Islamic coming of age ritual?

Stinicker

I have been doing some research into religions recently in specific rituals and was wondering about the social welfare allowances paid for Holy Communion in the Catholic Faith.

What I would like to know what sort of rituals are there in Islam of religious significance similar in a childs life to either Holy Communion or Confirmation. Perhaps ex-Catholic converts to Islam may be able to shed some life on this?

The reason I want to know is I am trying to find out if similar payments are made for the rituals of other Religions.

Eg. Could a Jewish family claim these allowances for a Bar-Mitzah which would be a similar coming of age ritual and would Islamic parents be entitled to money for the religious ceremonies of significance for their own children.

I know it sounds like a Social Welfare question but considering that Islam is the third biggest faith behind Christianity and Atheism and that active Muslims here may have Children I'd like to get their viewpoint and if they ever tried to claim the allowance but were refused on religious grounds.

I'd have no problem with the fund so long as it did not discriminate against religion or irreligious and say an Atheist family should be allowed claim it for their Atheist child's 12th birthday instead for example. If we are to be a secular society the fund should be removed or open to everyone regardless of their religion of lack thereof.

wes

I can't think of anything that would be equal to the first communion, or Bar Mitzvah in Islam.

hivizman

In Turkey, the Sunnet, or circumcision, is a ritual along the lines that the OP is thinking about. This ritual takes place when a boy is between 5 and 10 years old, and is usually an occasion of family celebrations. The boy is dressed up in a costume, like this:



More details can be found here.

irishconvert

hivizman wrote: »

In Turkey, the Sunnet, or circumcision, is a ritual along the lines that the OP is thinking about. This ritual takes place when a boy is between 5 and 10 years old, and is usually an occasion of family celebrations. The boy is dressed up in a costume, like this:



More details can be found here.

It's important to point out that this ritual is not Islamic and is purely Turkish culture. The Prophet (PBUH) did not practise such rituals.

BTW I never heard of social welfare paying out to kids who make their communion, are you sure about this?

oceanclub

irishconvert wrote: »

BTW I never heard of social welfare paying out to kids who make their communion, are you sure about this?

I wouldn't have thought so either, but it seems yes:

http://richardbruton.ie/your-entitlements/social-welfare/

• A Back-to-School payment of €200 for primary pupils, €305 for secondary pupils and an equal payment for a
Communion or Confi rmation payable to persons on Social Welfare whose weekly income is not more than €150 over
the weekly contributory pension rate.

I presume the "equal" refers, for communion, to the figure €200.

P.

EDIT: Actually turns out we're spending €3m a year on it - crazy!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056317188