Bereaved family thank JR staff working ‘over and above’ to respect Islamic tradition
27/01/2017
This article is more than seven years old.
A Muslim family has thanked staff at the John Radcliffe Hospital for its commitment in ensuring their mother’s funeral was carried out in accordance with Islamic tradition.
Komorun Nessa passed away after suffering a stroke which was inoperable.
"In Islam when someone passes away your duty is to bury them as soon as possible. As soon as my mother passed away the first thing that came to my mind was 'who do I get in touch with and who do I need to talk to?'" says Mrs Nessa's son, Aziz Rahman.
Mrs Nessa died within 24 hours of being admitted to hospital which meant a Coroner's referral was needed before her death certification could be issued.
The Trust’s Muslim Chaplain, Monawar Hussain, was just about to go home at the end of his work day at five o’ clock in the evening when he received a call from Mr Rahman.
"Aziz's primary concern was that he wanted to take his mother home and bury her.
"I found out which doctor would be needed to complete the cause of death certificate, and went to see her. Although Dr Delaney's shift was due to start at midday, she said she would come in at eight o' clock in the morning to do the Coroner's referral, to see if the death certificate could be issued promptly to speed up the process."
Dr Delaney says: "It's so important to the family and you can see how much they're grieving. You just want to do anything you can to lessen that, even if it's to a very small degree."
The certificate of death was issued, enabling Monawar Hussain to contact the Central Oxford Mosque in preparation for the funeral prayer and burial.
"We had taken this weight and all of that stress off his shoulders so that the next day - well under 24 hours - his mother was buried."
Aziz Rahman has praised the care he and his family received from hospital staff and Dr Delaney.
"She handled it very well. She showed a lot of emotion and she was very comforting.
"It's such a help and a relief to know you have people in various departments collectively working together to achieve this.
"It was done in a manner that is expected within our religion and culture and we managed to fulfil it so I feel like I have done my duty."