When religion says no to postmortem 

When Famhi Bakari’s body was recently discovered at a Thika mortuary, he had been missing for close to two months.

Bakari had left his home in Mombasa for Juja alongside his friend and acquaintance to purchase a matatu that would have plied Kisauni-Bamburi route.

The body of 21-year-old, which was badly mutilated, had reportedly been lying at the mortuary for few weeks before it was identified. With unclear circumstances leading to his death, any family would have called for a postmortem to ascertain the cause.

However, Bakari’s family was torn in the middle. One side wanted an autopsy and the other, a majority, did not want anything to do with it.  

Disturbing the dead

Rahma Bakari, his mother, maintained it was against Islam for the deceased to undergo any procedure that involves cutting. 

“It is considered disturbing the rested soul when the living can let him rest peacefully,” she lamented. 

However, Bakari’s brother, Athman Bakari, said they needed the autopsy to find how he was killed so that they can get closure on his death.

Sharia law encourages retaining of the body in its original form and keeping it as close to the site of death as possible, both of which would be violated by performing an autopsy.

Sheikh Juma Ngao, chairman,  Kenya Muslim National Advisory Council, says postmortems are perceived as disturbing the deceased. The intrusion is not allowed except in cases of emergencies or when investigations are involved.

They believe a dead person always feels everything that happens to them.

“So when you cut open their body, they are not happy. They were called by Allah and they need to go to Him in full just as they were created in full,” says Ngao. “Families are at liberty to allow or reject postmortems. You cannot force them to accept. If they refuse, it is their right,” says Sheikh Ngao. 

He says in cases of legal investigations a postmortem is allowed, but only with the family’s permission.

The Sharia further contains a few exceptions.

Family’s consent

It explains that if a person had swallowed money belonging to someone else, it is acceptable to retrieve that money out of the decedent’s abdomen to pay his debt, thereby preventing harm to his heirs.

Additionally, if a woman dies during pregnancy and the foetus is believed to be alive, some sects of Islam believe it is appropriate to remove the foetus with an incision.

In the Rastafarian community, autopsy is equally loathed by its members.

Japhila Indaba, the secretary general of Rastafarian society of Kenya, says autopsy is equally to interfering with the departed soul.

Indaba, however say in circumstances of murder or unclear death, members can undergo the process.

“In circumstances of legal issues, we are guided by the constitutional law. But the family must consent to the post mortem,” he says.

Research shows other religions similarly discourage autopsy while others, encourages to a point of allowing for organ harvesting and scientific studies.

Hindus disapprove of autopsies, but comply if necessary by law.

Research by Medscape, a medical journal, indicates that unlike other religious communities that discourages post mortem unless under special circumstances, Buddhism believe autopsy is a form of compassion that helps to preserve life and not to harm it; therefore, does not prohibit it.

But before the post mortem, the body should not be disturbed for three days or until the death has been determined by a religious leader on whether the soul has actually left the body or not.

Treat with care

Because of the benefits of autopsies, such as educating medical professionals and determining diagnoses, Buddhists allow autopsy, but with some guidelines of assurance that the body will be treated with great respect.

Unlike in the early 19th century, the Roman Catholic Church today accepts the value of autopsy and generally agree with its use for medical education, organ transplantation, and diagnostic determination. It is considered an act of charity to perform an autopsy to help others.

Because the body is a creation of Jehovah God, the main obstacle for Jehovah’s Witnesses regarding autopsies is mutilation to the body.

A Jehovah’s Witness should agree to autopsy when required by law, but the next of kin may request that no organs be removed and the body be treated with care.