ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects on the way loss is dealt with when counselling Islamic clients. Counselling and spiritual direction as therapy has an ancient tradition in Islam. The chapter discusses how Islamic beliefs and traditions provide essential frameworks of meaning for those who face loss and grief, especially clients whose distress stems from, or is exacerbated by, their relationship with God (Allah). Muslims are most likely to seek assistance from family, close friends, a community member or a trusted Imam or scholar. While a Muslim therapist will be closer to the client’s reality, many Islamic clients accept non-Muslim therapists, generally of the same gender as themselves. Muslims believe that death is essentially an interface between the life of this world and the next. Since death is not final but the first step to eternal life, for the majority of Muslims grief is illogical.
