United News of India
Lucknow, Apr 17: Coronavirus victims should be given a decent burial as per rituals, eminent Muslim cleric Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali has said.
In a fatwa issued by his seminary Darul Uloom Firangi Mahali here on Thursday night, the Maulana said people dying of the dreaded disease deserve a decent burial and their bodies should not be treated as untouchables.
The fatwa comes in wake of a controversy in the state capital on Wednesday night after a section of Muslims objected to the burial of first fatality in Aishbagh cemetery.
The 64-year old man had succumbed in the King George Medical University hospital on Wednesday.
According to the Islamic Centre of India statement, a Lucknow resident Sayed Ejaz Ahmad had sought a fatwa on the last rites of Coronavirus victims.
He had sought clarifications on the ritual bath before burial, shroud, janaza-e-namaaz (last collective prayer for the departed) and the burial in public graveyards.
The fatwa said that the departed should be given the ritual last bath but in a different manner. Water should be poured over the body bag without opening it. The body bag should be treated as a shroud, it said.
Similarly, the last prayers should be held keeping the Covid-19 protocol of social distancing in mind. The body can be buried in public graveyard.
The fatwa also condemned the boycott of the burial on Wednesday and said that it was not only against Shariat but also against social courtesy and human behavior.
The fatwa was given collectively by Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali, Maulana Nasrullah, Maulana Naimur Rahman Siddiqui and Maulana Mohammad Mushtaq.
Speaking to reporters through a video message, Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali said that WHO, in its March 24 guidelines, had clearly mentioned that a Coronavirus body is not untouchable and should be given a decent burial with full respect.
