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This past week we’ve been reflecting on how to remember those we have lost. Wednesday was Holocaust Memorial day when the theme was `be the light in the darkness.’ And on Tuesday the UK passed the grim milestone of 100 thousand deaths from Covid-19. When asked on this programme whether there should be a physical memorial to mark this, the archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby replied– `I think there will be a significant number of them, but added that `the greatest memorial is how we rebuild together after this.’ We can’t avoid speaking of loss at this moment in time. The pandemic has forced us to face up to death almost daily while also restraining our emotions. Not being able to hold the hand of a dying relative or to be near them to tell them you love them, has added to the trauma of loss. When someone dies, we don’t lose them all at once but gradually, in pieces, and as we grieve over days and months, our sorrow needs expression, in tears, in ritual and in remembrance. But how do you memorialize loss and what purpose do memorials serve today? The relationship between history and memory, --- memory and nation building has been with us for centuries. But memorials, whether physical statues, sculptures, monuments, plaques or books of condolences shouldn’t only be about marking the present, remembering a tragedy or sacrifice, or a national event. So often -- building a memorial can close off discussion about the meaning of the memory, why the stories matter and should matter to future generations. Physical sites may bring a nation together for a while but the stories behind them can often disappear unless society makes the effort to remember and to learn. In Islamic thought, memorializing has been a strained debate. For the faithful the qur’anic verse `to God do we belong and to him do we return’ is a sobering reminder of the passing of life. But even though the rituals of death and mourning are swift, there’s been an ideological division between the emotional and social value of shrines and spaces which remember the dead. It seems to me that to avoid national memorials being gradually reduced to tourist attractions, they have to prick our conscience, and inspire social and political action for a better future. Memorials should be a symbol of what a country can be when it recognises where it went wrong, and when it has the courage to change its course. That may go somewhere in doing justice to the memory of the dead and the grief of those left behind.