Do we need to spend fortunes on funerals?

Death in Ghanaian culture is considered as a journey, whereby the person who passes away will continue as an immortal into the spirit world.  

Therefore within the Ghanaian perspective, people who die are considered ancestors. In some of our Ghanaian culture, death has been classified in many categories – Good death (owu pa) and the bad death (atofo wu) among many others.

Therefore Ghanaians see death as a transition, a family member who dies is  given messages and gifts to convey to the ancestral world, in the belief that it will reach dead relative.

For this reason and many others, I believe, our ancestors are being given befitting burials and “seen off” in a very peaceful and dignified manner so they can rest very well, knowing that the dead family member will continue a life that will be better than the previous one he/she just left behind.

In recent times, funerals have taken a different trend which is really worrying and bad for us as a country and people.

Before I delve into our new trend of burials, I would like us to look at the two types of funerals and if we can take cue from it as a nation, will save our country’s time and resources - They are the Islamic funeral and the non-Islamic funeral.

Muslims believe that each soul shall taste death. Just as birth is important, so is death. The Islamic funeral begins the very moment the person is confirmed dead. There are five main stages for preparing a Muslim's body for burial.

 It starts with the washing of the dead body, known as “Ghusl”, the clothing of the dead body by wrapping it in preferably white cloth (Al-Kafan), the funeral prayer ( Salaat al-Janaazah), the burial, and the after-burial prayer.

In a brief description of the procedures involved in each stage, the "Ghusl" is the washing of the deceased's body, which is “partially obligatory” on all Muslims.  i.e., if some Muslims take the responsibility of doing it, the obligation is fulfilled. But if no one comes forward to fulfil it then all Muslims will be held accountable.

Men are washed by men while women are washed by women, preferably the closest family members. Therefore, husbands can wash their wives and vice versa.

Over the years, some of us if not all of us, have witnessed how simple the Islamic funeral is. The dead, after its washing, is wrapped in the  “Al-Kafan”, then sent into a mosque or any open space for Muslims to congregate and, under the stewardship of an Imam, say the funeral prayers (Salat al-Janazah) onto him.

During the funeral procession, utmost silence is recommended. It is absolutely forbidden to accompany the body with music or wailing. It is just a moment of reflection and prayer for the dead to meet Allah’s (God’s) mercy and forgiveness.

It is not recommended to bury the dead in a casket unless there is a need for it. This is to say if the soil is very loose or wet, a very simple casket can be made in those rare situations to keep the corpse in it.

The Muslim must believe that everything, good or bad comes from Almighty Allah to test his/her faith and patience in the will of the Almighty, therefore death is seen as such so autopsy, although very important scientifically, is generally not acceptable by the vast majority of Muslims since most of them emotionally believe that will not bring the person back to life. Although that emotional distaste for autopsy has no basis in the teachings of Islam, I must mention here that Islam strongly supports the seeking of knowledge and research, therefore will not go against autopsy if it is for this purpose.

On the other hand, non-Muslims generally believe that death is the end only to earthly life. Our lives are measured by time we live on earth. In the course of our life, we change, grow old and, as with all living beings on earth, death seems like the normal end of life. That aspect of death lends urgency to our lives: remembering our mortality helps us realize that we have only a limited time in which we can bring our lives to fulfilment.

Therefore, the Catholics, for example, believe that care must be given to the sick. The dying should be given attention and care to help them live their last moments in dignity and peace.

They will be helped by the prayer of their relatives, who must see to it that the sick receive, at the right time, the sacraments that prepare them to meet the living God. "It is appointed for men to die once."

The bodies of the dead must be treated with respect and charity, in faith and hope of the resurrection.

The burial of the dead is a corporal work of mercy; it honors the children of God, who are temples of the Holy Spirit, and therefore autopsies can be morally permitted for legal inquests or scientific research. The free gift of organs after death is legitimate and can be meritorious.

The Catholic Church for instance permits cremation, provided that it does not demonstrate a denial of faith in the resurrection of the body.

The Order of Christian Funerals of the Roman liturgy gives three types of funeral celebrations, corresponding to the three places in which they are conducted (the home, the church, and the cemetery), and according to the importance attached to them by the family, local customs, the culture, and popular piety. This order of celebration is common to all the liturgical traditions and comprises four principal elements:

The greeting of the community: A greeting of faith begins the celebration. Relatives and friends of the deceased are welcomed with a word of "consolation" (in the New Testament sense of the Holy Spirit's power in hope).

The community assembling in prayer also awaits the "words of eternal life." The death of a member of the community should lead beyond the perspectives of "this world" and should draw the faithful into the true perspective of faith in the risen Christ.

The liturgy of the Word during funerals demands very careful preparation because the assembly present for the funeral may include some faithful who rarely attend the liturgy, and friends of the deceased who are not Christians.

A farewell to the deceased is his final "commendation to God" by the Church. It is "the last farewell by which the Christian community greets one of its members before his body is brought to its tomb."

The Byzantine tradition expresses this by the kiss of farewell to the deceased: By this final greeting "we sing for his departure from this life and separation from us, but also because there is a communion and a reunion. For even dead, we are not at all separated from one another.”

Having read what the two faiths say and of which most of us practice. We are found wanting since most of us go contrary to what our faith tell us, and I doubt whether our traditions allow us to treat the dead the way some of us do.

What we have chosen to do as a people is very terrifying. Corpses are kept in the morgue for many months all in the name of preparing a funeral. When in earnest, some of such people didn’t have the care and love they might have needed to stay healthier when they were alive. This is pitiful because the person might not have enjoyed befitting life he or she deserved, but his/her burial is alleged to be a befitting burial.

Funerals in modern Ghana have become festivals where the family members print out t-shirts and many other things to show how affluent they are. Mean whiles most of such people take loans from bank to celebrate such funerals. They end up owing the bank for the most part of the months after the burial.

Shockingly, at the burial of these individuals where expensive coffins are bought in the name of giving them “befitting burial”, the coffins are destroyed so thieves do not steal them after the group had dispersed.

Then comes the party after the burial, individuals come to funerals to drink all kinds of assorted drinks and their hosts offer them music which they dance to.

The most disturbing aspect is, the individuals from the state institutions who leave their work places from Thursday to get ready for their numerous funerals. Such people arrive back at their work places on Monday and leave again for other funerals the following Thursday leaving their work unfinished in our public sectors.

My question for these people is: Are they honouring the contract they have signed with the government and people of Ghana? I believe I have the right to pose this question to them since they receive their pay from the tax-payers’ money, including mine.

I think it is time for the government to take serious steps, including salary cuts according to the lost hours, to arrest this ugly situation, considering the huge lost hours that infringe on productivity.

Let me share my little experience with you. I was in a “trotro” from my home to do business in town. . Recently, a group of people were carrying a coffin while others were on motor bikes. Those among them, walking played music and caused a very huge traffic jam on the Carprise Road, leading to the Kwame Nkrumah Circle. What baffled me was that the group was dancing with the coffin on their head, in the middle of the road.

This, I personally believe, is a grave insult to the dead, because from my point of view a “befitting burial” doesn’t include misbehaving with the body in the middle of the road.

Some of us witnessed the funeral of Pope John Paul II, who was the head of the whole Catholic Church, but his burial was very simple and relatively modest. There was no extravagance. He was simply laid to rest so that he could meet his maker peacefully.

King Fahad of Saudi Arabia was one of the wealthiest men and kings when he was alive, but his burial was very simple. He didn’t go with a coffin but just a white piece of cloth “Al-Kafan”, this didn’t mean his family didn’t love him.

Jesus said in Luke 9:60 “Let the dead bury the dead...” Therefore, I believe that as a country, we can move away from the culture of spending so much money, resources and time on funerals and focus on how to live after burying the dead.

Let’s not forget that the dead is dead, and the living must continue to live until his/her time is also due. If we spend all our money on the dead, what will happen to those who are still living and need the money to continue living? Your guess is as good as mine.

I urge my Ghanaian compatriots to reduce the spending on funerals. I strongly believe that when the money is used in setting up a trust fund, an NGO, an orphanage or any other thing to be named after the dead person(s), it will bring great benefit for both the dead and the living. Why not use this huge amount of money in ventures that will keep the name of the dead alive for many decades to come!!