[BURIEDatSEA]

Don't forget the cuckoo clock perpetually parroting the line:

  > ...bin Laden’s burial at sea 
    (carried out in accordance with "Islamic custom"!)

Yes! Yes! Of course! Naval traditions are the first thing that springs to mind, about a religion born of a region mostly known for its deserts, and not very much at all for naval conquest.

But go ahead, someone correct me, with some obscure technicality about the ways of Islam and The Sea. What do I know, land lubber that I am?

[chobo]

The most populous Islamic nation on earth is a massive archipelago, land lubber.

[BURIEDatSEA]

So, if you're referring to Indonesia, how many burials at sea are they known for? (discounting the scattering of cremated ashes)

We're talking only whole bodies, dunked in the drink.

I'm going to ball park it at less than 10%, probably dialing in at perhaps 1%, or at most 2%.

[rbobby]

Cremation is forbidden according Islamic practice (http://www.islamopediaonline.org/fatwa/what-islams-viewpoint...).

Burial at sea is explicitly within Islamic practice (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burial_at_sea#Islam).

[IkmoIkmo]

His point is that it's not an islamic custom to bury people at sea, and he's completely right. The custom is to bury people in the ground, facing mecca, the same day of the death. That doesn't mean burial at sea never happens or isn't allowed or preferred under relatively rare circumstances, but an islamic custom it certainly is not. The custom would be to have buried him in the ground, not take him onto a ship and them dump him in the ocean, lashing him between planks to obviate bloating so that one may find him washed ashore and bury him properly. In short, he wasn't buried according to islamic custom at all.

[ckozlowski]

Supposedly, the US did consult with Imams on how to deal with this fringe case.

It's not common, but guidelines exist. The Arabs were not without their own traders and explorers.

[gaius]

Muslims have been sailing the Red Sea and the Mediterranean for a loooooooong time.