere to the Christian religion consider it a duty of honor to build graves with worthy monuments for their relatives and friends. They erect huge granite structures, monuments on the graves, they can install statues in the form of angels and the deceased himself. Huge flower vases are mounted into the slabs, chic fences and other structures are installed near the graves, for which relatives have enough imagination and, of course, material resources.
People believe that by spending a lot of money on the construction of luxurious monuments, they express their love for the deceased person, demonstrate how important he was to them and how much they appreciate him. Muslims, on the other hand, believe that respect for the deceased should be shown in prayers for him, but not with a chic monument erected on the grave. A Muslim monument in a cemetery should look modest, without frills and pathos. It has only one function -indicate that a person is buried in this place.
The tradition of marking the place of burial originates in one of the hadiths. It says that after the death of Uthman ibn Mazun, the Prophet put a stone in his place of burial and said that now he would know where the grave of his brother was. It is also forbidden by the Koran to step on the graves and burial places of Muslims. Accordingly, monuments help to mark these places.
Acceptable text engravings
According to one of the versions, the Prophet forbade attaching the graves of Muslims to anything, building something on top of them, and also covering them with plaster. It follows from this that it is also impossible to write inscriptions on Muslim monuments. Some scholars believe that these words about inscriptions should be taken not as a ban, but as an extremely undesirable action. If, for example, the grave belongs to a famous figure, a righteous person or a scientist, then the designation of his name on the grave will be considered a good deed.
On the graves of ordinary Muslims, it is allowed to indicate the name of the dead only to designate them. Writing the date of death is undesirable (makruh), but is permitted.
The question of whether it is possible to decorate the graves with inscriptions from the Koran or engrave the words of the Prophet is also controversial. Recently, such engravings in Muslim cemeteries are very common. But if we turn to history, it becomes clear that this is haram (sin). According to one of the hadiths, it is impossible to engrave the words of the Prophet, suras and verses of the Koran, because over timetime the graves may be level with the ground and they will be walked on with their feet. The words of the Prophet can thus be defiled.
What should not be on Muslim monuments and graves
The grave of a true Muslim should be modest. On the monument there should not be inscriptions about the grief of relatives and friends. It is also not worth posting a photo of the deceased on the monument.
It is strictly forbidden to build crypts, mausoleums and tombs on the grave. Sharia forbids erecting monuments that are too beautiful and show the we alth of relatives. It is believed that different monuments and richly decorated graves can cause quarrels between the dead. This will prevent them from enjoying God-given prosperity after death.
For a long time, the mosque allows not only to write the name of the deceased and the date of his death on the monuments, but now it is allowed to indicate some characters. On men's monuments, a crescent can be depicted, and on women's - flowers (their number means the number of children). Photos of Muslim monuments on the grave with such symbols are given in the article.
The shape of the monument and the materials from which they are made
Muslim monuments in the cemetery, photos of which can be seen in the article, are usually built from marble or granite. Often they are made in the form of a kind of arched structure, which at the top resembles a dome. Sometimes the top of the monument is made in the form of the dome of a mosque or in the formminaret.
Which direction should the monument face
The question of which direction the monument should face is fundamentally important for Muslims. The grave must be built in such a way that it is possible to place the deceased in it facing Mecca. This tradition is strictly forbidden to break, and the mosque is extremely strict about its observance.
Accordingly, the monument is installed only with the front side to the east. For this reason, in Muslim cemeteries, all the monuments face only one direction. Passing through these cemeteries, it is very easy to determine the direction. The east side is always where all the structures on the graves face.
