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Primary Submission Category: Health equity
Racialized Assemblages of Muslim Death: Islamophobia, Death Governance, and Disenfranchised Grief
Authors: Ans Irfan,
Presenting Author: Ans Irfan*
Background
Death is never neutral. In the US, Muslims encounter structural barriers to culturally congruent end-of-life and pastoral care that compound clinical suffering with spiritual exclusion. In palliative settings, this results in care models that manage physical symptoms while denying spiritual dignity. These exclusions are frequently justified through neutral policy, masking how racialization and Islamophobia shape access to pastoral presence, mourning, and dignified dying.
Aims
This project examines how racialized governance, including zoning regulations, licensure requirements, and institutional bias, obstructs Muslim access to pastoral and end-of-life care. It analyzes how these denials deepen disenfranchised grief and undermine health equity.
Methods
Using theoretical and case-based analysis, the project applies frameworks of racialized assemblages and necropolitics to two U.S. case studies: a blocked Muslim cemetery in Virginia and the denial of death certification authority to a Delaware imam under restrictive licensure laws. The analysis integrates interdisciplinary scholarship from palliative ethics, death studies, sociology, and Islamic pastoral care.
Results
Both cases demonstrate that Muslim death is governed as an administrative problem rather than a human experience requiring pastoral presence and communal recognition. Racialized policy and secular bias disrupt continuity of care, delay or prevent mourning practices, and deny spiritual support at the end of life. These practices reproduce disenfranchised grief and erode trust in healthcare and death-care institutions.
Conclusion/Implications
The findings show that health equity at the end of life cannot be achieved without addressing how racialized governance structures access to pastoral care and dignified dying. Integrating Islamic pastoral care into palliative practice and reforming exclusionary policies are essential steps toward ethical, equitable end-of-life care for Muslim communities.