READERS’ CORNERS
Dr.M.HARIS Z DEEN
DOHA : “I am not a champion of lost causes, but a champion of causes not yet won” – Norman Thomas. Although with extreme sadness, but with hope and faith in justice and fairness, I write this piece. Muslims appear to have resigned to the belief that they have lost their cause. Parliamentarians have let them down and the Supreme Court, the highest court in Sri Lanka, has upheld the supremacy of Parliament in dismissing the twelve petitions requesting. I would have thought that is definitely grounds for a positive decision by the court since the legislation is clearly against the rule of law, since it has breached article 10 of our constitution and has not considered any possible alternatives to cremation of the bodies, which are certainly available as demonstrated by other advanced nations who permit burial as an alternative to cremation. Similarly, the law itself is illogical and irrational, these are certainly grounds for a judicial review recognised by common law. However, Muslims should not lose heart. As T.S Elliot said “we fight for lost causes because we know that our defeat and dismay may be the preface to our successors’ victory, though that victory itself will be temporary; we fight rather to keep something alive than in the expectation that anything will triumph”.
To me the cause is not lost. There is the last resort of the Presidential prerogative. Muslims are not asking for the repeal of the legislation. It must be appreciated that under the circumstances the legislation was hurriedly enacted. How many Muslim and Christian MP’s contributed towards the enactment of that statute I do not know. We believe in the fair mindedness of the President and believe that he certainly will intervene for a review of the legislation.
But what about the Muslims themselves? Are they ready with the infrastructure to conduct the burial rights associated with CORONA victims? There are no Muslim undertakers in Sri Lanka. The burial formalities are conducted by a Muazzin in the closest masjid for a male and there are females who attend to female corpses. This is in normal circumstances. The logistics for CORONA positive deaths are completely different. Touching or washing the body is disallowed. The people handling the corpse will be required to wear proper protective clothing and the corpse will be sealed in a plastic shroud and then placed in a coffin. These formalities will have to be strictly followed irrespective of whether the body is to be cremated or buried. This is reality, and Muslims must face it. Have they got the infrastructure for it? To my knowledge certainly not.
To my knowledge, in the UK and the USA there are specialist Muslim undertakers who take charge of the body once the authorities have sealed the body in a plastic shroud and conduct the alternative to washing by rubbing sand over the shroud and then place the body in a coffin seal it and after conducting the funeral prayer take the body for burial. The body will not be handed over to the family. It will be handled by the undertaker. Unless the Muslims of Sri Lanka have these arrangements in place, they are fighting a lost cause. However, as Clarence Darrow says “lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for”.
