calling terrorists are not muslims is a fallacy. in islam you cannot become an apostate. once you become a muslim you are a muslim.

Islam is a religion of peace, and a lifetime devoted to the Qu'ran can never result in terrorism - so we cannot call these animals Muslims.

India's normal behavior would be to show the dead bodies respect, as if it were all a game of cricket, where you shake hands after the game. Kashmiri terrorists have exploited this by turning graves into motivational spots. In this case, the brutality of the attack has hardened Indian public opinion.

However, I don't think India should show the bodies disrespect either. Returning them to Pakistan would be a bad idea since they will be treated as heroes by many in Pakistan; in any case, Pakistan is denying the bodies are theirs, just like they did during the Kargil war in 1999. What a sad thing for an Army to have to reject their dead.

The best solution may be a quiet burial at sea, just like disposing of garbage.

Bury these people's bodies quietly and decently in unmarked graves. Surely there are places this can be done?

The same Almighty who made us out of dust and breath will have no trouble reassembling our bodies at the resurrection, whether they are embalmed, dismembered, buried, or rendered as ashes.

Governments have no business either tampering with or promoting religious beliefs and practices. They should only establish a humane and impersonal standard for all, and then practice that.

Next thing you know, we'll have the LDS Church over there, posthumously baptizing terrorists and their victims.

Don't know if its a myth or not.. but GEN John Pershing reportedly had muslim fighters fed to pigs ..

I sort of like it.. just dump them in a pig farm and let the pigs have at it..

a fitting end to them..

Showing disrespect to the dead may be cathartic in many ways for the families of those affected by the massacres in Mumbai, but the overall effect will be to inflame the already tense situations that exist in India.
The emotions that exist in many religions regarding the dead are rightly or wrongly, ones of respect and admiration, for lives lived according to the tenets of whatever religion was lived by the dead.
Even terrorism cannot erase a lifetime devoted to the Qu'ran, yet there seems to be a debate whether these men, the ones who committed the atrocities in Mumbai, were really Islamists in all their dealings with the world.
Facts must be ascertained and decisions made regarding the disposal of the bodies of these men.
Should the disrespect that is evident in India, make the decision for the groups responsible, then there will only be more and even more inflamed hard feelings between the two sides of the conflict. Where hatred is evident, peace must be sown, for if not the enemies will only reap the whirlwind of devastation and misery for years to come.

Now, can mortals determine if a man who died goes to hell or not? By what authority?

On the other hand, imagine the face of someone who has just blown himself and getting himself busy with all these promised virgins (there are some technicalities here that I am curious about but let's not stray away) when security comes and send him to hell.

Still, what does the Muslim heaven look like for a woman?

How about sewing the dead terrorists into pigskin bags before burying them? That way, Allah will never have anything to do with them. Next stop, "hell."

I would say the whole thing is silly because, frankly, who cares? But the point that paradise, virgins, and the honor of being a martyr are recruiting tools is a good one. In that case, I agree that body disposal should be done in a very unMuslim way (cremation and sea scattering of ashes) or better yet, by the Indian Muslim community that makes clear that these guys are not going to paradise and are repudiated by other Muslims. The fact that they are still on slabs is good...already they are not getting a proper Muslim burial.

I guess you need to operate on the same level as the enemy. If they are going to prey on the ignorance of young men, then you need to show that their promises won't work.

The ultimate solution is to deal with the political and economic problems of a country that has never worked. It is galling for Pakistanis to look across the border at India, with a raucous but working economy and democracy. Same people, same geographic area, just a difference in political leadership. Their leadership is where they should be aiming their anger.

I say, take the bastards and throw them overboard in shark-infested sea. At least let their miserable lives get some meaning. Let the sharks have a meal. Please spare the nation the expenses of a national debate and disputed burial. Indians have already paid a high price.

ravitchn Author Profile Page:
"The Catholic Church never excommunicated Hitler, Himmler, Heydrich, Goebbels or the many other Catholic criminals, neither during nor after the war. The Irish Republic under Eamon DeValera even had a requium mass said for Hitler!"

I'm not sure what your point here is other than crazy religions. Hitler was born into a Catholic family but didn't practice Catholicism once he left home. With rare exception he referred to himself as a Christian rather than a Catholic. Which makes a lot of sense in a country that is primarily Lutheran. I don't recall any instances where the Church excommunicates for "sin". All the instances I can think of is when the authority of the Church is challenged. People don't get excommunicated for murder or being a pedophile, but if a priest were to marry a gay couple, that challenges the authority of the Church. Hitler never challenged the authority of the Church.

Ignoring the genocide. Hitler should not have received a Requiem Mass because he wasn't a practicing Catholic. He absolutely shouldn't have received a requiem mass because he committed suicide. The fact that he got a requiem mass only shows that some Catholic cleric broke the rules. Which was probably some kind of sin.

My aunt told me that her father [my grandfather] was denied a Requiem Mass by a priest because her father hadn't been tossing money into the collection plate. They had to scramble to another church to get him a Catholic burial.

It's a legitimate question for me, "Why would God care whether my grandfather got a Requiem Mass?" or Didn't the priest read that part of the New Testament where Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple? or Where did this priest find this "rule" that you have to donate to his church to get a Requiem Mass?

Crazy religions and crazy people.

Does the ruling by the Islamic council of India affect the Islamic community. Probably as much as a ruling by a Lutheran Synod affects Christianity.

After you defeat your enemy, despise him. Feel no compassion, for compassion only weakens your own resolve
~ Sun Tsu in The Art of War.

Feed them to the pariah pigs.

I though the author provided a rather novel and insightful new approach. If one of the major selling points of "martyrdom" or suicide bombing/attack is the promise of entry to Paradise, then what better way to curtail this form of terrorism than by having Muslims declare and show that Muslims who commit these crimes will face expulsion from the Islamic community and instead of earning passage to Paradise, they find themselves in the alternative. Even if there is no Heaven and Hell (nod to the atheists out there) it still could be an effective psychological ploy to get them to stop blowing themselves up.

How we treat the bodies has the potential to say more about ourselves rather than the dead. Perhaps then, a better question is: How do we treat the bodies in a way that reflects our higher Self.

The Catholic Church never excommunicated Hitler, Himmler, Heydrich, Goebbels or the many other Catholic criminals, neither during nor after the war. The Irish Republic under Eamon DeValera even had a requium mass said for Hitler!

Israel the terror state:
How many palestinians did israelis - jewish terrorists - kill?
How many palestinain kids did israelis - jewish terrorists - kill in their collateral damage?
How many palestinain refugees did israelis - jewish terrorists - create?
How many palestinian homes did israelis - jewish terrorists - demolish?
How many palestinian towns did israelis - jewish terrorists - wipe off the map?
How many palestinian acres of land did israelis - jewish terrorists - steal?

It's no wonder religion is the most destructive force on the face of the earth. Worse than any army, any weapon, any disease.

You want to excommunicate the dead? This will be just as effective as playing Beatles albums backwards at mosques.

Why not just outlaw religion? Wouldn't this solve the problem? If there are not 30 virgins or some god to greet you and give you a massage, what's there to die for?

When all else fails - and evidence is everywhere that religion has completely failed mankind - then why not start over?

Any book written by man (bible, koran, etc.) for the supposed benefit of man can be undone and rewritten by man.

As the author notes, the Mumbai terrorist attack carries a symbolism far beyond the actual event. In this case the perpetrators' bodies currently in the morgue are in a postmodern barzakh, but Halevi is right to look at the issue from a historical perspective. Rather than have the state make a decision (like cremation) that might further embroil the fragile relations, why does the government not hand over the bodies to an official institution of the Indian Muslim community and let them decide how best to bury the remains? The question of whether they died as martyrs or infidels can only be decided by those within the faith, no matter what we on the outside would hope to be the decision. It would be interesting to compare how the bodies of Sikh, Tamil and Hindu terrorists have been handled by government authorities.