Transcultural Assessment Project

Arab Culture
Birgitte Kammerdiener, Kayla Wrasman, Josie Preski,
Sumeera Murad, Maddie Kelly, Jessica Johnston

Date Your Name, Title

Company Name
Health Care Practices
● Muslim Women
● Signs
● Prayer
● Scripture
Nutrition
● Fast food is very common
● Meat should be “halal” , killed and prepared a certain way
● Most common meals: chicken, lamb, fish, falafel and rice
● Avoid eating pork or drinking alcohol
○ Don’t take medicines that contain alcohol or pork byproducts unless they are life-saving
drugs and no substitute is available
● Tea and biscuits are often served to guests and drank daily
● Arabic coffee served with dates are consumed when guests visit
● Muslims fast 30 days from sunup to sundown on a period called
Ramadan
● Being overweight is socially acceptable and considered healthy
● Have a communal experience when eating
○ Friends and family eat together, not with separate plates but out of a shared dish
● They use their hands to eat
○ You should only eat with your right hand, fine to break bread with both
○ It is polite to only use the thumb, index finger, and middle finger to pick up food
Spirituality
● Arab countries like Saudi Arabia include religions such as Islam,
Christianity and Judaism; with the highest population 93% following
islam
● Muslims pray 5x daily toward Mecca
● Mecca is holy ground to muslims. It is the birthplace of their prophet
Muhammad
● Abortions or assisted suicides are not common or disscussed because
situations are in “Allahs hands”
● Alcohol is forbidden and frowned highly frowned upon
Family
● Families inherit their religion, social class and identity
● What one member does can bring either honor or shame to an entire
family.
● Most families are set up as a Patriarchal/Hierarchical pyramid
○ The person/power in the family is almost always male and then follows by age meaning
that a son could have more power/control in a family than a mother
○ Women are still encouraged to receive an education
● Marriage is seen as a highly sacred and religious ceremony that is
normally arranged to allow a family to grow in wealth and status to
provide them stability
○ Men can marry outside of the muslim religion, as long as the women is Jewish or
Christian, but a women can not marry outside or the muslim religion
○ In a traditional sense, men can marry up to four women but only if he can treat each one
with equal respect and status (cannot marry another wife without the others knowing)
Death Rituals
● Viewed as returning to god
● Autopsies are considered disrespectful to the dead
○ The family tends to react with some hostility toward pressure to consent to the autopsy
● The stereotype that Arabs consider life is less valuable than Americans
is false
○ Arabs have a greater acceptance will in God
● Organ donation is not common
Death Rituals
Before:
● The person dying goes through a
death struggle, which is filled with
unimaginable agonies.
● Friends and families chant and
encourage the dying person to say “
Shahada” meaning that Allah is the
only God.
○ The goal is that the person
says those words at the exact
time of death.
After:
● Body is only embalmed if consented
and if body is being flown over sea
● The quicker the body is buried, the
better
● Body must be cleansed at least
three times, either by the spouse or
a same sex family member.
● The eyes and mouth of the
deceased are closed, the body is
covered with a sheet.
○ Their head is positioned to face
Mecca
Death Rituals- The Funeral
● Traditionally women sit in back, men sit in the front
● An Imam (Islamic priest) or the oldest male family member stands at
the front facing Mecca, and the body is placed in front of him
● A Muslim funeral is very quiet
○ Crying for the dead is perfectly fine and expected
● White is generally worn and represents humility and wholesomeness
but it’s also appropriate to wear drab and dark colors that fit the somber
occasion, such as black, brown, and gray
Citations
Evason, Nina. “Saudi Arabian Culture - Family.” Cultural Atlas, 2019,
culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/saudi-arabian-culture/saudi-arabian-culture-family.

Hammad, A., Kysia, R., Rabah, R., Hassoun, R., & Connelly, M. (1999, April). Guide to Arab
Culture: Health Care Delivery to the Arab American Community. Retrieved October 29, 2020, from
https://www.accesscommunity.org/sites/default/files/documents/health_and_research_cente_21.pd
f

Ruba, Nina, Sedour, R., Mikalinis, Y., AliCassim, S., Amy, . . . Bawa, Y. (2020, November 11).
Muslim Funeral Traditions: 10 Things You Should Know About Their Beliefs. Retrieved November
16, 2020, from https://cremationinstitute.com/muslim-funeral-traditions/

Sami A. Hanna, “Death and Dying in the Middle East,” in Deity & Death, ed. Spencer J. Palmer (Provo,
UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1978), 33–60.

Scullion, S. (2018, October 16). Eating Practices in Arab Countries. Retrieved November 16, 2020,
from https://arabiconline.eu/eating-practices-in-arab-countries/

Taheri, N. (2020, June 10). Overview of Health Care in Islamic History and Experience. Retrieved
November 16, 2020, from https://ethnomed.org/resource/overview-of-health-care-in-islamic-
history-and-experience/

Z;, A. (2020). Cultural Competence in the Care of Muslim Patients and Their Families. Retrieved
November 16, 2020, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29763108/