FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS

What to do when there is a death?

Step 1. 

Provide deceased person’s name (spell out) and gender to Bennett Funeral Home at (804) 359-4480/4481/4482/4483.  Also provide dead body location.

Step 2.

Whoever from Bennett Funeral Home receives the call, he/she will:
1. Obtain deceased full name, gender, date of death, & dead body’s location;
2. Obtain Contact’s (responsible person) phone number and address. The responsible person for the deceased will meet with the Funeral Director at Bennett Funeral Home to sign the contract, decide when/where the Janaaza Prayer and where the burial place.
3. The Funeral Director at Bennett Funeral Home will inform the other parties accordingly (i.e., Imam, Masjid Administration and the Ghusl/Shrouding Committee.
4. The Masjid Administration will notify the community by email and WhatsApp announcements.

Step 3.

The Funeral Director at Bennett Funeral Home will inform either Mohammad Hanif or Dr. Safwat Ahmad about the family choice of the burial service.

Dr. Safwat Ahmad is the President (Ameer) of Albarzakh Cemetery.

Muhammad Hanif is the Person In-charge of the Crescent Memorial Graveyard (ICVA), Greenwood Memorial and Riverside Cemetery.

Muslim Cemetery
The Islamic Center of Richmond owns and manages the Muslim Burial at Crescent Memorial Graveyard (ICVA), Greenwood Memorial and Riverside Cemetery.

Crescent Memorial Graveyard (ICVA) is located at 3411 Beechwood Ave. Colonial Heights, VA 23834.

Albarzakh Cemetery is located at 31058 Sadie Lane Doswell, VA 23407.   
 
The ICVA Cemetery Committee is run by dedicated volunteers to help you with Islamic rituals of preparing the deceased for burial and with burial at the Muslim cemetery.
Funeral prayers will be held at the Islamic Center Virginia after daily prayers. We try to schedule the prayers after Dhuhr or second Jumuah prayers and leave for cemetery immediately after the prayers.

Funeral Homes

The ICVA Cemetery Committee has the latest list of Funeral homes. Please call the committee for details. Funeral homes charge only agreed price.

The Funeral Director at Bennett Funeral Home will inform you the costs for burial attt every cemetery.

Services provided by the funeral home
• Transferring the deceased bod from the hospital to the funeral home
• Use of bathing (Ghusl) and Shrouding room.
• Transferring the deceased to the Masjid then to the cemetery.

General Procedures
• All Muslims shall have the right to be buried in the ICVA Muslim Cemetery.
• No reservation of the grave site(s) will be permitted. Only the gravesite immediately next to an occupied one, in compliance with the master plan, will be used.
• No structure shall be allowed atop the grave site(s). ICVA will provide the grave marker with the name and dates of birth and death of the deceased.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions related to the Muslim Cemetery
Directions to the Muslim Cemetery
1. From Interstate 95-South: Take Exit 58-B (Woods Edge Road Exit) and bear to the right on the ramp. Turn right onto Woods Edge Road (SR 620W). Then stay in middle lane and go about ½ mile.
1(a). From Interstate 95-North: Take Exit 58-B (Woods Edge Road Exit) and bear to the left on the ramp. Turn left onto Woods Edge Road (SR 620W). Then stay in middle lane and go about ½ mile.
2. At the traffic signal, turn left onto US 1 South (you will see WAWA store across the light)
3. Travel on US 1 South about 1 ¼ mile and turn right at the Traffic light onto Harrow Gate Road (VA 144N).
4. Go about 1/3 rd of a mile and take left onto Pineland Ave.
NOTE: You will see "Life Church" on your right. You should also notice a T-sign on the right curb. When you see the Church, Turn left on Pineland Blvd (
5. At 1/4th of a mile, the Pineland Blvd ends and you will be entering to a paved Cul-de-sac. Go onto paved Cul-de-sac then drive on the graveled road. Developed gravesites area is on the left in cleared lot.
6 Park on one side of the graveled road. Double PARKING is NOT permitted. SOME ONE may be there (either a Bennett person or Police officer) to direct for parking.
7. Please be courteous to our neighbors and do not park on Pineland Ave. If you have to do so, park on right curb only and DO NOT Block their driveways.
CAUTION:
1. If you have to walk around in this area, be careful not to be tripped by bunch of tied twines and/or extruded steel re-bars.
2. Do not disturb the fallen trees or rotten wood pile. There may be snake or lizards hiding in rotten wood pile. Care should also be taken when walking in high grass area.
Property Address: 3411 Beechwood Ave, Colonial Heights, 23834 but do not input onto your GPS because Graveyard entrance is not from Beechwood Ave.

Janazah Alert

Basic rules of Islamic funerals
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
"Every soul shall have a taste of death; and only on the Day of Resurrection shall you be paid your full recompense. Only he who is saved far from the Fire and admitted to Paradise, he indeed is successful. The life of this world is only the enjoyment of deception (a deceiving thing)." [Surah Al-Imran, verse 185]
The following are some of the issues facing the family members and relatives of deceased individuals. It is requested that Muslims be familiar with these issues at all times since death can approach anyone at any given time or place.
I ask Allah (SWT) to bestow on us sincerity in our speech and actions, to forgive our mistakes, and to place us with His pious servants; and for Him to listen and grant us what we ask for. We must always say--All praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.

The important things that family members and friends should do when someone is dying?

It is recommended by the prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) to do the following:
The dying person should be asked to pronounce, "Laa ilaaha illal Allah." (There is no God but Allah.) before death. The prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) said: "Ask your dying fellows to pronounce, "Laa ilaaha illal Allah." (There is no God but Allah.)" [Reported by Imams Muslim, Abu Dawood, At-Tirmithi, An-NisaI and Ibn Majah]
The prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) said: "The one whose last words are "Laa Ilaaha Illal Allah." (There is no God but Allah) will enter Paradise." [Reported by Imams Abu Dawood]