10.02.2025 10:11
21-year-old Nihat Ateş, who has been working as a mortician in Hatay for a year, expressed that he performs his job with enthusiasm, saying, "I tried to bring my friends here, but they are scared. I told them to see me while washing a corpse, but none of them came. My friends tolerate my profession. They say, 'You will wash me. When I die, make sure to bury me in that cemetery.'"
Nihat Ateş, who lives in the Antakya district, started his memorization training in 2017 and became a hafiz after completing his education four years later. While his family expected him to become an imam, Ateş chose the profession of a mortician, which he became interested in. Starting his profession at the age of 20, Ateş has been working as a mortician at the Hatay Metropolitan Municipality Cemetery Department for a year. He expressed that he loves his job and has no concerns about marriage due to being a mortician, stating that some people have made wills saying, "You will wash me."
"MORTICIAN WORK IS A DIFFICULT PROFESSION TO LEARN FROM"
Choosing mortuary work against his family's wishes for him to become an imam, Nihat Ateş said, "I went to memorize in 2017 and finished in 2021. I became interested in the profession of mortician. My teacher Mevlüt became a mortician before me, and I went with him. I was curious about what kind of profession it was. I started mortuary work at the age of 20 and have been continuing for a year. Mortuary work is a difficult profession to learn from and is not as it appears from the outside. I do this job with love. My family reacted normally. I had talked to them beforehand. I said I would do it because I have a passion for it. They said, 'Okay, then there is no problem.' My family told me to become an imam. I said I would be a mortician. After that, we took on the profession and I continue it," he said.
"AFTER WASHING THE BODY, IF SOMEONE GREETS ME OUTSIDE, I WON'T RECOGNIZE THEM"
Ateş stated that people have made wills for someone to wash them after they die, saying, "When I say I am a mortician, they laugh more, but it is not a profession to laugh about. They should take it seriously, but they laugh. I chose this profession because it came from my heart. I say I chose mortuary work instead of being an imam. I saw it in the mortician movie, but I have no concerns about marriage and no worries. If God wills, it will happen. In the past year, I have washed over a thousand bodies. In the first days, I saw very different corpses. Thanks to my teachers, I did not struggle. After washing the body, if someone greets me outside, I won't recognize them. I did not struggle in my first body washing. I have never washed the body of someone close to me. When I told my friends I was a mortician, they did not find it strange at all and said it was good because you are a hafiz. I tried to bring my friends here, but they are scared. I told them to see me while washing a body, but none of them came. My friends are accepting of my profession. They say, 'You will wash me.' They also make wills saying, 'When I die, put me in this cemetery.'