format_quote Originally Posted by
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!
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.