The Final Departure: an evening on death, grief and reunion in Minneapolis

On Friday, October 16, 2026, Miftaah Institute brought The Final Departure to Willey Hall, 225 19th Avenue South, on the University of Minnesota’s West Bank. Al-Maghfirah Muslim Cemetery was proud to be a community partner for the evening, alongside KANZ, a Columbia Heights nonprofit.

The speaker, Br. Ahmad Hraichie, directs LMA Islamic Funeral Services in Sydney and is known across Australia as the Muslim Undertaker. He started at a funeral home in 1996, when he was eighteen, and over the years became one of the people Muslim families turn to for the washing, shrouding and burial of their dead. That experience lets him speak about death frankly and gently.

What the evening covered

The program combined a filmed presentation, a demonstration of the Islamic burial rites and questions from the audience. It walked through what happens when a person dies — the journey of the soul, the care of the body and life in the barzakh — and closed with the hope Islam gives the bereaved: reunion with those who have gone ahead.

Minneapolis was the second of seven stops on the October 2026 tour, after Detroit and before Chicago, New York, Columbus, Dallas and Houston. In-person seats in Minneapolis sold out, and the evening was also offered by livestream.

Why Al-Maghfirah took part

Preparing for death is part of a Muslim’s faith, and so is caring for the dead. Al-Maghfirah is building the place where Minnesota’s Muslim families can carry out those rites with dignity: a cemetery of our own, with a ghusl center for washing and shrouding and a prayer area for the janazah. While he was here, Br. Ahmad also visited the cemetery grounds.