Using a qualitative approach, this study aimed to examine the changing nature of death, dying and mourning among Muslims of Kashmir due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Telephonic Interviews were conducted with 17 participants, whose loved ones died after the outbreak of the COVID-19 in Kashmir. The findings of the study revealed that the deceased mostly died in isolation with no one around. Mourning the loss was also highly challenging with participants receiving less in-person support thus leading to mourning in isolation. The inability to perform last rites added yet another layer of grief which resulted in prolonged grief among the bereaved and impacted their overall wellbeing.

Using a phenomenological approach, this study aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of the lived experiences of Kashmiri women suffering from breast cancer within the context of their day-to-day lives. Snowball sampling and theoretical sampling techniques were employed for recruiting participants. Data collection was primarily based on the principles of data saturation. Data saturation occurred after 12 women with breast cancer were interviewed. Data was collected using face-to-face in-depth individual interviews. The interview guide consisted of open-ended questions. To attain the utmost variation, sumptuousness and profundity of responses, interviewer asked probing, specific, and interpreting questions during interviews. Data analysis of the transcripts was based on Graneheim and Lundman’s (Qualitative content analysis in nursing research: concepts, procedures and measures to achieve trustworthiness. Nurse Education Today 2004;24:105–12) procedures for taking out themes in qualitative data. Two main themes emerged that explained the lived experiences of women with breast cancer: (i) challenges encountered (altered body image, embarrassment, perceived worries, financial constraints, dealing with negative attitudes and stigma) and (ii) coping strategies (reliance on religion and spirituality, social support, living as usual, optimistic attitude and will to recover, and venting out). The findings revealed that breast cancer diagnosis influences women significantly as they acknowledged that it wasthe most traumatic experience of their life; however, with time, they started to accept the reality and made use of various methods to cope with their illness.

From the instance a person passes away, the funeral, mourning, and memorial ceremonies follow sets of religious principles and procedures in every society. However, at the same time, these ceremonies and practices are influenced by the cultural patterns that people endorse. Mourning practices among Muslims of Kashmir also derive from such a religious-cultural amalgamation. This study aims to highlight mourning practices from two standpoints: (a) the prerequisites of the Islamic tradition and (b) the way mourning is actually practiced in Kashmir. To compare the general mourning practices with the actual Kashmiri Muslim mourning practices, different secondary sources were used and in-depth interviews were conducted with 11 participants (6 women, 4 men, and 1 Islamic scholar). The study revealed that mourning practices followed by Muslims of Kashmir are influenced by traditions outside the religion of Islam.

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