Belgian Muslim Leaders Issue Guidance on COVID-19 Burial Practices

"People find themselves in a state of perplexity and are legitimately questioning from a religious point of view the natural death that prevents any repatriation to the country of origin, as was the case in the past. In this case, it is perfectly legitimate to bury the deceased in public cemeteries, and more particularly, in the plots set aside for people of the Muslim faith," says the Council of Theologians attached to the EMB, in a statement signed by Taher Tujgani, its president.

For the council, only the noble action of a being makes it honorable and not the land where the cemetery that welcomes it is located. "Furthermore, it is perfectly legitimate to move the remains, on the basis of a will that he will have previously established, to the place of his choice, insofar as the law of the country allows it," the statement recalls.

"Regarding deaths related to coronavirus, if the conventional funeral ablution is unfeasible, it is recommended to practice a pulverulent lustration (tayammum) and to cover the deceased with a shroud over his clothes in which he died. After which, a funeral prayer will be celebrated and the remains buried," the council specifies. It will add that it is also agreed that the prayer in the event of a funeral, despite its status as a collective obligation, can be practiced by a single person. Likewise, Muslims who are informed of the death can invoke mercy and forgiveness in his favor.