JEDDAH: Many fathers insist their young sons accompany them to funerals, something that some medical experts claim may have a detrimental effect on their mental and psychological wellbeing, Al-Watan newspaper reported.
Many young boys below the age of 12 are taken to funerals and watch the lowering of the body into the grave.
Fathers claim attending funerals would teach their sons about the inevitability of death and cement their religious knowledge of Islamic death rites.
Mohammad Al-Sahli, a resident from Madinah, said he often takes his eight-year-old son to funerals to “teach him how the deceased are buried and that death is the inevitable end to every person’s life.”
Al-Sahli said that despite his son experiencing bad dreams after his first trip, he has grown accustomed and asks to be taken. On the other hand, Tareq Al-Bluwi believes taking his 10-year-old son to burials would have an adverse effect on his future psychological wellbeing. He added that young children should instead only be taken to attend the funeral prayers.
Bare’a Hashim and Amal Kafrawi, sociologists at the Mental Health Hospital in Madinah, warn against taking children under 12 to burials, adding that this could cause a number of psychological diseases in the future, including bed-wetting.
Dr. Khaled Abdul Rahman Al-Shaye, a social adviser in the Ministry of Education, argues there is no need for young children to be taken to funerals.
“There is no real benefit in taking them. In fact, it might cause them harm as they fail to comprehend what they see,” he said.
He added that Islam directs people to take care of children and protect them from that which may harm them.
