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Saudi Ministry Discourages Burials In Mecca and Medina

By Howard M. Friedman

Zawya reported yesterday that Saudi Arabia's interior ministry has recently issued a circular discouraging Muslims from shipping bodies to the holy cities of Mecca or Medina for burial. The ministry said that Islamic law instead requires burial without delay where a person dies. Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh, the country's highest religious authority, said: "It will not reduce the sins of the dead to be buried in Mecca or Medina. Only their good deeds will accompany them to their graves."

Full post as published by Religion Clause on May 30, 2010 (boomark / email).