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!!
