Life and death in Judaism and Islam

Common threads between the Jewish and Muslim attitudes towards dying, and the guidance they may offer those working in the caring professions, will come under scrutiny at a University of Cambridge symposium this week. The event, on Wednesday, May 26th, aims to explore how two traditions which are often portrayed as sharply distinctive handle the question of death, as well as associated issues such as funerary rites and concepts of an afterlife, in surprisingly similar ways. Organisers hope that it may provide the basis for a "Judaeo-Islamic" perspective on dealing with death and bereavement, with potential benefits for professionals who, like doctors and social workers, care for those nearing the end of their lives. The event has been co-organised by the University's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre of Islamic Studies and the Woolf Institute's Centre for the Study of Muslim-Jewish Relations. The discussions will be compiled into a report, which will be available on both institution's websites at a later date. The symposium recognises that in spite of their differences, Judaism and Islam have more similarities with one another than they do with any other religion.