Jeddah, May 30: The Interior Ministry has issued a circular ordering that bodies of Saudis or foreigners should not be sent to Makkah or Madinah for burial.
The statement said the issue was discussed with the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta, which said every Muslim should be buried in the area where he or she died.
“Under Shariah rules, the dead bodies should be buried without any delay before the corpse begins to decompose. This will also prevent unnecessary expenditure on transporting dead bodies,” the statement said.
Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, who is the chairman of the Council of Senior Scholars, said the insistence of families to bury their dead ones in Makkah or Madinah has no origin in the Qur’an or Sunnah.
“It will not reduce the sins of the dead to be buried in Makkah or Madinah. Only their good deeds will accompany them to their graves,” he said.
The mufti recalled that many of the Companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) who died during battles were buried away from the two holy cities.
“The two holy cities will not give sanctity to anyone buried in them,” he said, asking families to bury their dead ones right in the places where they died as quickly as possible after death.
-Agencies