Muslim Book Review: Hamza Attends a Janaza

A Muslim book review on the book Hamza attends a Janaza: a sweet and gentle book on Janazas, the Islamic prayer for funerals. Genre: Picture Book Ages: 5-8 Author: Shabana Hussain Illustrator: Atefeh Mohammadzadeh Publisher: Kube Publishing Hamza really wants to go to his grandmothers house to visit his cousins, but his parents tell him that this Saturday they have to go to a janaza at the Masjid. Uncle Sameer of the sweet shop has died. Hamza has a lot of questions and his parents answer all of them as he participates in the Islamic funeral prayer and goes to the graveyard to see how the burial is done. Hamza says a prayer at the end for the sweet old man that used to give him extra sweets. I really liked how this story had a lot of Islamic knowledge on funerals, and how to perform them, as well as the reward for attending them and praying for the dead. I really appreciated that the book kept Hamza a little bit of distant from the one who died, because not only did it make it not as sad, but it also showed the importance of attending funerals, even for those who might not be super close. This is a very important book, and one with beautiful, soft, gentle fall, illustrations, and I think Muslim children will really relate and learn from Hamza. Link to buy!

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picture book cover showing Hamza and his dad attending a Kanazawa