Manama: Kuwait’s municipal council has requested a religious opinion on the possibility of going ahead with evening burials.
The municipality council members last year agreed to a proposal by the chairman Muhalhal Al Khalid to bury the dead in the evening in order to avoid the blistering heat in the country, particularly during the long summer months when temperatures exceed at times 50 degrees Celsius.
However, the council members said that the approval of the country’s religious establishment was needed to implement the proposal.
“All the members of the Municipal Council said that the opinion of the religious leaders was needed,” Mohammad Al Mijal, the adviser to the council’s legal and financial committee, told local Arabic daily Al Rai. “They believe that it is very important to know the stance of the religious authority at the ministry of endowments on whether evening burials are allowed in Islam,” he said.
The municipality will provide the necessary lights needed for the burial if the proposal is approved by the religious panel, he added.
“The members have decided that the evening burials would be between the Maghrib (sunset) and Isha prayers,” he said in remarks published on Tuesday.
Reports in Kuwait last year said that several mourners suffered sun strokes or fainted as they appeared at funerals held under the scorching heat.
Although variations exist on the interpretation of Islamic law concerning burials, related mainly to the regions, a dead person must be buried as soon as possible after death.
Delays are permitted only when the person did not die from natural causes and there is a need to determine how the death occurred.
