Memoria and Endowments in Islam

Abstract

In this article first the Islamic understanding of the relationship between the living and dead, who stayed in contact above all through dreams, as the basis for the development ofmemoriain Islam is treated. How and to what degree the deeds of the living could have an effect on the situation of the dead was debated by Islamic scholars amidst great controversy. On this basis the various practices of Islamic commemoration of the dead are discussed in their chronological development, from the architectural form of tombs to the recitation of the Qur’an for the dead, the visitation of the grave or the funerary meal. The funerary poem (marthiya) is also included as its own form ofmemoriain the examination. Thewaqf, the Islamic pious foundation, acquired a particular importance which indicated the institutionalization of these practices and thus developed to become one of the most important forms of expression of Islamicmemoria.