Death and fate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Death and fate - Essay Example This story thus tries to show how death is inevitable and despite efforts put in place, it will always find ways of capturing its victims. The story revolves around death and its inevitability. It portrays many traditions of the Gothic fiction thus presenting an allegory of death and fate. It is therefore important to study and know how different societies deal with death and the meanings behind their actions. Death in Different Societies Over the years, the mystery of death have stunned many individuals and because no one knows what happens when after death, different societies have come up with tales on the origin of death, causes of death and implications of death. Different people have different believes on death, but the vast majority view death as a form of punishment from a supreme being usually referred to as ‘god’ or ‘the ancestors’. Very few people have embraced the reality about death and view it as natural, many still believe that death occurs as a result of fate or punishment (Lynn 327). To broadly understand death in different societies, we will attempt to look at what the societies believe are the causes of death, what are the remedies to the stated cause and whether death is avoidable by any chance. Death According to the Muslim Societies According to the Muslim community, death is normally regarded as the ultimate completion or end of the physical life of an individual. The dead person is normally referred to as resting because, this society believes that, in the end, the dead will be resurrected by God normally referred to as Allah. Since the dead are only resting, they believe that those who were righteous are capable of seeing visions of Allah even in immortal state. The wicked on the other hand, usually see hell in their visions. According to the Muslim society, there is heaven where the dead will go after judgment (Ivone 174). This place however is restricted to the pure Muslims; non Muslims can only get to heaven after they have been purified in fire, commonly known as the purgatory. In Muslim society, religious legends are worshiped and specific shrines are built for their remembrance. To date, Prophet Mohammed is worshiped and every Muslim knows that he was the most righteous person who ever lived. As a way of recognizing this, special shrine is built in Mecca where Muslims Faithful usually visit to pay their tribute to this hero. This process is done annually. When a Muslim dies, he is supposed to be washed, wrapped in a white clean cloth and buried the same day. This is done to honor the dead and give him last respect. People know very little in what happens after one is buried and they just believes that he or she will be resurrected when time comes. Muslims also believe in a holy war called Jihad. In this war, if someone dies in an attempt to do the will or Allah, he is guaranteed heaven. This is why, some fighters like Osama, having been convinced that they were doing service to God, would do anything without being human enough to reconsider his actions. When he died, the best thing was to bury him under water to avoid shrines and a repeat of the same cycle. Death in Traditional African Society Many traditional practices according to many traditional practices are coiled around death and resurrection. Many individuals believe in the existence of semi-divine powers and the intercession of spirits (Aloysius and Joanne 68). It is therefore important to appease the spirits if one is to avoid the painful consequences of death. There are also