Before I move to the story, let me begin by first explaining what necrophilia is. For those of you who are not familiar with the word, necrophilia is the sexual attraction to corpses. That means people who indulge in necrophilia perform the act of sex with a dead body.

Sometime back, a man was caught committing this repulsive act in Karachi and the story was splashed all over the media. While most called him a criminal, some were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt of having a mental condition. However, nowhere did we hear anything in its defence.

Now then, an imam in Morocco, Zamazami Abdelbari, gave a fatwa that necrophilia is halal (permissible) in Islam. According to him, the marriage link between a man and a woman does not end even after death and that a man can have sexual intercourse with the body of his dead wife after washing it. He does however say that necrophilia though halal, is disgusting, and should be avoided.

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Now then, where do I even begin with this? I honestly don’t know but I’ll try my best, keeping in mind that it was in Morocco where 16 year old girl Amina Filali committed suicide because she was forced to marry her rapist under the Moroccan penal code article 475a. Maybe we are not the only ones with such repressive traditions.

Firstly, find me the person who declared this man an imam, or a prayer leader. I’d like to give him a piece of my mind and then give him a lesson on Islam. How he came to the conclusion of a man’s affair with the deceased is beyond my understanding. Trust me I’ve had my share of Islamiat classes and I can firmly say that this man is no Islamic scholar if he goes around giving fatwas like this.

I can only imagine what goes on in his mind, to come up with such a fatwa. My question to you Zamzami is, have you actually read the Quran? Or studied the hadiths of our beloved Holy Prophet (PBUH)? What’s even worse is that the Habous Ministry (religious affairs) doesn’t seem too concerned, and Zamzami stands by what he said.

Zamzami Abdelbari – he says he’s studied the Quran… Has he?

Apart from the ethical and moral issues of just how wrong necrophilia is this man seems to suggest that Islam allows such a repulsive act. You sir are a deranged individual. Do you actually think Islam a religion that promotes love and peace would allow something so vile, and that our beloved holy prophet (PBUH) would declare it permissible? If you studied the Quran as well as you think you did, you would know just how ridiculous your fatwa is.

It is thanks to people like you, that Islam and Muslims have a bad image in this world. People cringe every time they hear the word Islam or Muslim. As a fellow Muslim (though I don’t know if I should be calling you that, since obviously no Muslim would make a claim this deranged) you must know our place in this world, and you just gave the media one more reason to let people hate us. Do you even understand that the position you are in affects us all?

Amina Filali

The Western media has its magnifying glass all over us, looking for anything that can be used against us, and a man like you, a giver of Islamic rulings designed to make the world a more harmonious place makes necrophilia acceptable! It makes me question your sanity and your job title.

The media never promotes anything that Muslims do right, or the teachings of Islam that show just how peaceful of a religion it is. Instead it finds ways to make us look bad.

What do you think? How can such people be stopped from misrepresenting? How can such impressions be countered?

Let us know!