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Response to Harriet Harris
- Georgetown University Press
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Response to Harriet Harris RECEP ŞENTÜRK Dr. Harris’s essay has reminded me of my own observations, as an individual and as a sociologist of religion, of practices in the United States and Turkey in the period leading up to the death of my sister, Zeynep. I hope that my response will shed light on the divergent ways in which people in different societies today approach dying and think about what is involved in a good death. Zeynep was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of thirty. She was first treated for about a year in New York, where she was living with her family. Eventually, the American doctors advised us to take her to a local nursing home where she would be cared for until her death. But one doctor, a Muslim from Pakistan, advised us to take Zeynep back to Istanbul, so that she could spend the last days of her life in her homeland with her extended family and friends, and we took this advice. In Istanbul, when Zeynep’s situation worsened further, we took her to a hospital. After examining her, the doctors gave conflicting advice. However, one doctor, a pious Muslim, advised us not to check her into the hospital but to take her home. He said: ‘‘I can check her in here and wire her up in the intensive care room and charge you for it. You will not be allowed to enter the intensive care room. She will die alone. Why not take her home? Let her die in her home surrounded with her family; read the Holy Qurān at her deathbed and comfort her with your presence and good words.’’ So we took Zeynep home and cared for her during her last hours. The entire family was there, including our parents, sisters, brothers, her husband and children , in-laws, and some friends. They were all reading the Holy Qurān, praying and performing dhikr. There was no doctor present, and there were no wires on her body. One of us was constantly repeating the words of testimony (shaha ̄da): ‘‘There is no god but God and Muh .ammad is His messenger.’’ Zeynep was herself also repeating these words silently. Then she stopped. She took her 95 96 Surveys last breath in our presence. This was the ‘‘good death’’ (h . usn al-khātima) for which she had prayed her whole life. Muslims pray for a good death and make preparations for it. They believe that a good death is the outcome of a good life. It is commonly repeated that ‘‘the way you presently live will be the way you will eventually die.’’ The experience of Zeynep’s death made me aware of the different ways in which death is viewed and approached in the modern world. Both in the United States and in Turkey, we encountered a range of perspectives and of advice from doctors, health care professionals, and clergy. In her essay, Harris also illustrates a variety of opinions and practices regarding the good death and dying well. She describes succinctly how Christians in contemporary Western society, in particular Britain, deal with death and dying in a rapidly changing wider context . She demonstrates that practice is increasingly moving away from traditional Christian forms and attributes this to growing secularization, to the spread of new trends, particularly new forms of spirituality, and to the presence of other religions. Likewise, the role of the doctor, health care professional, and psychologist is increasing at the expense of the role of the theologian and minister. Harris’s essay leaves us with the question: What is the Christian way of dying well in today’s world? It seems there is no unanimous and clear answer, partly because of the divergent religious interpretations and practices but mainly because death has become so commercialized and medicalized. What is death and what causes it? Harris demonstrates that answers to these questions are now provided mostly by medical science rather than by theology. Death is no longer seen as a fate decided by God but rather as the failure of bodily health. Medical science tells us how and why bodily health fails, prior to death, so people turn to the medical doctor and not to the theologian for answers to their questions about death. Harris shows that Christians are absorbing and internalizing new practices and trends. One could speak of these practices as being Christianized; alternatively , one could say that Christianity, or at...