A funeral service built on faith, not profit

About Muslim Funeral Directors — our story and our duty

Muslim Funeral Directors is the dedicated funeral service of Iqbal and Sons Bereavement Services, a registered UK charity (No. 1197545) based in Oldbury, West Midlands. The charity has spent years providing free Islamic funerals to eligible families across Smethwick, Birmingham and the surrounding areas — quietly, without fanfare, because burial of a Muslim is a Fard Kifayah: a duty owed by the whole community.

As demand for trustworthy Islamic funeral care grew, so did the need for a complete professional service open to every family — one carrying the same charitable ethos, the same standards, and the same understanding that a funeral is an act of worship, not a transaction. That service is Muslim Funeral Directors.

What makes us different

Many companies offer Muslim funerals. Few are built the way we are.

• Charity roots. Our sister organisation is a registered charity. Every decision we make is measured against one question: does this serve the family and please Allah? Surplus supports the charity's mission — including funerals for those who cannot pay.
• Correct Islamic practice. Ghusl, Kafan, Janazah and Dafn are performed precisely according to Islamic teachings, by trained staff of the same gender as the deceased, with respect for your family's madhab.
• Complete honesty about costs. You receive a written estimate before anything is agreed, and an itemised account on request. If money is a worry, we will say so plainly and help you access the DWP Funeral Expenses Payment or charitable support.
• Speed with dignity. Islam encourages prompt burial. Our long working relationships with hospitals, coroners, register offices and cemeteries mean burials are often possible within 24 hours of release.

Our promise to every family

From the moment you call, one named coordinator takes responsibility for your family. They will collect your loved one from home, hospital or care home at any hour; guide you through registration and the green form; arrange Ghusl and Kafan with complete modesty; coordinate the Janazah prayer with your mosque; and stand beside you at the graveside until the final dua is made.

We serve families of every background and school of thought. Whether your loved one's journey ends in a Muslim section of a local cemetery or requires repatriation overseas, the same care applies: the deceased is honoured, the family is supported, and nothing is left for you to chase.

Rooted in community, guided by scholars

We work hand in hand with local mosques, Imams and community organisations. Janazah prayers are arranged where the community can attend in numbers — after congregational prayer wherever possible — and we can arrange Imam-led services for families without a mosque connection. Where religious questions arise, such as coroner procedures or organ donation decisions, we encourage families to seek guidance from a scholar they trust, and we facilitate those conversations rather than replace them.

More than funerals

Bereavement does not end at the graveside. Through our Muslim Death Committee, families can prepare financially before a death occurs. Through our free guides, we help the community understand registration, post-mortem rights, funeral costs and Islamic practice. And through the charity, we support families in genuine hardship — because in this community, no Muslim should be buried without dignity, and no family should carry this burden alone.

If you would like to know more about who we are, or simply want to speak to someone before the need arises, call us on 0300 102 1786. We answer at every hour, and we are honoured to serve you.

The people behind the service

Our team combines two kinds of experience that rarely sit together: professional funeral practice and lifelong immersion in this community's mosques, traditions and languages. The colleague who answers your call has stood at gravesides in the rain at Handsworth and Sandwell Valley; the team performing Ghusl has done so for years under scholarly guidance; the coordinator handling your paperwork has sat across the desk from every register office and coroner's officer in the region. Members of our team speak English, Urdu, Punjabi and Mirpuri, so elderly relatives can ask their questions in the language their grief speaks.

We are deliberately not a franchise, not a call-centre brand, and not a mainstream chain with a Muslim page on its website. Every funeral is conducted by our own people, under our own standards, answerable to a charity board rather than shareholders. When we make a promise at 2am, the people who keep it at 9am work in the same building.

How we work with you, step by step

• First call: we listen, explain what applies to your situation, and begin — collection can usually be arranged within hours.
• One coordinator: a named person takes ownership of your family's arrangements and remains your single point of contact throughout.
• Written estimate: before anything is committed, you receive clear costs in writing, including exact cemetery fees for your chosen location.
• The rites: Ghusl, Kafan, Janazah and burial proceed at the fastest pace paperwork allows, each performed according to the Sunnah.
• Afterwards: we remain available — for the memorial when the family is ready, for Khatam arrangements, and for the practical checklist that follows any death.