Funerals and Cemeteries

A large white tent went up in our neighborhood. Inside were placed red couches. I was wondering if this was for a wedding celebration, but I heard no music nor any festivities. Suddenly the tent was gone. I was riding with one of my students yesterday so I asked her. She told me that was a funeral tent. The men gather in that tent for 3 days following the burial. Muslims are buried in a plain white sheet shortly after death. The graves are mostly unmarked or are marked with a plain wooden stick or pole. All people are equal in death, so there are no fancy grave markers and vaults. When this student's father died, her brother put his own head scarf around her father's head so that the family would "know" him. Otherwise, he was buried in a plain white cloth in the ground. After the burial, family and friends gather at the home for 3 days. The men usually gather in a tent outside the home and the women gather in the home or in the garden (if the home is not big enough). I have never seen a Muslim cemetery. According to my student, there is a huge cemetery on the outskirts of Doha. You would not necessarily recognize it as a cemetery since it is just "adorned" with simple rods for markers. We are all equal in death. How very fitting. Last night we attented a lecture at the Modern Art Museum in Doha. The speaker was an American woman who is a professor at Qatar University in Internationsl Affairs. She has lived here for 9 years. Before that, she lived in China for 7 years. Before that she taught at Cornell and Berkeley after getting her PhD from Harvard. She is an expert in Chinese Muslim society. She had a very interesting presentation which mainly centered around the connection between the Arab world and China. Appropriately, this tied in with the current exhibit at the museum by a Chinese artist entitlted "Homecoming". The central exhibit by the Chinese artist (Cai guo-qiang) featured rocks from a Chinese muslim cemetery engraved with arabic sayings taken from the grave markers in Cai's hometown in China. Hence, the title "Homecoming" -- the rocks with the arabic sayings (from Mohammed) were returned home to the Arab world. There are some 30 million Muslims living in China now. Muslim "missionaries" converted the Chinese just like the Christian missionaries. It was startling to see slides of Chinese wearing abiyas. Equally startling was to see arabic words displayed at mosques that looked like oddly shaped Buddhist temples. Afterwards there was a reception catered by a French restaurant in Doha. Of course, I took advantage of the chance to have a chocolate cupcake!