Today in the Philippines, all feet lead to cemeteries.

Not in Saudi.

A Saudi colleague said that they never revisit the graves of the dead. I tend to believe him because I've seen a Saudi cemetery and the grounds are unmarked. (He even said that they never keep a picture of their dearly departed).

When it comes to burying the dead, Saudis have the simplest rites and the shortest mourning period. When King Fahd bin Abdel Aziz al-Saud died in 2005, his burial ceremony was very short, simple, solemn and austere (NY Times, 3 Aug 2005). So unlike the long, multi-layered Filipino Catholic's burial beliefs, rites and traditions.

While ours usually takes a week-long (or even more) mourning period, the Saudis bury their dead as soon as possible, preferably within 24 hours. Only after the dead is buried that they hold their mourning period of up to three days.

For most Islam sects, embalming of the dead is not allowed unless required by the court of law. Instead, the body is washed and shaven (founded on the belief that the dead shall be buried in the same manner that he was born -- clean). Ablution is done on the body just like how they perform the washing of mouth, nostrils, face, ears, arms and feet before prayers. The right side of the body is washed first before the left side. Sometimes too they perfume the Water with camphor. The manner in washing the body can be repeated more than once but should be in odd numbers (three, five, seven, so on).

The clean body is then wrapped in white cloth called kafan.

(I tend to think Jesus Christ's body was prepared similarly before He was laid to rest).

After the cleansing and kafan rites (these rites are accompanied by prayers), the body is taken to a mosque for prayer and then to a cemetery for burial. The burial ground is unmarked and the dead is buried on his right side and his face towards Makkah. It is never allowed to put candles on the grave.

The following articles detail how the Muslims perform the Janazah, their burial ceremony for the dead:

Mission Islam: Authentic Step by Step Guide for Janazahs (burial rites for Muslims)
Islamic City: All About Janazah
About Islam: Islamic Funerals