Sikh News Converted Sikh Should Be Buried, Says Shariah Court (rediff.com)

[Sikh News Reporter]

In a setback to the family of a Sikh art director, who allegedly converted to Islam 17 years ago, Malaysia's Shariah court has ruled that he was a Muslim at the time of his death in May and his body should be buried according to Islamic rites. Shariah High Court judge Justice Mohamad Khalid Shaee on Thursday ruled that Mohan Singh's conversion was valid after hearing testimony from five witnesses and examining the documents brought before the court.

He issued the order in his chambers, allowing the application by the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais), to handle the funeral of the deceased. The judge also ordered the Sungai Buloh Hospital to hand over Mohan Singh's body to Mais.



The council had claimed that Singh converted to Islam in 1992 in Penang and had changed his name to Mohammad Hazzerry Shah Mohan Abdullah. However, the deceased's family claimed that the art director, who died of a heart attack, had neither converted nor practised Islam, adding that he practised only Sikhism and performed the last rites according to Sikh rites for his late mother three years ago.



The family of Mohan Singh wants to cremate the body according to Sikh rites while the Islamic council wants to bury him according to Muslim rituals. The department had filed a case in the Shariah court while Singh's family members on Wednesday have filed a case at the high court. Their application will be heard at the Civil High Court on June 16.
The civil court had granted an interim order not to allow the hospital to release the body to any other party pending the disposal of the case. The plaintiff's counsel Rajesh Kumar said they would wait for the civil court's decision as they were not bound by the Shariah court's ruling.

 

[Tejwant Singh]

It is sad to notice this. Ignorance is prevelant in this Sharia court. In fact Sharia law is based on dogmatic ignorance which forces impostions rather than decides anything based on pragmatism. It is nothing but still a tribal thinking in this day and age which is a shame.

Tejwant Singh

 

[spnadmin]

Cremation is also a land conservation concept -- a totally "green" idea. :welcome:

 

[Tejwant Singh]

Cremation is also a land conservation concept -- a totally "green" idea. :welcome:

Yup.

And also the quickest way to recycle. Secondly I do not want my rec room basement on top of someone's bones.

 

[spnadmin]

So you cremate because it is green? would you change if there were a greener way?

P{censored}es place thier corpses in a tower where vultures feed on them. Tibetan Buddhists have a corpse chopped into pieces and thrown onto burial grounds to be consumed by vultures and dogs. Both very green. However I am not in charge of cultural choices. Cremation is green enough for me.

 

[spnadmin]

So you cremate because it is green? would you change if there were a greener way?

And also the quickest way to recycle.
not very respectful.

Secondly I do not want my rec room basement on top of someone's bones.
but does that mean u'd rather breathe in the ashes? its the other method.

Seems you added to your last post ji...Hah Hah...Not quite like burning leaves, modern creamations do not send ashes flying around, so breathing ashes is not in the picture. And traditional cremations are also done at a high incinerating level of heat -- very little in the way of ashes blowing around in the atmosphere.

 

[Astroboy]

Kabeer says, the body is destroyed in so many ways. Some burn it and some bury it. page 329

 

[Tejwant Singh]

And also the quickest way to recycle.
not very respectful.

What is disrespectful about recycling I fail to understand this dogmatic stance. You mean in your Islamic religion, you are not allowed to recycle anything? We are all organic products and meant to be recycled that is part of nature. Or do you prefer landfills?

Secondly I do not want my rec room basement on top of someone's bones.
but does that mean u'd rather breathe in the ashes? its the other method

.

LOL. This comment of yours made as much sense as the title of your other thread "Why grow hair"? Btw, did you enjoy any dust storms while on your trip to Morocco or you did not visit the desert?

Tejwant Singh

 

[Tejwant Singh]

We are all organic products
But what about the soul?

What about the soul?

 

[roopsidhu]

SSA,
"Converted sikh" .If really he has converted then I don,t think we all should worry much about his remains. I don.t know why but I can not bear people converting from sikhism to other religions.
Roopsidhu

 

[spnadmin]

roopsidhu ji

My recollection of this story is that the conversion itself was under dispute and that is why it went to court. The court leaned to the islamic side.

One thing that is true, however, is that the Sikh Rehat Maryada does state that the disposal of remains of a Sikh is not an issue of particular importance. I have not checked recently, but it lists cremation, burial, and disposal in water as OK.

One aspect of Sikhism that I find so appealing. There is so little fuss and bother. The focus is on how we die, not how we are buried. There is even banee to make this case.

 

[Tejwant Singh]

roopsidhu ji

My recollection of this story is that the conversion itself was under dispute and that is why it went to court. The court leaned to the islamic side.

One thing that is true, however, is that the Sikh Rehat Maryada does state that the disposal of remains of a Sikh is not an issue of particular importance. I have not checked recently, but it lists cremation, burial, and disposal in water as OK.

One aspect of Sikhism that I find so appealing. There is so little fuss and bother. The focus is on how we die, not how we are buried. There is even banee to make this case.

Narayanjot ji,


Guru fateh.

Well said.

In Sikhi, it does not matter how one disposes of the body. It should only depend on the circumstances.

Tejwant Singh

 

[roopsidhu]

SSA,
Yes Narayanjot ji, that why sikhi is unique. That why we all love sikhi.
Roopsidhu