Muslims ritualising death in the Netherlands: Death rites in a small town context

Abstract

Muslims ritualising death in the Netherlands. Death rites in a small town context. Claudia Venhorst

This study on the common practice of Islamic death rites in the Netherlands affords valuable insights in the lived religion of Muslims. Particularly in a small town context, marked by migration and diversity, Muslims are challenged to re-imagine and reinvent their ritual repertoires. This results in dynamic ritual practices that are the product of vibrant negotiation processes, in which rites interact with ritual actors and their (changing) contexts. These emerging ritual repertoires and their dynamics are widely overlooked in the study of an institutionalised, traditional religion like Islam.

Claudia Venhorst is affiliated researcher at the Centre for Thanatology at the Radboud University Nijmegen.