Muslim’s Participation in Non-Muslim Burial Rites: The Position of Islam

Abstract

Considering the modern realities and the need to promote interfaith relations, which would in turn engender peaceful coexistence among people of various faiths, tribes, and cultures, this paper explored the permissibility of Muslims participating in funeral rites of a non-Muslim without compromising the fundamental Islamic principles, most especially as clearly spelt out in the Qur’an and Sunnah. Some of these non-Muslim burial rites, inter alia, are filing past a dead non-Muslim lying in state, following the corpse to the cemetery, entering the church, etc.  The paper scrutinized the article previously released by the lead author as the Head of the Da'wah Office and Chief Missioner of  Nasrul-Lahi-l-fatih Society (NASFAT), employing qualitative methods (textual analysis) and MIA (Meaning, Implication, and Application) analysis traced to Sheikh Ahmad Lemu (RA) to analyse key relevant texts. The findings show that, apart from the clear textual prohibition of praying for a dead non-Muslim, there is no clear evidence against other rites, rather there are hadiths permitting some aspects such as following the corpse following the corpse to the grave yard, burying the body and paying condolences visit to the family. In conclusion, while the Islamic principles of fostering family, neighborhood and societal harmony permits Muslims to participates in certain aspects of Christian burial rites, a Muslim must not transgress to the prohibited acts such as praying for or on the corpse.