The month of July will forever evoke nightmares for 59-year-old Mohammed Bigirimana, a resident of Gikondo, Kicukiro District.

Not only did he have to endure the pain of being unable to visit and comfort his wife of 40 years while she battled the Covid-19 virus, he also had to deal with carrying on the earthly journey without her.

Most importantly, the father of five says that the restrictions occasioned by the pandemic meant that he was also unable to give her the funeral that a prayerful Muslim woman like her deserved.

Funerals represent a transitional act for the deceased to be put to rest, and for many, the process is an opportunity to say goodbye and an important step in the grieving process.

However, Covid-19 has changed this, requiring family and friends to stay away from those who have contracted the virus during their time of sickness and in circumstances where they unfortunately pass on.

"My wife Afsa was a humble, prayerful woman. I was unable to care for her when she was sick and it is painful that she did not get the send-off that a woman who has served God almost all her life deserved. But we are in the middle of a pandemic and we must adjust,” he said.

While most religions have ‘simple’ ways of preparing a loved one who has passed away for their burial, for Muslims, the rituals are much more elaborate.

The rituals

A Muslim funeral and burial ceremony has four important components that include the purification of the body, dressing, prayer and burial.

In an exclusive interview with The New Times, the Spokesman of the Mufti of Rwanda, Sheikh Sulaiman Mbarushimana said that as part of the ritual, the deceased must be shaved where necessary, their nails trimmed, teeth brushed, and their body is washed from head to toe.

Where necessary, his or her stomach is also cleansed.

The entire process is commonly known as ‘purification’.

After the clean-up, since Muslims are buried naked, the deceased is then placed in three snow-white cloths and wrapped up in an elaborate way before being sprayed with perfume.

The deceased is then normally transported to their favourite mosque where they are prayed for.

All these rituals however are not performed on a person who has died of Covid-19, and they are prayed for at the hospital.

"Before Covid-19, it was normally considered that a Muslim has been given a good send-off is he or she is prayed for by at least 40 people. Today, obviously that is impossible,” he said.

‘Rules of War’

In some parts of the world, in cases where washing or touching cannot be done as is the case with Covid-19, Muslims are implementing another method called ‘tayammum’, a dry purification process where sand or soil is used instead of water:

Instead of washing the body with water, dry dirt from the earth to rub on them while they’re clothed to avoid touching the bodies.

However, Mbarushimana says that this is an unnecessary formality that even the Quran discourages in risky times like these.

Today, due to Covid-19 restrictions, the deceased is not cleaned up. Instead, he or she is immediately wrapped up in the three snow-white cloths and a handful of close friends and family are allowed into the hospital compound where they say the funeral prayer known as ‘Salat al-Janazah’ before the body is whisked off to the cemetery.

"We are basically following the rules of people at war. This is a war that has been waged on us by the virus and we must do whatever is necessary to protect the living,” he said.

He said that the Quran is very specific about life and death.

"The most important rule is to prioritise your life and the lives of others. The philosophy behind this is that you are sending off those who have completed their journey while preserving the wellbeing of those left behind,” he said.

He says that as it is done in war, friends and family are encouraged to pray that God forgives the deceased for whatever sins he or she may have committed.

They are also encouraged to make it their mission to seek forgiveness on behalf of the deceased from anyone he or she could have wronged and to also pay their debts among other good deeds.

While Muslims normally have their own cemeteries, Mbarushimana says that the ‘war rules’ stipulate that for instance, should there be a requirement for mass graves, they (Muslims) must conform and be buried in any designated place.

He says that in such times, women and men can also be buried in different graves but should necessity dictate otherwise, a barrier of soil should be placed between the bodies to separate them.

Elsewhere in the world

In March last year, influential Muslim cleric Ayatollah Al-Sistani said that the three layers of cloth that are required to go around a deceased Muslim’s body can in the context of Covid-19 be wrapped outside the body to minimise any risks.

The Secretary of Fatwa at Dar al-Ifta in Egypt; Sheikh Ahmad Wisam, suggests that the funeral prayer requirement should not constitute an issue in the context of Covid-19 because it can be performed by a minimum of two individuals.

"Furthermore, funeral prayers can be performed at the grave after the burial of the dead. Alternatively, absentee funeral prayers can be performed on Covid-19 victims.