Just as his life had been a flashpoint of contention, Osama bin Laden’s death has incited fresh disputes about whether his burial at sea was done in accordance with Islamic law. Critics, from Islamic scholars to 9/11 survivors, have censured the Obama administration’s decision to swiftly bury Mr. bin Laden's body at sea.
The White House insisted Monday that the burial was performed with respect to Islamic custom and that the administration had consulted with Islamic experts and decided beforehand how to handle bin Laden’s body.
Here’s a closer look at Islamic burial practices and whether bin Laden’s body was handled in accordance with Islamic law. -
Husna Haq, Correspondent
The USS Carl Vinson, pictured here on April 4, was the site of Osama bin Laden's controversial burial at sea. (US Navy/REUTERS/file)
1. What is the traditional Islamic burial?
In Islam, burials are performed simply and swiftly, as soon as possible after death.
Islamic law prescribes a ritual washing, shrouding in a simple white cloth, and a traditional burial in the ground. After a ritual funeral prayer led by an Imam, the shrouded body is typically placed directly in the ground, sans coffin, and the body positioned on its right side, facing Mecca.
2. When are sea burials allowed?
“Burial at sea was allowed in the case of long travel without having access to land for the fear of body deterioration,” Ahmed Nezar Kobeisy, a Medina University-trained scholar who now teaches Islamic studies at the King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, says in an e-mail.
“In this case of Osama bin Laden, the reason seems to be more political than religious.”
3. How was bin Laden’s burial performed?
After bin Laden was killed in a firefight in his Abbottabad compound, his body was transferred to the American aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, in the North Arabian Sea, according to administration officials.
His body was washed, wrapped in a white sheet, and then placed inside a weighted bag. After a military officer read prepared remarks that were translated into Arabic, bin Laden’s body was placed on a board and then tipped into the sea from the carrier’s lower deck, according to administration accounts.
4. Why did the US choose to bury bin Laden at sea?
“Finding a country willing to accept the remains of the world's most wanted terrorist would have been difficult,” an unnamed US official told the Associated Press. “So the US decided to bury him at sea.”
White House officials insisted that appealing to countries to accept bin Laden’s body for burial would have violated the swift burial Islamic law prescribes. One unnamed country that the US asked to take his body – widely believed to be Saudi Arabia – refused.
Denying bin Laden a ground burial also prevents his grave from becoming a shrine that would motivate more jihadis – or a site that would invite abuse and retribution from his enemies.
Many US Muslims and US-based scholars, including New York University chaplain Khalid Latif, support the administration’s decision.
“The decision to bury bin Laden at sea exemplifies for us how sharia is meant to function as it takes into consideration what would be best for society on a whole through a lens of compassion and mercy,” Imam Latif wrote in a CNN column. “Who would want this man buried next to their loved one?” he asked, adding that ground burials would give enemies or admirers opportunities for abuse or glorification.
“No opportunity should exist by which they could glorify bin Laden in his death, either in the immediate future or in years to come,” he wrote.
5. How do we know it was bin Laden?
CIA agents compared DNA samples from bin Laden with those of several family members, including a sister who died in a Boston hospital about a year ago.
One of bin Laden’s wives living in the Abbottabad compound also identified his body, and CIA specialists compared photographs of the body to existing photographs of bin Laden, according to Brennan.
The administration had not yet decided whether to release photographs of bin Laden’s body. While it would allay suspicion that bin Laden is actually dead, it could also incite retribution from bin Laden’s supporters.
6. Does Islamic law prescribe a fixed time period in which a body should be buried?
No. Contrary to what US officials have suggested in citing a 24-hour period of time in which a body must be buried in Islam, there is no such requirement, says Yaser Alkhooly, an imam at the Islamic Society of Central New York in Syracuse, NY.
“There is no such 24-hour exact period,” says Imam Alkhooly. “The dead body should simply be buried as soon as possible.”
And, adds Mr. Kobeisy, of King Abdulaziz University, in some cases a delay is allowable.
“For [those] who die of unknown causes, or where crimes are suspected, or for families to come and identify them, the waiting is acceptable since it is necessary and Muslim scholars have no objection to the waiting,” writes Kobeisy.
7. Was the sea burial justified in this case?
Scholars are divided on this point, with some suggesting it was unjustified and was carried out to dishonor bin Laden and others saying it was a practical decision in this situation.
“[His] body should only be buried on land, under the dirt…. Officially, he should be buried in his own country, Saudi Arabia,” says Alkhooly, the Syracuse imam. “It's not allowed to bury anyone in the sea or ocean unless he or she died there and there is fear that the body would rot before they found close land.”
Although in most cases a sea burial would be unlawful in Islam, says Kobeisy, sharia law allows for exceptions in extreme circumstances.
“What they have done has no religious justification since he was already on land and was taken to sea,” Kobeisy writes. “If they wanted to follow the religious rules, they could have kept the body in a morgue.… They could have preserved the body until it was delivered to his family or buried in land.”
But, he adds, sharia law, which establishes burial rulings in Islam, is designed to increase benefits and reduces detriments to society, and only from that perspective might bin Laden’s sea burial be justified. “If his return to the land was assessed to lead to chaos, fighting and perhaps killing, then burying [bin Laden’s] body in the sea would be justified,” he writes.
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