Traditions
Acknowledgement. Healing.
New Life.
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The Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith traditions
share many common beliefs and express faith in similar ways. Approaches
to grief and grieving are no different in that respect.
 ISLAM
Grieving traditions in Islam are not very extensive. Most religious actions
come from the Koran or the normative pronouncements of the Prophet and his
family. Although there is immense detail relating to the treating of a dead
body, little is mentioned of grief. There is a pronouncement against wailing,
demonstrative mourning and weeping, which is often misinterpreted as a negative
response to grieving. However, since the Prophet was seen weeping over a
dead friend, crying is acceptable. Death is not seen as extraordinary; rather,
Muslims believe “Indeed we are God’s, and to God we are returning.”
 CHRISTIAN
The Christian approach to grief and grieving can be understood through five
elements:
1. Death is a normal experience and its
carried out in the Spirit with which Jesus acted.
2. The community grieves together and works
to comfort each other.
3. There is a great sense of “beyondness” and
a life after death, both through the continuation of the spirit
and the living memory.
4. The power of memory allows for the hoping
of continuing on.
5. Last is the power of new learning, of
tradition retranslated. Every experience helps us discover who
we are, who we have been, and who we are becoming.
 JEWISH
The Jewish grieving tradition is very ritualized and prescribed, and is designed
to move people through the grieving process. The burial is quick; there is
no embalming and no autopsies. People are only allowed to officially mourn
their immediate family, although the whole community helps the family sit
Shiva. Other traditions involve the rending of clothes, lighting a candle
for seven days, the community mourning for 30 days, and the parents mourning
for a full year.
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