Q&A : Burying better than Cremating Dead Bodies

Question : Why do Muslims bury dead bodies instead of cremating them, i.e. burning them?

Answer By Dr Zakir Naik

• Components of human body present in the soil : Elements that are present in the human body are present in lesser or greater quantity in the soil. Hence it is more scientific to bury a dead body, as it easily gets decomposed and mixed in the soil.

• No Pollution : Cremating (burning) the dead body leads to pollution of the atmosphere which is detrimental to health and harmful for the environment. There is no such pollution caused by burying a dead body.

• Surrounding land becomes fertile : To cremate a dead body several trees have to be chopped, which reduces the greenery and harms the environment and the ecology. When dead bodies are buried, besides the trees being saved, the surrounding land becomes fertile and it improves the environment.

• Economical : It is expensive to cremate a dead body when tons of wood have to be burned. Annually there is a loss of crores of rupees, only because dead bodies are cremated in India. Burying dead bodies is very cheap. It hardly costs any money.

• Same land can be utilised for burying another body : The wood used for cremating a dead body cannot be reutilised for cremating another dead body since it gets converted to ashes. The land used for burying a dead body can be reutilised for burying another body after a few years since the human body gets decomposed and mixed in the soil.

Above all, it has been prescribed by Allah that we should bury a dead body.

And Allah knows best.