MAKKAH, 2 May 2008 — Washing the deceased before burial is an Islamic imperative, but it’s not the most appealing job in the world — especially for women in Saudi Arabia.
But Arab News found a number of women at Al-Muhajereen, a Makkah-based company that provides pre-burial services, who do the job out of a desire to earn God’s grace. These women have other jobs, such as teaching at secondary school and university.
Awatef Abdulhamid Manshy, a 48-year-old mathematics teacher, told Arab News about her experience.
“One of my relatives died late at night,” she said. “I went with my husband to search for a washer but we couldn’t find anyone because it was very late. I thought to myself: ‘If I were able to do this job we wouldn’t have a problem.’ Later I decided to join a training center for pre-burial preparations, and then I became a professional.”
It wasn’t easy though. Manshy says that she cried a lot at first because naturally this vocation invoked a lot of contemplation about death. But now she says the job gives her a feeling of fulfillment, and coming closer to God.
Mona Al-Zahrani, 35, said she decided to volunteer as a body washer as a way of overcoming her fears so that she can wash the bodies of her relatives.
“This job is very difficult and requires a brave heart,” she said, describing a macabre incident where the body of a teenage girl came in wearing tight jeans that they had to cut off to remove before performing the washing ritual.
“I was so worried about (my mother) since she was very old and always sick at the time,” she said. “In Islam, it is preferable that the body be washed by those nearest to the dead. So I decided to learn the rules of washing dead bodies to prevent applying the wrong rituals to my mother when she dies.”
Al-Zahrani decided when she was 20 to become an accredited pre-burial specialist.
“My family was opposed to the idea, especially my mother who was allergic to the camphor scent used in washing because it reminds her of death,” she said. “I decided to go without telling anybody, since the course duration was only four days. When my mother died, I told everybody that I could wash her since I was the one nearest to her. I washed her according to proper Islamic rituals.”
Asya, 29, also received accreditation as a pre-burial specialist. She said the training courses use mannequins. She also recounted a touching incident which is still etched in her memory.
“Once we were washing a body of a teenager girl, who had painted her nails with a gluey nail polish that had hardened. We tried so hard to remove it with nail polish remover but we couldn’t,” she said. “We even tried to use a sharp equipment like a scissor or a blade but it was so tough that a decision was made to leave the polish on her nails. But I felt so sad about her and I insisted to remove the polish.
“So I renewed my efforts, brought a tough piece of cloth and used the polish remover for a good measure and I kept rubbing. I kept on praying to God to show her mercy and my efforts paid dividends, as I managed to clear her nails of the polish. This was a very touching situation for me,” she said.
