Muslim, Bahá'í and orthodox Jewish faiths consider embalming to be a desecration of the body, and pro- hibit it. Hindus and Buddhists choosing cremation have no need for embalming.
Of all world religions, Islam is probably the most strongly opposed to cremation. Unlike Judaism and Christianity, there is little diversity of opinion about it. Cremation is considered by Islam to be an unclean practice.
Hinduism. Hinduism actually mandates cremation, called antim sanskar, or last rite, for the disposition of a believer's earthly remains. In cremation, Hindus believe, the body is presented as an offering to Agni, the Hindu god of fire, accompanied by a prayer to purify the deceased and lead them to a better life.
A key difference is that Christianity is founded on the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and those who follow this are called Christians. Whereas, Muslims believe that the word of God and the teachings of Islam are sharedby the prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).
Some religions cremate their dead while others prefer burial. Some faiths go through grieving rituals that last long after the funeral, while others prefer to end the observances when the funeral is complete.
Atheists believe that there is no God and no life after death and that death is the cessation of the existence of the individual.
Muslims are always buried without embalming and are never cremated. The deceased should be buried as soon as possible, usually within 24 hours, and the burial should be as close to the site of death as possible, preferably within 1-2 miles.
And yet, despite the manifest differences in how they practise their religions, Jews, Christians and Muslims all worship the same God. The founder of Islam, Muhammad, saw himself as the last in a line of prophets that reached back through Jesus to Moses, beyond him to Abraham and as far back as Noah.
The word Hindu is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, many practitioners refer to their religion as Sanātana Dharma (Sanskrit: सनातन धर्म, lit.
The Catholic Church since Vatican II has taught in different ways that Muslims and Christians do worship the same God.
The body does not feel pain during cremation because the person is no longer alive. When a person dies, their brain stops sending signals to the body. This means that the person cannot feel pain or any other sensation.
Children (usually below the age of 5), too, are buried as it is believed their soul has not stayed in the body long enough to develop any attachment.
No matter what a person's preference is, from the Christian perspective, cremation does not prevent one from going to Heaven. So there's no need to worry, if God can create life from dust, surely he can restore life from ashes.
Cremation does not “prevent God, in his omnipotence, from raising up the deceased body to new life,” the Vatican says, but it does raise the possibility that the deceased's body, which the church believes is sacred, will not be properly respected by ancestors and relatives.
What's really returned to you is the person's skeleton. Once you burn off all the water, soft tissue, organs, skin, hair, cremation container/casket, etc., what you're left with is bone. When complete, the bones are allowed to cool to a temperature that they can be handled and are placed into a processing machine.
Although traditional burial procedure which reflects respect for the body is still normal Catholic practice, cremation is allowed by the Catholic Church for justifiable reasons. Cremation would ordinarily take place after the Funeral Liturgy.
Of course, Jesus was a Jew. He was born of a Jewish mother, in Galilee, a Jewish part of the world. All of his friends, associates, colleagues, disciples, all of them were Jews. He regularly worshipped in Jewish communal worship, what we call synagogues.
Of the world's major religions, Christianity is the largest, with more than two billion followers. Christianity is based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and is approximately 2,000 years old.
So, yes, Muslims believe in the Virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ as given to us in the Qur'an and as exemplified in the life model of Prophet Muhammed.
Most religious scholars and historians agree with Pope Francis that the historical Jesus principally spoke a Galilean dialect of Aramaic. Through trade, invasions and conquest, the Aramaic language had spread far afield by the 7th century B.C., and would become the lingua franca in much of the Middle East.
Allah and the god of the Bible
Arabic-speaking Christians call God Allah, and Gideon bibles, quoting John 3:16 in different languages, assert that Allah sent his son into the world.
“It is Jewish custom for everyone at the graveside,” the rabbi explained, “to put two shovels of dirt on the coffin. You do the first one with the shovel upside down to signify reluctance.
Like most Jews, Muslims try to avoid embalming their dead, so that the body naturally decomposes into the Earth. So it's important to perform this last ritual wash as soon as possible – usually within 24 hours. The wash is done for a few reasons.
Muslims are always buried, never cremated. It is a religious requirement that the body be ritually washed and draped before burial, which should be as soon as possible after death. Those carrying out this duty should be immunised against hepatitis B and be aware of the hazards of AIDS.