This is contained in a set of guidelines issued by the council on how bodies of Muslims infected with the coronavirus should be buried.
The publication of the new guidelines may not be unconnected with the poor crowd control mechanism and non-adherence to social distancing rules witnessed during the burial of the late chief of staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari, at an Abuja cemetery on Saturday.
The new guidelines, which are contained in a statement issued by NSCIA, noted that the step became necessary, following the outbreak of the novel pandemic.
The statement, which was signed by the duo of Nasir Sani-Gwarzo and Yusuf Nwoha, the chairman and secretary respectively of a subcommittee set up to develop a comprehensive guideline on best procedure to be adopted in the burial of infected Muslim bodies based on Islamic laws and principles.
According to the committee, the new guidelines do not suggest that Islam never had rules guiding its burial practices, but that they were strictly meant to put into consideration the new set of rules occasioned by the new virus. It added that under any circumstance, the religion forbids cremation, and so it is unacceptable for the body of a Muslim victim of the coronavirus disease to be cremated.
