Written by: Royani BARZAH ( Corpse Review Board)
Seeing a funeral home crowded with mourners to escort the corpse to the grave may be common. However, what about a corpse without mourners, not even a single relative?
One time we were asked to pick up a corpse at a hospital in the Bogor area. The corpse was only accompanied by a friend, without any relatives, relatives, or children and wife. At 1:15 pm, the hearse entered the parking lot of the mortuary of a government hospital in Bogor. From the steering wheel, I saw a middle-aged man standing casually right in front of the mortuary door.
I then hurriedly got out of the car and approached the man. “Alone, sir?” I greeted him. ‘Yes,’ he replied briefly with a faint smile. Not long after, a security guard came to guard the back area of the hospital, including the mortuary.
“The car is backing up again, sir. Just a little more, to get closer,” the security guard started the conversation by directing me.
“Yes, sir,” I replied firmly.
The car slowly backed up to the mortuary door. We started the activity by opening the back door of the car, then took out the coffin. We placed the body next to the gurney that was still filled with bodies.
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I saw the security guard smile lightly, indicating a small but heavy obstacle. That’s how people who are used to handling corpses are. Just from his gestures, we can already read that there are obstacles. After seeing the posture of the body, the three of us had difficulty moving it, because the body weighed more than 80 kg.
For about 30 minutes, we struggled to find the best way to move the body from the mortuary gurney to the coffin of the Barzah car. After the corpse’s administrative files were received, we left for the funeral home in the northern region of Bogor Regency.
“Brother, do you know the funeral home?” I asked while slowly driving away from the hospital area.
“Yes, God willing,” he replied in a low tone.
“Then, has the family been notified and ready to receive the arrival of the body?” I asked while increasing the speed of the car.
“Yes, it’s ready,” he replied, placing his left hand on his head and scratching it lightly.
I began to doubt his answer. Thirty minutes into the drive, we arrived at our destination. It was quiet, with no one in sight preparing to receive the body.
“Whose house is this, sir?” I asked the man accompanying the corpse firmly.
“This is his brother’s house, his sister if I’m not mistaken,” he replied.
“Well, does he not have a house?” I asked again.
“Yes, he has separated from his wife. All his children follow his wife,” said the man.
“So what about the body?” I asked, worried.
“Yes for a while, sir,” said the man.
After some time, a man came with his wife who claimed to be the head of the local neighborhood and asked us whose body this was. Alhamdulillah, the head of the neighborhood recognized the corpse’s companion and after being told, it turned out that the head of the neighborhood also recognized the corpse.
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But uniquely, the occupant of the house, who is the younger brother of the deceased, did not want to come out. It seemed that they did not want to accept the arrival of the corpse. After a few minutes, the owner of the house came out after being asked by the head of the local neighborhood.
“Don’t drop it off here. I am his brother, but I don’t want to accept his body, take it wherever you want. Eat your parents’ inheritance,” shouted a slim, middle-aged woman with two children out loud, pointing firmly at the hearse.
Then, the neighborhood leader directed us to another relative’s house in the next village, still in northern Bogor Regency. Fifteen minutes later we arrived at the next house. But, again we received the same answer and attitude from the owner of the house. The deceased’s brother flatly refused to accept the arrival of the body, even telling us to throw the body into the river.
“What’s going on?” we asked tiredly.
After ten minutes of the Barzah car being parked, a figure came out of the musala and had just performed the Asr prayer. He recognized the deceased because he had been a playmate when he was a child. He was the one who finally decided to perform fardhu kifayah on the corpse.
By coordinating with the local TPU and the officer who bathed the body, finally before Maghrib the body of the deceased was taken directly to the TPU after being prayed for by four people who were at the location.
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After the funeral, the religious leader then told a long story about the life journey of the deceased, whom he had known since childhood. According to his story, after marrying and divorcing his first wife, the deceased had changed wives several times. His wealth was sold off to support his lifestyle, and his children left him because they felt neglected.
Some of his siblings were very disappointed because they felt that the deceased, as the eldest child, was very greedy with his parents’ inheritance. Without asking or consulting the family, the deceased sold his parents’ land and used it for extravagance.
At the end of the day, her parents’ only house was used as collateral for a loan to a bank, and she was unable to pay, so the house was confiscated by the bank. That’s where all his siblings got angry. Until the day he died, they didn’t want to know.
“That’ s how greedy people are. Nowhere has there ever been a rich person because they were greedy for inheritance. There are even difficult blangsak, “said the character closing the story. (Dompet Dhuafa)
Editor: Ronna