AhlulBayt News Agency

source : PressTV
Monday

2 May 2011

7:30:00 PM
239692

Top Sunni Cleric "Ahmad al-Tayeb" Slams Osama Sea Burial

Grand Sheik of al-Azhar in Cairo, Ahmad al-Tayeb, has condemned the US measure to deposit the body of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden into the sea as a violation of Islamic laws.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Grand Sheik of al-Azhar in Cairo, Ahmad al-Tayeb, has condemned the US measure to deposit 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 should be respected when it is buried.

US President Barack Obama announced in a televised speech on Sunday that bin Laden was killed by US forces after he was found hiding in a compound in Pakistan.

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.

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