Our Will: Cremate Our Dead Body … Why?

Published in Arabic in December 4, 2016

Translated by Ahmed Fathy

Firstly: our will:

  Undoubtedly, the title of this article is shocking to some readers; however, we are not joking; we are indeed in earnest and perfectly serious in expressing this in our will. This topic will be read for the first time by our sons here, as we have not discussed our will with them before. This is our will to be executed by them after our own death; we write it here in public to share it with all readers and our fellow Quranists: (Upon our death, cremate our dead body. The ashes of our corpse must be put in an urn and are to be sprinkled all over the garden of our house in Springfield, VA. Later on, a tree carrying our name must be planted in the garden of our house.).

Secondly: why is that?

1- God has honored the progeny of Adam, and among such honor is to bury their corpses; the dead body is called in the Quran ''saw'aa'', which literally means, in Arabic, a thing unsightly, with a bad odor. However beloved was the dead owner of this corpse, none of the deceased one's relatives or nearest kin can bear to stay near the corpse while it is being decomposed and reeking with unbearable odors. Thus, burial of the corpse/ cadaver/carcass is a great honor to its owner: the human soul who left the human corpse to return to Barsakh from which it came originally, but this time carrying its deeds with it, while leaving the corpse to return to its original state as well: dust. Burial into dust is common, wither in a casket or coffin buried underneath the earth or wrapped in a shroud inside a tomb to hide away the corpse/ cadaver/carcass wrapped in a shroud after being washed with water and ornamented, as most relatives of the deceased do, though they know the corpse/ cadaver/carcass will be food for worms and microorganisms. the corpse/ cadaver/carcass takes a long time till it turns finally to dust.    

2- We quote here what people assert about the decomposition of the corpse/cadaver/carcass. (…Coldness of death is the very first sign that occurs directly after one's death, as the body temperature decreases quickly within the rate of 1 or 2 Celsius degrees per hour until the body temperature will be equal to the room temperature. This results from the stopping of natural processes, like metabolism, inside the dead body. Such lowered body temperature is one of the proofs of death. The corpse's face turns pale and yellowish, and the corpse produces an odor, unnoticed by the living people, that attracts insects, especially flies, to put their eggs in the dead body curves and orifices. Body color turns blue; one of the body parts turns blue, a process resulting from deposition of blood in the dangling part of the body, within 3 to 6 hours after death, as the heart has stopped working and no blood circulates the dead body. Forensic medical doctors, who are investigating crimes, rely on that sign to determine the timing of death of a person and to know if the body has been moved or not from its original place. This sign occurs because the heart muscles stopped working and blood stopped circulating through the body. Hardening of the body is sign is resulting from lack of circulating blood into body muscles, and thus they harden and do not move. The dead body reaches the highest level of hardening 12 hours after death. Accumulation of insects is a sign that indicates an advanced stage of decomposition as its pace quickens to include the whole corpse, when aerobic microorganisms begin to consume oxygen of the corpse quickly and make the corpse an environment ready for the spread and reproduction of anaerobic microorganisms. Within this stage of quick decomposition, certain insects lay their eggs in body orifices like genitals, ears, nose, mouth, etc., and soon enough, eggs hatch to produce millions of larvae that feed on the corpse and are attracted to the corpse by the odors it reeks. Within forensic entomology, the number and types of insects help to know the timing of death. Body swelling occurs in the abdomen and intestines area of the body and the body swells as different microorganisms and insects reproduce inside it in great numbers, and the body is filled with gases like methane, carbon dioxide, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide. Self-decomposition is a process resulting from the self-destruction of cells in the corpse. Signs of self-composition begin by greenish marks that will appear within the abdominal area after the passage of one full day after death, blood vessels grow bigger in the chest and abdomen areas, and eyes change as cornea turns opaque. Hateful odors reek from the corpse soon enough. Within 2-5 days after death, swelling grows bigger in the abdomen area and scrotum area, froth gets out of the nose and the mouth mixed with blood. Greenish dots spread over the abdomen and chest areas, and gases accumulate underneath the skin, causing the swelling of the whole body and face. The eyes protrude and the tongue gets out, while facial features disappear gradually, and gases inside the corpse produce nauseating odors. Decomposed body parts within 5-10 days after death: skin, body hair, nails, and then all cells of the corpse as countless microbes, microorganisms, insects, bacteria, and worms feed on it. All muscles disintegrate from the human bones and are eaten until they disappear. The skeleton remains for a while longer, and when the microorganisms find no food for themselves, they eat each other and disappear gradually as well; as some of the surviving microorganism will die of lack of food. This process is called active decay that decompose all body parts beyond recognition. After total decomposition of the corpse within 6 months, bones take longer time to decompose within months or even years as factors like per burial places, temperature, depth of burial place, pressure on corpse, etc. For instance, in cold areas skeletons do not decompose into basic elements quickly, while they decompose fast within one month in tropical areas. Some assert that after 25 years, the skeleton will have been completely turned into dust. The process of decomposition of dead creatures is vital to make life continue on Earth; it makes soil fertile by elements necessary for growing plants, and it prevents corpses from covering the surface of the planet since the first dead creature until now. Hence, this natural process of decomposition helps food chains in nature and lowers the rates of pollution and illnesses resulting from accumulation of unburied corpses. Hence, elements return to nature in water, air and soil to be used again…).

3- The cremation of the corpse/cadaver/carcass is a better and brief way to shorten this above proves which is horrible and nauseating, by turning the dead body into dust at once, and this dust can be used to plant trees for the benefit of people. This is why we have written our will to have our dead body cremated.  

Thirdly: worshiping corpses/cadavers/carcasses:

1- Many people until now go on with the bad habit and practice of worshiping corpses/cadavers/carcasses within the so-called 'holy' tombs and mausoleums visited daily by the insane to worship at them, while sometimes making festivals and celebrations around them annually and offering oblations, candles, and votive items as well as money to these mausoleums. This is indeed against mind and reason, and this is definitely and undoubtedly against the Quran.     

2- There is also a hidden practice of revering and worshiping corpses/cadavers/carcasses within most people on earth in most cultures; the vast majority of human beings care only for bodies and never see anything in human beings except that they are bodies. When people die, others who are still alive deal with the corpses/cadavers/carcasses as if they were still the deceased person; they tend to forget that the dead body is a corpse/cadaver/carcass, and the person is the soul that left it to return to its original location: Barsakh. The vast majority of people tend to forget that living bodies are walking corpses as well, a moving/mobile carrion waiting for its turn to die eventually and inevitably.  

3- The vast majority of people tend to embellish, beautify, and ornament the living bodies, and such processes of beautification are the bases of so many industries, foundations, businesses, and corporations. The vast majority of people rarely care for embellishment of their souls, their real selves, by disciplining and correcting souls with high moralistic values and good deeds.  

4- The ongoing and incessant processes to embellish, beautify, and ornament the living bodies are clear evidence that even the living body is considered a saw'aa, as the living body will produce hideous odors if not cleaned while it goes on and secreting sweat, urine, excrement, farts, etc. When one wakes up and go out without washing one's face, one looks ugly and awful. Hence, the living saw'aa (i.e., living body) that house the soul (i.e., the real self) needs cleaning all the time especially within all its orifices, so as not to make human beings similar to stinking animals and so as to avoid diseases and ailments.        

5- We wonder at the fact that the basis of corruption and disease of the living body (or rather the living saw'aa) is the abdomen, intestines, and genitals, and they are the same areas that are the basis and start-points of decomposition of dead body (the saw'aa) as well. We wonder at the fact that when people eat good-smelling food with mouth-watering aromas, people fart and defecate excrement with foul smell; this is the same odor that reeks out of decomposed saw'aa, after souls leave the dead bodies. We wonder at the fact that the more delicious the food would taste, the more foul the odor of excrement would become. When people eat veggies and simple vegetarian recipes and diets, excrement is not as foul-smelling as when people eat sweets, patisseries, gateaux, meat, and fish; excrement in that case would has unbearable odor. We wonder at the fact that people seldom remember their early months as babies with soft skins and good smells. The body of a baby is considered to be a living saw'aa as well, but it is a fresh saw'aa. Soon enough, transformations takes place to it; this body of a baby dies and transforms into the strong body of a youth, and later on, it gets weak and ill and transforms into an aging body. The more senile one gets, one's facial features draw nearer to that of the corpse, until one dies eventually. We wonder at the fact that people know these facts for sure but they tend to forget and overlook them throughout their lifetimes.        

6- When we, Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour, look at our face in a mirror and in a personal photo, we reflect upon our facial features, and then, we imagine the facial features of our dead body, or saw'aa, being decomposed gradually, thinking of the decomposition process we have quoted above in this article, until our hideously smiling crane would remain for a while! We want readers to imagine the same thing when they look at the mirror or at their personal photos and reflect upon their own decomposition. Let all of us look at photos of the most pretty-looking women and imagine what will happen to their physical beauty upon their death, after they have spent thousands of $, or millions of $,  to maintain their beauty.    

Lastly: one should not care about this; rather, one should care about that:

1- One should not care if one is handsome/beautiful or ugly/bad-looking, as facial features will decompose and disintegrate away from the hideous unsightly crane. One should not care if one is black, brunette, yellow-skinned, or blond, as all corpses will have one color eventually after death: yellowish greenish hue. One should not care if one is tall or short, as all skeletons of all heights will turn into dust eventually with the passage of time.

2- One should care only about one thing: about deeds of one's soul, as the soul will carry all its deeds after leaving the body by death to meet God with these deeds within the Day of Resurrection. The best deeds to carry for this journey of death is of two categories: 1) real, faithful belief in God alone, devoted and dedicated to Him alone, without partners, associates, and other deities invented by mortals, and 2) good acts and deeds of righteousness and charity for the sake of Almighty God.

The best discourse:

God the Almighty will say the following to the polytheistic losers within the Last Day: "You have come to Us individually, just as We created you the first time, leaving behind you everything We gave you. We do not see with you your intercessors - those you claimed were partners controlling you. The link between all of you is cut, and what you had asserted has failed you." (6:94). As always, God says nothing but the Truth.