Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Do Muslims Bury their Dead in the Water?

After Bin Laden was killed in a raid by U.S. forces in Pakistan, senior U.S. administration officials said the body would be handled according to Islamic practice and tradition. That practice calls for the body
to be buried within 24 hours. Finding a country willing to accept the remains of the world's most wanted terrorist would have been difficult, the official added. So the U.S. decided to bury him at sea.

Many of our reader sent in the following question.

Is it Islamic culture to bury their dead in the water?
No, Muslims do not bury their dead in the water as a general rule. When administration said the body was handled according to Islamic practice, they meant that he was buried within 24 hours of his death. Muslims usually bury the dead before the sunset..... Burying his body at sea was to ensure that his final resting place does not become a shrine and a place of pilgrimage for his followers.


For sea burial, according to alislam.org, the body should be lowered into the water "in a vessel of clay or with a weight tied to its feet". The website adds: "As far as possible it should not be lowered at a point where it is eaten up immediately by the sea predators."
also see

Many Islamic countries have their own customs and rituals regarding burial.

We decided to post the answer so others could also read it

please leave a comment


  1. Muslim law to bury dead within 24hrs? Be careful what you say! IN the Koran there is NO time limit written on burial of the dead(Koran 620-650).It clearly states for whatever reason the body cant be burried, it can be stored for a period in a box/ coffin.So this "rule" is totally based on culture! Yes in most of these muslim regions, it is PREFERED that the dead is burried within 24hrs(or before sunset). Im Australian, and if someone ruins our BBQ it would suck, but it would not cause us to uprise with violence!
    K.H.76.( ref. http://www.al-islam.org/laws/burial.html )

  2. why is every1 obssessed with his burial what about all those killed by him in planes and buildings, no one cared then.

  3. why is every1 obssessed with his burial .........

    Please read what I wrote before your comment! Cant you see that the whole thing is a lie? All their statements are full of lies, this is why all thése educated people are furious, sick of these false American evidence, At least try to make up a desent lie - they dont even try anymore, knowing that they can get away with everything.
    oh yea, and did HE do those things at 9/11? 100's of professional architechts, explosive experts and great journalists would disagree! ( journalist = someone who is presented with a statement/fact, researches it before printing it!)