Mapping Mourning Among Muslims of Kashmir: Analysis of Religious Principles and Current Practices

From the instance a person passes away, the funeral, mourning, and memorial ceremonies follow sets of religious principles and procedures in every society. However, at the same time, these ceremonies and practices are influenced by the cultural patterns that people endorse. Mourning practices among Muslims of Kashmir also derive from such a religious-cultural amalgamation. This study aims to highlight mourning practices from two standpoints: (a) the prerequisites of the Islamic tradition and (b) the way mourning is actually practiced in Kashmir. To compare the general mourning practices with the actual Kashmiri Muslim mourning practices, different secondary sources were used and in-depth interviews were conducted with 11 participants (6 women, 4 men, and 1 Islamic scholar). The study revealed that mourning practices followed by Muslims of Kashmir are influenced by traditions outside the religion of Islam.