FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
We are all familiar with that verse from the Quran, “Every soul shall taste death.” Sooner or later, all of us will have to meet our maker. For many of us that time will come where we will deal with the death of a loved one. It will be a difficult and emotional time for any of us to go through, so it is helpful that one is familiar with the process beforehand.
Q. What should I do when a loved one passes away?
A. If the death occurs at a home or anywhere outside a hospital or hospice facility, call 911 immediately and inform the Police. After this call us on our 24/7 line, 713-822-1091. You must inform the Hospital or the Police that you have designated ISGH Funeral Services to pick up your loved one. Once the body has been released to us for pick-up, we will then proceed to there and make the removal of your loved one. The body will be taken to our funeral home. We will set up a time for you or the next of kin to come into our funeral home and we will proceed with the Ghusl. During that time the payment for services and the contract paperwork will be taking care of. We normally do burial at Forest Lawn Cemetery at 8701 Almeda Genoa Rd, Houston, TX 77075.
Q. What are the prices of a typical funeral service?
A. You may call our office at 713-822-1091 for more details on pricing. Please note that there may be extra charges for additional services such as extra death certificates, getting police escort, additional mileage fees for transportation, etc. There is a discount for ISGH members.
Q. How soon can I expect the death certificate to arrive?
A. After the service it will take up to two weeks for the death certificate to arrive in the mail assuming that the doctor signs it within five days.
Q. Where are all the Islamic cemetery plots in Houston that we do burials in? Is there a cemetery that you prefer to work with? Can you perform burials outside the City of Houston?
A. We can perform burials at any cemetery at the family’s request. The four cemeteries we most commonly work with are Forest Lawn, Forest Park Westheimer, Forest Park the Woodlands, and Earthman Resthaven. If a family requests a cemetery outside the city of Houston we may charge an additional mileage fee depending on how far away it is located.
- Forest Lawn Cemetery (713) 991-2313
- Forest Park Westheimer (281) 497-2330
- Forest Park the Woodlands (936) 321-5115
- Earthman Resthaven (281) 443-0063
Q. What are some documents that need to be gathered if you want to ship the remains of a loved one overseas? What is the procedure for a ship out?
A. We perform both domestic and international ship outs of human remains and are known shippers with most of the major airlines. When there is a ship out of the country that needs to be made its important for the family to gather the following information as quick as possible:
FULL LEGAL NAME OF THE DECEASED: First, Middle and Last
MAIDEN NAME (the surname of a woman before she marries): Last Name Before Marriage
DATE OF DEATH:
DATE OF BIRTH:
BIRTH PLACE (city and state):
SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER:
MARITAL STATUS: Married, Single, Widowed, or Divorced
SURVIVING SPOUSE FULL NAME (maiden name if female):
RESIDENCE ADDRESS:
COUNTY:
FATHERS FULL NAME:
MOTHERS FULL MAIDEN NAME:
INFORMANT FULL NAME (Next of Kin: Spouse, Child/children, and Sibling):
INFORMANT’S ADDRESS:
Original Passport of the Deceased given to us when we make the removal of the deceased
Emailed Copy of the Passenger traveling with the deceased passport photo page
Departure Airport City & State:
Arrival Airport City & State:
Flight(s)/date(s) requested for departure:
Name of the Cemetery the deceased will be buried in
City & State of the Cemetery where the deceased will be buried at
Consignee Name person or transport service picking the deceased up from the airport:
Consignee Address:
Consignee Telephone #:
Passenger Traveling Name:
Record Locator #:
Flight number(s)/date(s) passenger booked for:
All the major airlines require human remains to be embalmed in order to be shipped out of the country, so that is one thing families must take into account before deciding to ship the remains of a loved one overseas.
Q. So in what situations can the body be taken to the medical examiner? What are some things the medical examiner might do to the body once it’s there?
A. If the police deem it necessary that the body needs to be further examined to determine the cause of death the body may be taken to the Medical Examiner. The Medical Examiner may choose to only do a visual inspection, but they may also chose to do an autopsy as well. In the case of an autopsy, we will suture the body back together. Therefore we always request to families to give us time to fix up any bodies coming from the Medical Examiner before any viewing is done.
Q. If I want to volunteer, how can I get involved in helping out?
A. Call our office at 713-822-1091 and let them know you want to help out! We are always looking for volunteers especially Brothers/Sisters who are willing to help out in performing ghusl.
If you have any further questions feel free to call us. You may also email us your question at isghfuneralhome@gmail.com – please give us 24 hours to respond.