Is Burial compulsory in Islam?

[AvarAllahNoor]

Just wondering, because for Sikhs, it's not compulsory to bury or just to cremate, it's a personal preference. I'd like to be buried. Because the outcome is the same, the body is dead and the soul has departed the moment you breathe your last!

[Mohsin]

Just wondering, because for Sikhs, it's not compulsory to bury or just to cremate, it's a personal preference. I'd like to be buried. Because the outcome is the same, the body is dead and the soul has departed the moment you breathe your last!

Yeah, but we believe in the afterlife, and we believe we will be resurrected, thus burial is better. I don't think in islam there is any option, since if i'm not mistaken during the Prophet PBUH's time the dead would be burried, thus if people were to do different it would be bringing innovations to the religion and creating their own shariah! "Bidd'a!" :rant:

Also here is what our good friend Dr zakir Naik has to say on this topic ;)

BURYING BETTER THAN CREMATING DEAD BODIES

Question:

Why do Muslims bury dead bodies instead of cremating them, i.e. burning them?

Answer:



1. Components of human body present in the soil
Elements that are present in the human body are present in lesser or greater quantity in the soil. Hence it is more scientific to bury a dead body, as it easily gets decomposed and mixed in the soil.

2. No Pollution
Cremating (burning) the dead body leads to pollution of the atmosphere which is detrimental to health and harmful for the environment. There is no such pollution caused by burying a dead body.


3. Surrounding land becomes fertile
To cremate a dead body several trees have to be chopped, which reduces the greenery and harms the environment and the ecology. When dead bodies are buried, besides the trees being saved, the surrounding land becomes fertile and it improves the environment.


4. Economical
It is expensive to cremate a dead body when tons of wood have to be burned. Annually there is a loss of crores of rupees, only because dead bodies are cremated in India. Burying dead bodies is very cheap. It hardly costs any money.


5. Same land can be utilised for burying another body
The wood used for cremating a dead body cannot be reutilised for cremating another dead body since it gets converted to ashes. The land used for burying a dead body can be reutilised for burying another body after a few years since the human body gets decomposed and mixed in the soil.

[AvarAllahNoor]

Cremation takes up no space of land whatsoever! But like i say, as a Sikh were allowed to be buried or cremated and my personal choice would be to be buried! And i'm glad i have the choice!

[afriend]

Good! You'll be helping the Earth at the same time :)

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[AvarAllahNoor]

Good! You'll be helping the Earth at the same time :)

What with my horrid flesh? Nah i don't think so lol

[Mohsin]

What with my horrid flesh? Nah i don't think so lol

So do you believe in resurrection or anything similar to that?

[Snowflake]

Burial is so natural.. just like when flowers and leaves die and are absorbed back into the earth.. :)

Every time my head touches the ground in sujood, it reminds me that that's where I will be returning one day.

[syilla]

Cremation takes up no space of land whatsoever! But like i say, as a Sikh were allowed to be buried or cremated and my personal choice would be to be buried! And i'm glad i have the choice!

but it takes space to build up cremation...

however...if buried...you can still recycle the land

[afriend]

What with my horrid flesh? Nah i don't think so lol

lol stop insulting urself like that :p

Seriously tho, that's the circle of life init? eco circle or whatever you call it...fertilises the land

[AvarAllahNoor]

but it takes space to build up cremation...

however...if buried...you can still recycle the land

Space? all you do here in the UK, is buy a coffin and then it's inserted into the furnace in a creamatoriunm (sp) and whoooooosh it's oveer and you emerge out in a pile of ash and a few bones!

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ke Fateh

[syilla]

i mean the creamatoriunm :D

[AvarAllahNoor]

i mean the creamatoriunm :D

lol, You mean the premises used take up space? Well i could say so do cemetaries! :giggling:

[QuranStudy]

Is cremation haraam?

[AvarAllahNoor]

Is cremation haraam?

According to this chap named Mohsin it may be! :)

I don't think in islam there is any option, since if i'm not mistaken during the Prophet PBUH's time the dead would be burried, thus if people were to do different it would be bringing innovations to the religion and creating their own shariah! "Bidd'a!"

[Mohsin]

And i'm glad i have the choice!

Ypu make it sound like its a good thing. Wouldn't it be better If God had told you what the best thing to do with your body is after you die? he created us so he knows best for us. I'm glad God guides us and doesn't leave it to ourselves to do what we think may be right/wrong/ or good/bad for us depending on what we desire

[E'jaazi]

The choice is simple. You either follow the Sunnah or you don't!

[E'jaazi]

It is not permissible to burn the body of the deceased after death


Question:


I am a recent convert to Islam. It was somewhat of a tradition in my family to get cremated. I always had that in my head that this was the best thing to do for the environment of the earth. Can you please tell me if this is allowed in Islam? Thank-you very much for your time.



Answer:


Praise be to Allaah.


It must be noted that the teachings and laws of Islam came to honour people. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And indeed We have honoured the Children of Adam” [al-Israa’ 17:70]

As the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was the one who conveyed to us the laws of our Lord, he taught us what Allaah has prescribed concerning the dead, what we are permitted to do in their case and what we are not permitted to do. Hence the teachings of Islam are different from the teachings of other nations; they include treating the deceased with respect and in a manner that will benefit him. Allaah has prescribed for us that when a Muslim dies, we should wash him and cleanse him, then shroud him in a white cloth, then we should offer the funeral prayer for him and pray for mercy and forgiveness for him. Then after that we must bury him and cover him with earth, then we should visit the graves and pray for their Muslim occupants. It is not prescribed in Islam to burn or cremate the dead, rather this is an act of disrespect and dishonour. Islam forbids us to step, walk or sit on the grave of the deceased, so how could we burn him? Even non-Muslims are to be buried according to Islam, and this is what the Muslims do in the case of kuffaar who die in their countries, but the kuffaar are not buried with the Muslims in the same place. Some of the kuffaar may burn their dead because they do not believe in the Last Day. For this reason it is not permitted to burn the dead; rather it is obligatory to bury the dead. And Allaah knows best.



Islam Q&A
Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid

[AvarAllahNoor]

Ypu make it sound like its a good thing. Wouldn't it be better If God had told you what the best thing to do with your body is after you die? he created us so he knows best for us. I'm glad God guides us and doesn't leave it to ourselves to do what we think may be right/wrong/ or good/bad for us depending on what we desire

Why?

The body is a vessel for the soul for it's duration on earth! It doesn't matter what happens to the body once the soul has left.

[AvarAllahNoor]

Apart from Mohmmed being buried, does it state in the Kuran that burial is only allowed??

[AvarAllahNoor]

So do you believe in resurrection or anything similar to that?

Life after death, yes. But we won't be in need of our body that we have had on earth! (unlike what you believe)

[Mohsin]

Life after death, yes. But we won't be in need of our body that we have had on earth! (unlike what you believe)

Sorry I may not have been clear. We will be resurrected, and God will change our appearance. To be honest I don't think the afterlife is anything to do with it being burried, I don't know nwhy i mentioned that.

Apart from Mohmmed being buried, does it state in the Kuran that burial is only allowed??

In many places in the Qur'an it says obey your Prophet PBUH. So whartever Prophet Muhammed PBUH says goes. And when he was alive he would always instruct the burial of dead people

[Mohsin]

Ypu make it sound like its a good thing. Wouldn't it be better If God had told you what the best thing to do with your body is after you die? he created us so he knows best for us. I'm glad God guides us and doesn't leave it to ourselves to do what we think may be right/wrong/ or good/bad for us depending on what we desire

Why?

The body is a vessel for the soul for it's duration on earth! It doesn't matter what happens to the body once the soul has left.

I don't think you've answered the question really? :rollseyes

It doesn't matter what happens to us after we die, but the fact that we know God has instructed us to do something makes us 100% content with us doing it, knowing God wants us to do it this way, and God always knows best for his creation. he knows benefits of things that us mere humans do not know :) islam is a way of life, our shariah covers every minute detail from going to the toilet, eating ,c changing our clothes, going to sleep and waking up again, marriage etc God has guided us in every aspect, and that is what makes me glad

[AvarAllahNoor]

I don't think you've answered the question really? :rollseyes

It doesn't matter what happens to us after we die, but the fact that we know God has instructed us to do something makes us 100% content with us doing it, knowing God wants us to do it this way, and God always knows best for his creation. he knows benefits of things that us mere humans do not know :) islam is a way of life, our shariah covers every minute detail from going to the toilet, eating ,c changing our clothes, going to sleep and waking up again, marriage etc God has guided us in every aspect, and that is what makes me glad

You boy seem to have an axe to grind! :heated:

Now i'm saying, Sikhs have been left a choice BY God to do as they please with the dead corpse, now you want to quarrel over WHY we havn't got a particular method! As i say, what happens to our body (Burial or cremation) is irrelavant! So to God it matters not what we do, as long as we live according to his rules whilst ALIVE!