Ibrahim Amin of Saudi Arabia had long thought of setting up business that will turn him into a rich man in a short period of time. But instead of deciding on a business that will serve people alive, he opted for serving the dead.
Amin was confident that the project to supply shrouds and other grave accessories would succeed for he thought it was a unique idea. But a few months later, he discovered how wrong he was.
“Amin decided that he can no longer continue in this business after he failed to market his products,” the Saudi Alwatan newspaper said.
“He said his project had failed perhaps because the Saudi people can no longer accept the idea of buying their own shrouds…he became more convinced of the failure of the project after he realized that most nationals now get their shrouds and other grave accessories free from benevolent people, who are supplying such items in large quantities to hospital morgues.”
Amin’s project, dubbed “The Madina Grave-clothes”, had involved the sale of one package containing a shroud, a soap, ointment, incense, a piece of cloth and other items required for burial of the dead under Islamic tradition.
He sold the project to a Madina-based company called “Ottoman Perfumes”, which emerged much luckier than Amin, the newspaper said.
“This company has managed to turn the project into a profitable business by signing a deal with the Families Society in the city to market the products,” it said.
“The Families Society is now supplying a large quantity of these products to the market in one package for SR170.”
Alwatan said most of the customers for that package are foreign tourists and pilgrims from other Muslim nations on the grounds “they are unable to get free shrouds in their home countries.”
It did not elaborate on the purpose of all those items in the bundle but dead Muslims are usually bathed with soap and perfume before they are buried.
Some Muslims also burn incense for their dead before the body is carried to the mosque for prayers. After the “prayers for the dead” is finished, the body is wrapped by a white shroud and placed in a coffin, which is either carried or transported by the undertaker’s car to the cemetery. The shrouded body is then taken out of the coffin and dangled down into a pit dug for the deceased.
Some Muslims believe the dead need to be washed before burial so they will meet their creator in a clean and good shape. They also believe that the bath will help cleanse their souls and some of their sins.
Alwatan quoted a local psychiatrist as saying that buying own shroud had been an old habit in Saudi Arabia before it started to dwindle with the growing trend by whom he described as benevolent rich people to donate grave clothes.
“Most of those who used to buy their own shrouds were old men or those who suffered from chronic and incurable illnesses, including depression and other mental problems,” said Nassir Thibyani, Head of the Psychology Section at the government Psychiatry Hospital in the central town of Madina.
“Women had not been equally enthusiastic as females usually dread the idea of buying their own shrouds… it has to be noted that the mere idea of buying own grave clothes has either a negative or positive effect on the person and family.”