Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Muslim Clerics Unhappy Osama Bin Laden Used As Shark Chum


They shouldn't worry. His head will be pointed towards Mecca if the shark is swimming the right direction.
CAIRO — Muslim clerics said Monday that Osama bin Laden’s burial at sea was a violation of Islamic tradition that may further provoke militant calls for revenge attacks against American targets.

Although there appears to be some room for debate over the burial — as with many issues within the faith — a wide range of Islamic scholars interpreted it as a humiliating disregard for the standard Muslim practice of placing the body in a grave with the head pointed toward the holy city of Mecca.

Sea burials can be allowed, they said, but only in special cases where the death occurred aboard a ship.
“The Americans want to humiliate Muslims through this burial, and I don’t think this is in the interest of the U.S. administration,” said Omar Bakri Mohammed, a radical cleric in Lebanon.

But the Lebanese cleric Mohammed called it a “strategic mistake” that was bound to stoke rage.

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