Funeral Customs in Ismaili, Ahmadiyya, and Other Muslim Communities

Muslim funeral practice has a common core: washing the body, wrapping it in a simple shroud, a funeral prayer, and prompt burial. See Muslim Funeral Traditions for that core. This article covers where some communities differ, so that a family, or a friend who wants to help, can ask the right questions. Practices vary by community, family, and local leader. This article gives general guidance. Families should ask their own community leaders what applies.

How do funeral customs differ across Muslim communities?

The differences are mostly in the funeral prayer, who leads the service, where it is held, and what happens in the days afterward. Twelver Shia families say five takbirs (declarations that God is greatest) in the funeral prayer, where Sunnis say four. Ismailis hold funeral ceremonies in their own houses of worship, called jamatkhanas. Ahmadis follow a funeral prayer much like the Sunni one, and many members plan burial through a community system called Wasiyyat. Alevi practice differs by region.

Each community’s own leaders are the best source for details, and for several of these communities we found little published for outsiders.

How do Twelver Shia customs differ?

Guidance from the Imam Mahdi Association of Marjaeya in Dearborn, Michigan, which follows the rulings of Grand Ayatollah Sistani, lists five obligatory duties after a death. Al-Islam.org, a Shia library, describes them as washing (ghusl), anointing the body (hunut), shrouding (kafan), the funeral prayer (salat al-mayyit), and burial.

The prayer is said standing, without bowing or prostration, and has five takbirs rather than four, according to Al-Islam.org. Shia teaching links the fifth takbir to the five pillars of Islam, through a narration from Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq. A Shia education curriculum adds that the call to prayer is announced three times, with no adhan, and that the body is laid in the grave on its right side, facing the qibla (the direction of Mecca). The Dearborn guide also covers talqin, a rite at the burial.

For the steps shared across communities, see Ghusl and Kafan. Our Salat al-Janazah article describes the four-takbir form.

How do Ismaili funerals work?

The Ismaili community says that practices in its jamatkhanas are specific to the community, so we found few detailed funeral instructions published for outsiders. What the community has said publicly is limited. Its official site describes funeral ceremonies, called mayat, taking place in jamatkhanas, a washing ceremony called ghusal, and evening ziyarat ceremonies in jamatkhanas afterward. That page concerns the United Kingdom.

An essay in Interfaith America by an Ismaili writer describes a funeral in New York in which the family was guided in prayer and song by community volunteers. It mentions Qur’anic verses read aloud, a set manner of carrying the coffin, and mourners touching the soil placed on the grave. The deceased was a mukhi, a title for the prayer leader of a jamatkhana.

A community forum thread quoting an account from Toronto says that at a normal funeral, men line up in the jamatkhana foyer to touch the coffin or carry it on their shoulders. At the burial it describes, the mukhi and a family member spread soil on the coffin and poured water on the filled grave. The account says the community gathers that evening for prayers called ziyarat, samar, and tasbih. An independent Ismaili publication notes special prayers on the 40th day after a death.

If you are helping an Ismaili family, start with the local jamatkhana’s leaders. Ask whether non-Ismaili guests may attend the ceremony, since jamatkhana practices belong to the community. The community has said that multi-faith family members may be buried in its UK burial ground. We found no U.S. equivalent and no published Ismaili guidance on cremation, so ask.

How do Ahmadiyya funerals work?

Ahmadis describe themselves as Muslims who believe Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian was the promised Messiah. A U.S. community official, Falah Shams, describes the funeral prayer on the community’s website: the imam stands before the body, the congregation lines up in an odd number of rows, and there are four takbirs. Everyone prays quietly. A community funeral service in Canada adds that the prayer has no bowing or prostration.

The same article says that women do not go to the burial site, which it attributes to the Prophet’s instruction.

Many Ahmadis also take part in Wasiyyat, a scheme begun in 1905. Members pledge at least a tenth of their property to the faith and are buried in a cemetery called the Bahishti Maqbarah, which is in Qadian, India and Rabwah, Pakistan. Community rules say that, where the law and circumstances permit, each country’s national organization should set aside a section of its cemetery for these members. If an Ahmadi relative made Wasiyyat, their burial wishes may be tied to that commitment, so contact the local Jama’at early.

What happens when family members belong to different Muslim communities?

Decide early which community’s practice will guide the service and who will lead it. Two points matter in particular for Ahmadi families.

First, the community’s published position is that Ahmadis should not offer the funeral prayer for someone who openly called its founder a liar or a disbeliever. For someone who neither confirmed nor denied his claims, Ahmadis should refrain if others are available to offer the prayer. Where no one else is present, Ahmadis would offer it behind an Ahmadi imam. This comes from a 2020 letter of the community’s leader, reported in Al Hakam.

Second, many Muslims and some governments do not accept Ahmadis as Muslims. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reports that Pakistan’s constitution has declared Ahmadis non-Muslims since 1974, and that a 1984 ordinance made basic acts of Ahmadi worship criminal offenses. The community’s own history describes burial refusals in other groups’ graveyards in British India. We found no published information on how U.S. Muslim cemeteries treat Ahmadi burials, so ask a cemetery before you arrange anything. See Finding Islamic Burial Ground in the U.S..

What about Alevi funerals?

Studies of Alevi funerals have mostly been done in Turkey. One study describes preparing the shroud, bathing and shrouding the body, asking the deceased’s blessing, a prayer without prostration, and carrying the body feet first. Turkish accounts describe funerals led by a dede, a religious leader, and held at a cemevi, an Alevi gathering house.

Practice varies. One study found only minor variation across regions, while another notes that published information on the ritual has gaps. A Turkish article on one cemevi describes services held without Qur’an recitation, a funeral prayer, or graveside telkin, which it says differs from traditional practice. Ask the family which practice they follow.

We did not find reliable published guidance on funerals for Alawite communities or for individual Sufi orders. Ask the community.

How do I find out what a particular family wants?

Ask the family first, then the leader they turn to: a local imam or center for Shia families, the jamatkhana’s mukhi for Ismaili families, the local Jama’at for Ahmadi families, and a dede or Alevi cultural center for Alevi families. Do not assume the Sunni form, because the prayer, the place, and who leads it can all differ.

Ask any funeral home whether it has handled this community’s customs before. Timing matters too. See Why Islamic Burial Happens So Quickly.

What should I tell my family?

If you belong to one of these communities, say so in your plan, and name who to call: the imam, the mukhi, the Jama’at officer, or the dede. Your family may have little time to work this out afterward.

Add this to your Final Day Plan: which community’s practices you want followed, who to call first, and any commitments such as Wasiyyat that shape your burial. See Muslim Final Day Plan Instructions for related choices.

Practices vary by community, family, and local leader. Everendium provides general guidance and encourages families to consult their own community leaders for specifics.