Kenyans are debating whether cremation is anti-Christian and un-African

Three high profile Kenyans died recently, and they were all cremated -- kicking off a major debate on whether this relatively cheaper practice is anti-Christian and anti-Islamic as well as un-African amid rising funeral costs and crowded burial plots.

The departed included Bob Collymore, a former Guyanese man who came to Kenya to head the region’s largest telco, Safaricom. He married a local girl and acquired citizenship. By the time of his death, he was widely accepted as Kenyan.

Also departing in the same period was Jeremiah Kiereini, who made a name as a civil servant rising to be the head of the civil service. He later entered the corporate world heading East African Breweries, also the region’s biggest brewer.

Ken Okoth was the member of parliament for Kibra, said to be Africa’s largest slum. Born and bred there, Okoth managed to get a sponsor to take him to school and later graduated from an American university. He went back to the slums and was elected a legislator. He too was cremated, sparking a feud in his family.

At the heart of the debate is whether cremation, becoming more popular, is in line with Christian teachings and African beliefs. Those supporting cremation put a strong case that it’s cheaper and could save valuable land space for other development activities. Cremation is generally frowned upon in Christianity, forbidden in Judaism and Islam. It’s most commonly practiced in Asia, with religions like Hinduism mandating cremation of the dead and Buddhism accepting it as a common practice.

Just as the debate was dying, Bishop David Oginde, the head of Christ is the Answer Ministries (CITAM), one of the largest congregations in Kenya, joined the fray by saying cremation was “unChristian.”

In a Facebook post, the architect-turned-preacher and newspaper columnist posed:

“Could cremation then be Christian? Not at all. Traditional Christian faith considers cremation inconsistent with orthodox doctrine. Christians revere the human body as the epitome of God’s creation in line with such Scriptures as Genesis 1:26 and Psalm 139:14. Furthermore, the human body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and must be thus respected. For Christians, therefore, any act that deliberately defiles the body – like cremation – is considered utterly abhorrent. Indeed, there are no biblical records of the burning of the deceased, other than under the judgement of God. Furthermore, because Jesus was buried, most churches require burial as part of following Christ’s example.”

Bishop Oginde went further to say that cremation had its roots in ancient Eastern religions but was now being driven by the New Age movement and Freemasons.

Pastor Zainab Hussein of the Latter Glory Church supports Oginde’s position. In an interview with Religion Unplugged, Pastor Hussein said she can never preside over the cremation of a member of her church even if requested.

“I believe that decision will land their souls to hell,” she said. “God gave us instructions on how to dispose our bodies, or what to do with our bodies... let the body go back to the dust. Cremation is paganism.”

Public relations officer Fred Gori takes a different view. Gori, who also runs a WhatsApp group called Home Chapel Ministries, says cremation is okay. “I don't think cremation is paganism,” Gori said. “There is nowhere the Lord specifically commands us to bury our dead and not dispose of dead bodies any other way. What we see in scripture with regard to burial are cultural practices among the Jews.”

This is not the first time Kenyans are engaged in a fierce debate on cremation. In 2002, former head of the Anglican Church of Kenya Archbishop Manasses Kuria caused a furore when he decided to cremate his wife, Mary Kuria. The most vocal were Christians who then, as now, claimed the practice is evil. Kuria was to have the last laugh when he was also cremated three years later.

Come 2009 and a former Coca Cola executive Joshua Okuthe died. An inheritance battle ensued between his wife and a woman who claimed to be his second wife. While the latter rushed to court to get orders compelling Okuthe’s family to bury the body, the first wife quietly went to the mortuary, moved out the body and had it cremated. His fellow villagers were stunned, saying cremation was an abomination and against African traditions. 

Reacting to Bishop Oginde’s piece McGeorge Alkaris argued that “I speak for myself, the body is the temple if the Lord while your soul is still in control of it. Once you're dead, the soul leaves it, and it’s of no use anymore. And correction, cremation practices have been there since time immemorial and I find it to be the best way of burial other than using extra money for coffins, flowers, photography, vehicle convoys, mortuaries, food and stuff, just to go take a corpse six feet under to rot,” he said.

Funerals can be an expensive affair in Kenya and Africa in general. There is usually feasting and drinking. Add on to this the fact that people want their loved ones buried in the shiniest and most expensive coffins (the more affluent Kenyans import coffins from South Africa) then you can start to see the figures we are talking about.

Bishop Oginde also stressed that cremation is both un-African and anti-Islamic.

“Muslims consider burning the human body as a punishment that is the preserve of the Creator,” he said. “Therefore, in Islam, a Muslim must not participate in, approve of, or witness any act of cremation.”

Al Hajj Omar Bashir, a Kenyan scholar at Cairo’s Al Azhar University, supports the bishop’s stand. In an interview with Religion Unplugged, he said, cremation is forbidden in Islam.

“It’s in our teachings that the deceased must be treated with the same respect and dignity as the living,” Bashir said. “The Prophet Mohammed (SAW) said that breaking the bone of the dead body is like breaking it in its lifetime which is haram. Burning the dead for cremation is like breaking the bones of the dead or other such mutilation and is therefore prohibited. Accepting or encouraging such treatment is equally evil. The right to burn is exclusively for Allah and no one else. Even Muslims who die in an inferno still must be buried if their remains are retractable.”

Gori says what matters at the end is not how the body is disposed of but the relationship the deceased had with the creator.

“I think what matters is that a person accepted the Lord and was washed in the blood prior to their death. How the dead body is disposed of is neither here nor there. I am not aware that a person who rejected the Lord's persistent calls will be considered righteous on account of burial,” he said.