‘Dead’ man resurfaces 38 days after his burial
Ashraf Bamusungwire, 24. PHOTOS/ MOSES MUTAKA
What you need to know:
- Ashraf Bamusungwire, 24, was at the end of September pronounced dead in a fatal accident at Migyera in Nakasongola District where he had reportedly gone for casual labour; his relatives organised an ambulance to return his body, buried him and were now gearing up for his duwa when he reappeared on Friday.
A man who was reportedly buried 38 days ago has shocked relatives and the neighbourhood by resurfacing two days to his last funeral rites, otherwise known as ‘duwa’ in the Muslim religion.
Ashraf Bamusungwire, 24, was at the end of September pronounced dead in a fatal accident at Migyera in Nakasongola District where he had reportedly gone for casual labour; his relatives organised an ambulance to return his body, buried him and were now gearing up for his duwa when he reappeared on Friday.
Ashraf Bamusungwire undergoes cleansing rituals. PHOTO/MOSES MUTAKA
Accompanied by his sister, Bamusungwire was sprinkled with traditional water in a calabash, raw coffee berries, two goats, a lamb, and prayed for by the area Imam and later the clan head before being handed over to his mother, Monica Nangobi, who carried him on her laps with tears of joy.
“A close friend of his rang us, saying he had been knocked dead; so, we got an ambulance, sold part of his land for fuel and other funeral arrangements, picked up the body and buried him in our ancestral cemetery,” the mother said.
It is now more likely that the family buried the wrong person because the only distinctive feature that was relied on to identify their loved one was being circumcised because the face and other body features were unrecognizable after the crash.
“The deceased was identified by circumcision because the face was badly damaged,” Nangobi added.
Ashraf Bamusungwire carried shoulder-high by relatives around the home and cemetery. PHOTO/MOSES MUTAKA
Asked about the potentially wrong body that was buried in their cemetery, Rashid Kipwapwa, the clan leader, said: “It was Allah’s wish to find a fellow Muslim and bury him rather than leaving him out there to rot. We will treat him as a brother in Islam until he is claimed by his relatives.”
He added: “Allah sent us this body and we believe and say ‘Muslim is a brother to another Muslim’, so we abided by Allah’s wish and buried a Muslim brother. It is a test of our Islamic faith for sacrificing to give a decent burial to a brother Muslim.”
