Submitting to God’s will: Attitudes and beliefs of Moroccan Muslim women regarding mourning and remembrance

Abstract

This study aimed to elicit the attitudes and beliefs of middle-aged and elderly Moroccan Muslim women regarding mourning and remembrance, to identify whether differences are observable between middle-aged and elderly participants, to explore the role of religion and to document how the actual attitudes of our participants relate to normative Islamic literature. Interviews were conducted with middle-aged and elderly Moroccan women living in Belgium (n = 30) and with experts in the field (n = 15). This study reveals that the religious beliefs have a great impact on the views of Muslim women. We found striking similarities between our participants’ views and normative Islamic literature.

Acknowledgments

The manuscript has not been published elsewhere and is not under submission elsewhere. The research project is reviewed and approved by Social and Societal Ethics Committee (KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium).