Death and Dying Rituals in Islam Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Death and Dying Rituals in Islam - Term Paper Example In this paper we would be discussing about the third phase which pertains to death and afterlife. According to the Holy Koran, every person that dies would be judged by God and would receive their everlasting abode which could either be Heaven or Hell. According to Islamic traditions, after an individual’s life comes to an end, the corpse has to be buried and hence elaborate rituals involving the burying of the dead takes place when an individual is diseased. Death, according to Islam, is a passage from an earthly existence, to a pure and eternal sacred realm. (Kassis 51) Muslims believe that only God is permanent while all else perishes after a time. The Quran clearly states – â€Å"All that dwells upon the Earth is perishing, yet still abides the Face of thy Lord majestic and splendid.† (Kassis 50) According to (Chittick 126) in Islam, an individual fails to fulfill his existence on the Earth, if they follow their own desires, outside the boundary of Divine str ucture. Thus, such a failure causes a problematic condition for the human. Shedding light on this problematic condition, Streng states that â€Å"human life that does not duplicate the eternal structure of meaning and order as found in the Sacred Realm is merely a profane existence, characterized by weakness, ignorance, impurity, and meaningless.†(44).... he profane world is impure† (46) In Islam, the different customs and rituals during the burial incorporate the concept of purity and impurity of the individual’s existence. The ritual of ghusl according to Islamic culture is the preparation of the corpse for the day of resurrection. According to (Kassis 52), the corpse is washed an odd number of times to purify it from its earthly existence. During this ritual, a white shroud is wrapped around the corpse, demonstrating that though all individuals lead different lives on this earth, yet they leave this world as equals. Islamic traditions view the impure nature of the world and are emphatic about purifying the individual before entering the Sacred Realm. (Streng 46) is of the opinion that the impure nature of the person’s existence reflects the problematic condition he faces during judgment. F. Bird (35) discloses that the washing and purifying of the corpse according to the Islamic ritual in a regulative communicat ive manner symbolizes the washing ritual by the family members, to be the purification of the individual from the profane world and into eternal light. (Sacred Realm) Shedding light on the meaning of this ritual Bird states that partaking in this ceremony helps to reinforce the myths that surround it and reaffirm ‘the beliefs they embody.’ (Bird 35) According to Islamic belief man is created in the image and likeness of God and represents and reflects varying degrees of light and darkness (131) based on the quality of their existence. Human existence is provided a special place in the universe because they are created by God. Islamic traditions believe that â€Å"the structure of the universe is like a globe of infinite dimensions. The crust or outside shell is made of clay and is the visible universe

Addressing Inequality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Addressing Inequality - Essay Example Being controversial issues, inequity and inequality are closely connected as inequity is the result of inequality. Inequality indicates the distribution of resources across society giving an idea of the difference between what rich and poor people can earn, average income, and redistribution of the county’s income. Countries characterized by high levels of inequality have high levels of poverty showing the fact that the distribution and redistribution of the country’s resources are linked to the poverty issues (Inequality: what is it?). One of the countries with high level of inequality is the U.S. The gap between poor and rich is the widest since 1929 and has doubled in 21 years. During the year (2001 and 2002) the number of poor rose by 1.7 million people. This imbalance is mostly caused by tax cuts which burden the poor more and more. There are complaints that the U.S. laws are unjust as they tolerate oppression of poor people and do not provide them minimum needs. I n Alabama, for example, people who get low income pay higher rate of income tax than those who are wealthy. As an example may be taken the timber industry that has the ownership for 71 percent of the land and pays only 2 percent of the tax. The paradox is that Americans are the richest nation but with the highest poverty rate (Lampman J.). Income inequality which is also among social issues of the U.S. is positively correlated with mental illness, low life expectancy, obesity, drug use, crime and teen pregnancy. Australia is also the country which has documented the growing gap between the poor and rich. The research shows that the most vulnerable Australians have been hardest hit by rising costs for health, education, and public transport services. Pensioners, unemployed, low-income people and aged have faced the harshest rising changes in the living costs. It has also been stated that essential services are placed beyond the reach of the above-mentioned section of the population. Education and medicine have become the services which are sometimes almost inaccessible to many people. The example may be education costs which soared 200 percent above the inflation rate and medical services which are 180 percent above the inflation rate (Holland K., Zimmer E). Inequality in Australia is present in various spheres of life, for example, the average female wage is only 65% of the average wage of a male, and racism is strongly expressed against aboriginals. Inequality is also a characteristic of the polarization of income groups into poor and rich. (Social Inequality in Australia) Hungary is among the countries with low economic growth, decline in wages, and high rate of inflation that has resulted from severe measures, introduces by the government, to make changes in health, educations, and to cut back on the deficit of the government. The above mentioned measures include co-payments in the sphere of health care, tuition at educational establishments. They were intr oduced in 2006 and caused social tension. Poverty of Hungarians is an extreme case of social inequalities. The number of poor is constantly growing. Vast job losses after 1990 caused rapid increase in inequalities and led to privatization and restructuring of wages and prices, and decline in the social transfers value. Declining income security has led to the number of health problems. Hungarians marry late, have few children and in most cases later in life. Life expectancy is also unsatisfactory as citizens live sorter than it would be expected taking into account economic development indicators. One more problem which results from inequality is high death rate especially among certain social groups of people. Hungary is the country for which such social problems