Is it permissible to cremate the dead body of a person?

The Details of the Question
My wife recently died and was cremated (she was not a Muslim). We have a joint burial slot at the crematory. My question is this: If I become a Muslim, can I still be cremated and buried with my wife?
The Answer

Dear Brother / Sister,

According to our religion, the dead bodies need to be washed, enshrouded and buried in the ground. It is stated in the Quran that this action was taught to man by Allah and that Adam’s son, who found out about what to do with the dead body from the acts of a raven, said, "Woe is me! Was I not even, able to be as this raven and to hide the shame of my brother?!" (al-Maeda, 5/31)

In some other verses, it is implied that the dead body needs to be buried. (Taha 20/ 55, al-Mursalat 77/25-26; Abasa 80/21-22)

Burying the dead body has a lot of wisdoms in terms of environmental cleaning, health, preserving the prestige of man and reminding death, etc." (See Mustafa Uzunpostalcı, "Defin", Diyanet İslam Ansiklopedisi, v: 9, p: 86)

Besides, the following hadith was reported regarding the dead body from our Prophet:

"To break the bone of a dead person is like breaking the bone of a living person." (Muwatta, Janaiz 15; Abu Dawud, Janaiz 58-60; Ibn Majah Janaiz, 63)

That is, it is not permissible to break the bone of a living person; it is not permissible to break the bone of a dead person, either. Cremating the dead body of a person can be compared to it.

Questions on Islam

Was this answer helpful?
Author:
Questions on Islam
Subject Categories:
Read 21.168 times
In order to make a comment, please login or register