Iran Protests

Abbas Goya In socialist circles, the funeral ceremonies held for those who perished in revolutionary uprisings have raised a recurring question: Do funeral rites have Islamic or religious origins? In searching for an answer, I arrived at the following conclusions, which are by no means exhaustive or definitive. According to the website of the National Center for Answering Religious Questions, “many practices that have become entrenched traditions in society lack intrinsic religious significance. One such tradition is the ceremony held under various titles following a person’s death. Some of these practices even contradict religious traditions and rulings.” Islam did not originally establish ceremonies held on the third, seventh, or fortieth days after death; rather, Islamic authorities later formulated religious justifications for these gatherings by incorporating acts such as prayer, fasting, and recitation of the Qur’an. The symbolic importance of these numbers predates the Abrahamic...