Navigating the Soul’s Departure: Spiritual Care for Muslim Patients in Palliative Care

Spiritual care is an integral component of holistic palliative care. Muslim patients in palliative care have specific spiritual and religious needs. This chapter offers care providers four general considerations to better tend to Muslim patients’ spiritual needs: privacy, mobility for prayer and ablution, provision of religious items, and inclusion of family in the decision-making process. For spiritual care providers, this chapter presents an Islamic understanding of death and dying and highlights a prophetic model that can help Muslim patients deal with emotions related to death and dying. All Qur’an translations from the original Arabic to English are by the author.