The search for and collection of the dead It is a way to show that respecting the dead is the common overriding concern of both their forensic work and Islamic law. Understanding these Islamic rules can help guide humanitarian forensic specialists to overcome challenges they face by respecting the religious needs of Muslim societies when they work in Muslim contexts. This nature of Islamic law points to the impact Islamic law can have in influencing societal behavior. It helps ensure that Muslims voluntarily impose such rules upon themselves and that they keep practicing even with regard to aspects that are not codified in Muslim States’ legal systems and over which courts have no jurisdiction. Combining legal and ethical elements is an important characteristic of Islamic law that helps keeps it alive. For instance, burial and grave regulations are deliberated in the Islamic legal literature along with the etiquette of visiting graves. This is the case as well with the management of the dead. Some of the most significant of which, for our purposes here, are: searching for and collecting the dead, disposal of Muslim and non-Muslim mortal remains, quick burial, exhumation of human remains and burial at sea.īefore delving into these issues, it is worth noting that Islamic law at times combines purely legal rules with religious and/or ethical matters. The dignity of the dead surfaced in the discussions of the classical Muslim jurists on a number of issues. These laws aim to respect the dignity of the dead and respect the feelings of their loved ones to the degree possible.
#The war of the gods respect feeling how to#
God used the raven to dig into the ground to bury another raven, thus indirectly showing Cain how to bury his brother’s body.įaced with the difficulties of ensuring the dignified burial of the dead in the context of armed conflicts and other situations of violence and natural disasters, classical Muslim jurists developed Islamic laws to deal with the challenge. There, it is narrated that when Cain was unsure of how to deal with the body of his brother Abel-whom he had murdered-God sent a message in the form of a raven.
This importance of the human body is illustrated, for instance, in the Qur’ān 5:31. Whether dead or alive, the human body-created by God in the perfect shape-must be given dignity and respect. Islam grants certain rights to humans before they are even born and others after their death. In Islam, human dignity is a right given by God to all humans-who are referred to in the Qur’ān as God’s vicegerents on earth. Throughout history, religions, traditions and cultural practices have influenced the ways in which the dead are managed both in times of peace and conflict.
Burying the dead is one way to ensure that the dead are accorded dignity and respect and that the feelings of their living loved ones are considered. In many civilizations, traditions and religions-both ancient and modern-death is a mere transitional phase between one stage of life and another. This post addresses a few challenges from an Islamic law perspective in the hope that it can provide insights for forensic specialist dealing with the management of the dead in Muslim contexts. With two thirds of current armed conflicts taking place in Muslim contexts, the importance of Islamic law in these matters cannot be underestimated. During armed conflict, forensic specialists encounter huge challenges in ensuring the proper and dignified management of the dead.
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