No
Washing Corpses for Muslims in This Era of Covid-19
Covid-19 is set to disrupt the social life of many people
in the country and worldwide the Muslim faithful’s
are not an exemption. They have received a warning against their culture of washing
their corpses before burial to curb the spread of Covid-19. The religion that
is mostly practiced in the coastal religion of Kenya practices the norm of
washing the dead bodies.
READ ALSO: GOVERNMENT ADMITS TO UNPOPULAR BURIAL PROCEDURE IN SIAYA COUNTY
The response team of Covid-19 based in Mombasa has issued
a directive to substitute the practice. The directive they name as Ghusl will allow
the Muslim faithful’s to bury their beloved ones without washing the bodies or performing
the tayammum ritual that involves purified sand and dust used on the dead one.
Volunteers of handling these bodies are being trained at
Jamia Mosque in Nairobi starting from 4th of April 2020. The guidelines are to
be followed by the faithful’s on handling the dead bodies. The chair of the committee
speaking on this noted that the bodies would be put in bags and taken for
prayers.
''The bodies will be put in body bags and taken for
prayers before burials. We have been in consultation with the ministry of
health and reached an agreement that due to seriousness of the disease and how
contagious it is, we cannot wash our dead shroud or perform tayammum as this
poses a health risk'," he said.
Ramadhan added that Islam provides an avenue where if
some rights and obligations cannot be performed due to the danger they pose
they are put on hold and alternatives used. This comes after the government
urged citizens to be extra careful to avoid contracting the virus. Dead people ought
to be buried within 48 hours and the ceremony that won't attract many people.
