Before you support or opt for cremation, think twice

Hindu Shamshan Bhumi in Kariokor where the late Kibra MP Ken Okoth was cremated in Nairobi on Saturday, Aug 3, 2019. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Many have wondered about the driving force behind the increasing prevalence of cremation in the African context, and especially in Kenya. Is it African tradition? Absolutely not! Cremation is an extremely unpopular practice throughout the African culture. At the centre of many African cultures is the belief that death is not the end of life. Instead, death ushers one into the afterlife where they continue to participate in the affairs of the living. Spirits of significant persons such as heads of families or leaders of communities are especially revered because they can haunt the living should anything untoward happen. The spirits of the ancestors are therefore consistently invoked or appeased whenever calamities befall an individual, family, or community. Thus, in the African context, the dead are treated with utmost respect and reverence. To burn their dead would be the last thing in any traditional African mind.

Could Islam be the peddler of cremation? Far from it. Cremation is strictly forbidden in Islam. Muslims believe that the deceased must be treated with the same respect as the living. Accordingly, Islamic teachings require that the deceased be cleaned, shrouded, prayed for, buried in the earth and treated with reverence. Any other treatment, including cremation, is considered an act of disrespect and “haram.” Muslims consider burning of the human body as a punishment that is the preserve of the Creator. Therefore, in Islam, a Muslim must not participate in, approve of, or witness any act of cremation.