Like Shannen, I’ve been puzzling over the burial of OBL at sea, too. I’ve also been reviewing the details of the controversy between Churchill and Lord Kitchener about the disposition of the Mahdi’s remains after the British victory at Omdurman in 1898 (post forthcoming), where some of the very same issues came up.
But as a human interest matter, I’m curious about who presided over the Islamic equivalent of last rites for bin Laden on the aircraft carrier. I am guessing that this potential moment was pondered years ago, and a detailed plan has been sitting on a shelf at the Pentagon for a while now. Did they fly in an Islamic clergyman just for the occasion? If so, what was he told about his task ahead of time, and what did he think when he found out who it was he would be consecrating? Or was it a serving America clergyman of the Islamic faith already on the crew? The same question would apply. Or, even more problematic, were the last rites administered by non-Islamic personnel reading from the playbook? Again, this is another story waiting for some enterprising and well-connected journalist.
Does anyone really care? This is just another hook for the usual suspects to hang their faux-outrage on.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI think the UK Sun has had the last word on this: External Link
I expect last rites to be performed or at least supervised by the ship's chaplain, whom I expect is versed in such issues for all members of the crew. The notion that this duty was not performed properly is insidious.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLast rites?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAny religious service for this wretch advances the very concept that he wished to perpetrate: "Islam is a religion of peace, even when we kill people".
If he was (as we insist) a terrorist using Islam as a distraction, he should have been left for the dogs since he violated Islamic law.
If you accept the caveat that "respect must be shown lest we upset the Muslim community", here's a heads-up: they're already outraged. The mere presence of any Christian, Jew, etc. on the planet send them into paroxysms of hysteria.
Since it cannot be avoided (they're insulted by anything we do) we should go the other way:
Urinate on the body, set fire to it, bury the remains in H*ssidic garb, and send the video to Al Jazeera.
Carefully note who objects, and cut off their funding.
"The notion that this duty was not performed properly is insidious."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBut the notion that it would be is telling. Are his ideas legitimately Islamic, or not? Do mass-murderers merit honor, or not? The funeral rites attest yes to both, which paints Islam poorly at the same time as encouraging its baser aspects.
I'd like to think that "buried at sea" is a euphemism for "weighed body down and dumped in ocean." No rites.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat last rites were given to innocent, wheelchair-bound Leon Klinghoffer before his murdered body was dumped overboard?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWas Daniel Pearl's beheading performed in accordance with Jewish ritual? How about the fiery deaths of those in the WTC towers? Did the Muslims therein get proper Islamic treatment? Isn't this just so much navel gazing? Get over it - an evil monster has perished. The rest is details.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDon't worry, the bullets were Halal.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat a waste of time and energy! OBL's cadaver should have been cremated and the ashes scattered...wherever.
That was good enough for the condemned at the Nuremberg War Crimes trials. It is too good for OBL, who showed no respect to his victims and, indeed, if one assumes that the "Religion of Peace" meme is even remotely correct, was the farthest thing from being a "real" Muslim.
The whole thing sounds like a feel-good order from the White House, and shows how pathetic our leadership has become when faced with those who hate us.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI think a prayer to heal the ocean, in a Native American tradition, would have been called for now that the sea has been made the repository of such a great evil. But definitely nothing else.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse@Uncledave, Paul D et al
Just because our enemies behave like savages doesn't mean that we should too. We're better than them for a reason, right? And that reason is...that we're not savages and we don't behave that way. Duh.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDefiling corpses? That's not us. We're above that.
Islamic rites? That's tacit recognition that OBL was a "good" Muslim. And he was, if "good" means: sincerely seeking to understand and act on the guidance in the Koran and the example of Mohammad.
But whether there were Islamic rites or not, why did we announce it? We should have just announced that our forces disposed of his corpse at sea; no apologies, no explanations, no further comment.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abusedefiling corpses?
If it had been up to me, I'd have fed his body to the pigs, and shipped a package of the resulting sh**te to any islamic group that complained about the killing.
( Who knew that official word describing one of the two main muslim sects was offially declared a bad word)
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse@linearheights -- I'm not suggesting we should have covered OBL's corpse with A1 sauce and fed him to pigs.
Pointing out instances of how terrorists have treated the remains of their victims, in contrast to how we handle their dead, is perfectly sensible and appropriate. Especially given how much noise they make about it.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAh, but we just don't have the same options Kitchener had, at least skull-wise. Does anyone even use an inkwell anymore?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseObama unequivocally stated in his Sunday night speech that Usama "was not a muslim leader." There's no question that Usama was a leader of some sort, so Obama's point was that Usama was not a true muslim.
If that's so, why did Obama order treatment of the body as if it was a muslim? If Obama was telling the truth in his speech, and Usama was not a muslim leader, then there was no reason to treat Usama's body as that of a muslim.
Moreover, doesn't Obama's decision to have Usama given Islamic last rites... confirm to the entire world that yes indeed we saw Usama as a muslim leader - contrary to the words of Obama's speech?
I know the answer: Obama was blatantly lying and pandering when he said Usama was not a muslim.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"I’m curious about who presided over the Islamic equivalent of last rites for bin Laden on the aircraft carrier. "
an atheist chaplain?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBurial rites are for the benefit of the living. Although Osama bin Laden was a homicidal heretic, he has relatives who are not. We show good manners for their sake, and for the sake of the men who fight for us, that they are reminded that we are on the side of the angels, and they may by a display of good manners, retain the humanity that was lost by the homicidal heretic.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFor burial at sea, traditionally the shroud is weighted down with heavy objects (say, half-a-dozen canned hams). And any word on how many toilets aboard the Carl Vinson were flushed in the minutes that followed?
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