Egypt’s Azhar, Indonesian Clerics Slam Osama’s Sea Burial

Grand Sheik of al-Azhar in Cairo, Ahmad al-Tayeb, and Indonesia's top Islamic body condemned on Tuesday the US measure to bury the body of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden into the sea as a violation of Islamic laws.

The burial at sea “runs contrary to the principles of Islamic laws, religious values and humanitarian customs," al-Tayeb said in a statement. He said that the dead should be given full respect regardless of their nations or beliefs, adding that a corpse would be respected once it is buried.

A senior US Defense official alleged that bin Laden's body has been buried at sea after the procedures for Islamic burial were followed on the deck of the USS Carl Vinson for one hour. He said that his body was washed and placed in a white sheet, then verses of the Qur'an were cited and the corpse was eased into the North Arabian Sea. The official added that finding a country willing to accept the remains of the world's most wanted man was difficult, so the US decided to bury him at sea.

This is while burial at sea is not an Islamic practice.



The Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI), the country's highest Islamic body, slammed the US decision to bury bin Laden at sea. "A Muslim, whatever his profession, even a criminal, their rites must be respected. There must be a prayer and the body should be wrapped in white cloth before being buried in the earth, not at sea," MUI chief Amidhan said.

"Many others have condemned it, especially as it was done with extraordinary hatred against him."

A group known as the Islamic Defenders Front announced plans to hold a "mass prayer for bin Laden" in Jakarta on Wednesday. Mourners were invited to "express gratitude to the late martyr Sheikh Osama bin Laden".
Also, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's office issued a statement which neither applauded nor condemned the killing of Bin Laden.

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