Reporter Rowaida Abdelaziz was 21 the first time she watched a body lowered into a grave. Her cousin, a young mother, died just days before her 33rd birthday. No one knew what to do in that moment of unthinkable grief. All they knew was that someone had to make the arrangements. That's when a woman named Howaida stepped in.

This week on the show, reporter Rowaida Abdelaziz travels across New Jersey and Cairo looking for the women who carry out one of the most intimate obligations in Islam: washing the bodies of our dead. What does it take to intertwine your life with death and grief, and run to the aid of people on the worst day of their lives?

This is the last episode of Season One of the show! We hope you've enjoyed what you've heard so far and we're already hard at work on Season Two. In the meantime, if you haven't heard the rest of the season yet, go back and start from the beginning.

If you liked our show, please share it with a friend, or rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. More about our show at moremuslim.org.

Thank you for listening!

Credits:

Reported by Rowaida Abdelaziz.

Produced by Heba Afify.

Editing by Salman Ahad Khan.

Fact Checking by Heba Elorbany.

Original Music and Sound Design by Salman Ahad Khan.

Engineering by Joe Plourde.

Illustration by Lina Jaradat.

Suggested Reading

Abdelaziz, Rowaida. "Most Funeral Homes Don't Know How To Bury Muslims. These Women Want To Change That." HuffPost, December 10, 2023.

Bakar, Faima. "Why Young Muslim Women Are Learning How To Wash The Dead." HuffPost UK, June 2022.

Halevi, Leor. Muhammad’s Grave: Death Rites and the Making of Islamic Society . New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.