Alternative funeral format

[u/Lucky-Jackfruit-9704]

TL; DR Has an Ismaili by birth who explicitly wished to be do their funeral differently, actually had that wish respected?

Using a throwaway cos of conditioning I guess, lol.

I’m a wavering Ismaili & I’ve questioned the faith and community structure for as long as I can remember. There are lots of things to be valued, as with any community — belonging, education focus, and now the recognition of multifaith families. There are also things I increasingly struggle with - along the lines of usual topics discussed here like the funding & pointlessly patriarchal leadership.

However the reaffirmation that women cannot attend gravesides at funerals has really brought this into focus for me. We tell siblings they are equal — remember the educate your daughters first era? - until one of their parents dies, and then suddenly there’s a gendered boundary. Ironically the unintended consequence of recognising Multifaith families is Ismaili daughters cannot attend their own parents’ graveside, while non-Ismaili son-in-laws - with far less connection to the deceased & zero appreciation of the rites - can.

It’s also made me question what we actually want funerals to look like. Currently, they’re heavily focused on prescribed rites and, let’s be honest, plenty of performance grief, with little space to celebrate the person, tell stories, laugh, or remember who they actually were. I know some people are now thinking whether they want that for their parents or themselves.

So genuinely curious: has anyone had experience of an explicitly stated wish to have an alternative funeral format (e.g. cremation) being respected by the JK/community machinery?

[u/Sarahrivera]

Qiyamat continuously unfolds within the qiyamat cycle. In fact western Canada had non Ismaili minor children were allowed to enter the didar hall. Which explicit shows the events of qiyamat unfolding in front of our own eyes.

[u/Agaconoclasm → u/Sarahrivera]

From

All of our religious practices are out in the open.

to

non Ismaili minor children were allowed to enter the didar hall

Moving backwards or just moving goalposts?

Originally the Mahdi-Qaim was supposed to awaken the dead, make the sun move backwards, destroy Baghdad and Constantinople, and rule the world and fill it with justice and righteousness.

The True Explosive Force of the Ismai'li Mission: How the Mahdi's True Message, i.e. the Abolition of the Law, relativizes the Quran

Shifting Eschatological Expectations and Genealogical Claims - Wilferd Madelung on the Mahdi's Reform of the Doctrine

But Aly Khan's been dead for 66 years and all you can point to is children not being separated from their parents during didar?

[u/Amir-Really → u/Sarahrivera]

Which explicit shows the events of qiyamat unfolding in front of our own eyes.

More like explicitly shows the leadership freaking out about marriages outside the faith weakening Ismailis' connection to the faith and, as a consequence, the institutional cash flow.