Short answer
Muslims bury because God (﷾) taught burial and the Prophet (ﷺ) practised it. The Qur'an tells of the first burial, when a raven showed a son of Adam how to cover his brother. It names the grave among God's (﷾) dealings with man. All four schools of Islamic law agree that burial is a duty on the community. The dead keep their honour too: breaking a dead man's bone is like breaking it in life. Hindus cremate because their texts treat fire as a last offering and the body as clothes cast off. Many Buddhists cremate after the Buddha's example, and most Sikhs cremate too. Burial is not a condition of resurrection. God (﷾) raises the burned as surely as the buried. So burial is obedience and honour, and no one is lost because of a fire. Each person's end rests with God (﷾), who judges faith and deeds.
Full explanation
Why Hindus cremate: fire as the last offering
Most Hindus are cremated. The rite is called antyeshti, the funeral sacrifice. The Rig Veda explains it, and the Rig Veda belongs to shruti, the revealed layer of Hindu scripture. Its funeral hymns ask Agni, the fire god, to "send him on his way unto the Fathers", the spirits of the ancestors. The dead man goes "offered in thee", as an offering in the fire. The Chandogya Upanishad, also shruti, says his friends carry him "to the fire" from which he came. The Isa Upanishad prays, "let this body be burned to ashes". So in these texts the fire does not end the person. It sends him on. A Hindu family lights it as a last act of care, and a Muslim should speak of it with that in mind.
A factsheet. It says most Hindus are cremated. It says Buddhism has no universally agreed death or funeral rites, that Buddhists usually follow the customs of their country, and that they may practise cremation, water burial or burial in the ground, depending on local custom. It says most Sikhs are cremated after death.
Gives antyeshti (antya, last, with ishti) as "funeral sacrifice".
“Burn him not up, nor quite consume him, Agni: let not his body or his skin be scattered. O Jâtavedas, when thou hast matured him, then send him on his way unto the Fathers. When thou hast made him ready, Jâtavedas, then do thou give him over to the Fathers. When he attains unto the life that waits him, he shall become the Deities' controller.”
“Again, O Agni, to the Fathers send him who, offered in thee, goes with our oblations. Wearing new life let him increase his offspring: let him rejoin a body, Jâtavedas.”
“When born, he lives whatever the length of his life may be. When he has departed, his friends carry him, as appointed, to the fire (of the funeral pile) from whence he came, from whence he sprang.”
“May my life-breath go to the all-pervading and immortal Prana, and let this body be burned to ashes. Om! O mind, remember thy deeds! O mind, remember, remember thy deeds! Remember!”
Why Hindus cremate: the body as old clothes
The Bhagavad Gita, a smriti text (the remembered layer), does not speak of funerals. But its teaching explains why a body can be given to the fire. The self casts off old bodies as a man casts off old clothes, and it goes on to new ones. The Gita adds that "fire does not burn" the self. So on this teaching the fire touches only what has been cast off, and that body has no future. This matters for the whole question. A funeral follows a belief. What a faith does with the body shows what it expects for the body.
“As a man, casting off old clothes, puts on others and new ones, so the embodied (self) casting off old bodies, goes to others and new ones.”
“Weapons do not divide it (into pieces); fire does not burn it; waters do not moisten it; the wind does not dry it up.”
Why many Buddhists cremate: the Buddha's own funeral
Buddhists have no single funeral rite agreed by all, and they usually follow the custom of their country. Many are cremated, and the example goes back to the Buddha. The Digha Nikaya, in the Pali canon, tells of his last days. Ananda asks what to do with his body. The Buddha says to treat it as the body of a wheel-turning monarch, an ideal ruler of the world. It is to be wrapped, laid on a pyre of aromatics and cremated. The same text gives the teaching behind the scene. All creatures, a verse says, "must lay down this bag of bones". When the news reaches the senior disciple Mahakassapa, he tells the grieving monks that what is born must wear out, "even the Realized One's body". So in this text the body is one more thing that passes away.
A factsheet. It says most Hindus are cremated. It says Buddhism has no universally agreed death or funeral rites, that Buddhists usually follow the customs of their country, and that they may practise cremation, water burial or burial in the ground, depending on local custom. It says most Sikhs are cremated after death.
“"Proceed in the same way as they do for the corpse of a wheel-turning monarch." "But how do they proceed with a wheel-turning monarch's corpse?" "They wrap a wheel-turning monarch's corpse with unworn cloth, then with uncarded cotton, then again with unworn cloth. In this way they wrap the corpse with five hundred double-layers. Then they place it in an iron casket filled with oil and close it up with another casket. Then, having built a funeral pyre out of all kinds of aromatics, they cremate the corpse.”
“All creatures in this world must lay down this bag of bones.”
“How could it possibly be so that what is born, created, conditioned, and liable to wear out should not wear out, even the Realized One's body?”
Sikhs cremate too
Most Sikhs are cremated as well. Sikhism (Sikhs also say Sikhi) has a code of conduct, the Sikh Rehat Maryada. It says the body should be cremated. It adds that where cremation cannot be arranged, there should be "no qualm" about immersion in flowing water or another way. So in the Sikh code the fire is the usual way, and not a condition. Islam, as this page shows, says something like it of burial: it is a duty, yet not what a person's end rests on.
A factsheet. It says most Hindus are cremated. It says Buddhism has no universally agreed death or funeral rites, that Buddhists usually follow the customs of their country, and that they may practise cremation, water burial or burial in the ground, depending on local custom. It says most Sikhs are cremated after death.
The Sikh Rehat Maryada is the Sikh code of conduct issued by the SGPC. Its article on funeral ceremonies says that however young the deceased may be, the body should be cremated. It adds that where arrangements for cremation cannot be made, there should be "no qualm" about the body being immersed in flowing water or disposed of in any other manner.
The earth in the Hindu texts
Fire is not the only way the Hindu texts know. The Rig Veda speaks of the Fathers in heaven, those "consumed by fire or not cremated". That verse places both in the same heaven. A funeral hymn lays the remains in "the lap of Earth the Mother". Manu's law book is a smriti text. It says a child who dies before the end of its second year goes into "pure ground" and "shall not be burnt with fire". Manu also names earth beside fire among the things that purify. So in these books the ground is neither foreign nor unclean. A Hindu reader who feels uneasy about a grave will find the earth honoured in these same books.
“They who, consumed by fire or not cremated, joy in their offering in the midst of heaven,— Grant them, O Sovran Lord, the world of spirits and their own body, as thy pleasure wills it.”
“Betake thee to the lap of Earth the Mother, of Earth far-spreading, very kind and gracious. Young Dame, wool-soft unto the guerdon-giver, may she preserve thee from Destruction's bosom. Heave thyself, Earth, nor press thee downward heavily: afford him easy access, gently tending him. Cover him, as a mother wraps her skirt about her child, O Earth. Now let the heaving earth be free from motion: yea, let a thousand clods remain above him. Be they to him a home distilling fatness, here let them ever be his place of refuge. I stay the earth from thee, while over thee I place this piece of earth. May I be free from injury. Here let the Fathers keep this pillar firm for thee, and there let Yama make thee an abiding-place.”
“A child that has died before the completion of its second year, the relatives shall carry out (of the village), decked (with flowers, and bury it) in pure ground, without collecting the bones (afterwards). Such (a child) shall not be burnt with fire”
“The knowledge (of Brahman) austerities, fire, (holy) food, earth, (restraint of) the internal organ, water, smearing (with cowdung), the wind, sacred rites, the sun, and time are the purifiers of corporeal (beings).”
Burial began with a lesson from God (﷾)
The Qur'an tells of the two sons of Adam. One killed the other, and then did not know what to do with the body. "Allah sent a raven, who scratched the ground", to show him how to cover his brother. He cried out that he could not even do what a raven did, and he was full of regrets. Al-Tabari, a commentator who died in 923, says God (﷾) wished to teach him His way for the dead of His creation. This matters because it makes burial more than a custom of one people or one age. The Qur'an sets it at the start of human history, as something God (﷾) taught.
“Then Allah sent a raven, who scratched the ground, to show him how to hide the shame of his brother. "Woe is me!" said he; "Was I not even able to be as this raven, and to hide the shame of my brother?" then he became full of regrets-”
Says the killer did not yet know God's way with His dead servants and did not know what to do with his brother. God wished to teach him that way for the dead of His creation, so He sent the ravens the verse describes.
The Qur'an names the grave among God's (﷾) dealings with man
Surat Abasa goes through what God (﷾) does for man. He creates him, shapes him and makes his path smooth. Then "He causeth him to die, and putteth him in his grave", and when He wills He raises him up. Al-Qurtubi, who died in 1273, gives the explanation of the early grammarian al-Farra. God (﷾) gave man a grave to cover him, as an honour, and did not leave him on the ground for birds and beasts. Another passage calls the earth a place "to draw together" the living and the dead. Al-Qurtubi says this shows the duty to cover and bury the dead. One verse gives the whole journey: man is made from the earth, returned into it and brought out of it again. So the grave is a stage between two acts of God (﷾), and not the end of the story.
“From what stuff hath He created him? From a sperm-drop: He hath created him, and then mouldeth him in due proportions; Then doth He make His path smooth for him; Then He causeth him to die, and putteth him in his grave; Then, when it is His Will, He will raise him up (again).”
Gives al-Farra's explanation of "putteth him in his grave": God made a grave for man in which he is covered, as an honour, and did not make him something thrown on the face of the earth for birds and beasts to eat.
“Have We not made the earth (as a place) to draw together. The living and the dead,”
Explains kifat as that which gathers: the earth gathers the living on its surface and the dead within it. He says this shows the duty to cover the dead and bury them.
“From the (earth) did We create you, and into it shall We return you, and from it shall We bring you out once again.”
Made from the earth
Returned into the earth
Brought out of it again
All four schools agree that burial is a duty
Burial is fard kifaya, a duty on the whole community. If some carry it out, the rest are freed of it. If no one who knows of it does so, all are at fault. Each school's own books say so. For the Hanafi school, Ibn Abidin calls burial a communal duty by consensus. For the Maliki school, Ibn Rushd writes that the scholars agree burial is obligatory. For the Shafi'i school, al-Nawawi says it is a communal duty by consensus. For the Hanbali school, Ibn Qudamah lists it among the communal duties owed to the dead. Egypt's Dar al-Ifta states the same agreement today. So burial is not a local habit or the view of one school. Dar al-Ifta also holds that a Muslim's body may not be cremated, even if he asked for it in his will. Hasanayn Makhluf, a Grand Mufti of Egypt, also ruled cremation forbidden. The Prophet (ﷺ) showed the way in practice. The body is washed, wrapped in plain white cloth, prayed over and buried without delay. The Janazah guide on this site gives each step.
The Hanafi jurist Ibn Abidin opens the rulings on burial by saying that it is a communal duty (fard kifaya) wherever it is possible, by consensus. He gives a death on board a ship as a case where it may not be possible.
The Maliki judge Ibn Rushd opens his chapter on burial by saying that the scholars are agreed that burial is obligatory. He gives its basis as Qur'an 77:25-26 and 5:31.
Writing in the Shafi'i school, al-Nawawi says that burying the dead is a communal duty (fard kifaya) by consensus, and that when such a duty is left undone, everyone it fell on is at fault. Earlier in the same book he says that washing the dead, shrouding him, praying over him and burying him are communal duties, with no disagreement.
Ibn Qudamah's Hanbali law text states that washing the dead, shrouding him, praying over him and burying him are a communal duty (fard kifaya).
Says the jurists are agreed that preparing and burying the dead is a communal duty: if some do it the rest are freed of it, and if no one who knows of it does it, all are at fault. It cites Qur'an 20:55, 77:25-26 and 5:31.
Says cremation of the dead is not permitted in Islamic law, out of respect for human dignity and to preserve the person from harm. Death is not an end but a move from one life to another, so a person's sanctity in life remains after death. It cites the hadith on breaking a dead person's bones.
Says a Muslim's will asking for cremation must not be carried out, because it infringes human dignity. Muslims must still pray over him, bury him in the Islamic manner and ask Allah to forgive him. Asking for cremation is a sin, and it does not take away his right to the funeral prayer.
Says cremating the body of a Muslim is prohibited and that scholars agree on this as the basic principle. It reports rulings to that effect from Hasanayn Makhluf, a former Mufti of Egypt, from the International Islamic Fiqh Academy and from the fatwa committee of Kuwait's Ministry of Awqaf. It treats cremation as a concession only if it were the sole way to stop a deadly epidemic.
Umm Atiyya reports that when the daughter of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) died, he told the women to wash her three or five times or more, with water and lote leaves, with camphor at the end. When they had finished he gave them his own waist-sheet for her shroud.
Aisha reports that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was shrouded in three white cotton sheets from Yemen, with neither a shirt nor a turban among them.
Abu Hurayra reports that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said that whoever attends a funeral until the prayer is offered has a reward of one qirat, and whoever stays until the burial has two. Asked what two qirats are, he said: like two great mountains.
Abu Hurayra reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) told people to hurry with the funeral: if the dead person was righteous, they are sending him on to good, and if not, they are putting down a burden from their necks.
HanafiIbn Abidin: a communal duty, by consensus
MalikiIbn Rushd: the scholars agree it is obligatory
Shafi'ial-Nawawi: a communal duty, by consensus
HanbaliIbn Qudamah: a communal duty owed to the dead
Washed
Wrapped in plain white cloth
Prayed over
Buried without delay
The dead keep their honour
The Qur'an says, "We have honoured the sons of Adam", and Islam holds that this honour does not end at death. The Prophet (ﷺ) said that breaking a dead man's bone is like breaking it while he is alive. He said it is better to sit on a live coal that burns through to the skin than to sit on a grave. Dar al-Ifta uses the hadith on the bone to explain why cremation is not allowed: a person's sanctity in life remains after death. This honour is not for Muslims alone, for the verse speaks of all the sons of Adam. The Prophet (ﷺ) stood for a funeral, and when told it was a Jew's, he said: is it not a soul? Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs honour their dead as well. The difference lies in what honour means. In Islam it means leaving the body as God (﷾) made it and laying it in the earth.
“We have honoured the sons of Adam; provided them with transport on land and sea; given them for sustenance things good and pure; and conferred on them special favours, above a great part of our creation.”
Aisha reports that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said that breaking a dead man's bone is like breaking it while he is alive.
Abu Hurayra reports that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said it is better for one of you to sit on a live coal that burns his clothes and reaches his skin than to sit on a grave.
Says cremation of the dead is not permitted in Islamic law, out of respect for human dignity and to preserve the person from harm. Death is not an end but a move from one life to another, so a person's sanctity in life remains after death. It cites the hadith on breaking a dead person's bones.
Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Layla reports that Sahl ibn Hunayf and Qays ibn Sa'd stood up at al-Qadisiyya when a funeral passed. They were told it was the funeral of one of the land's protected non-Muslims. They said the Prophet (ﷺ) had once stood for a funeral, and when told it was a Jew's, he said: is it not a soul? Al-Bukhari places it under the chapter heading "whoever stood for the funeral of a Jew".
How can God (﷾) raise a burned body? He can
Some ask how a body turned to ash could ever rise. The Qur'an met this question long ago. A man asks, "Who can give life to (dry) bones and decomposed ones". The answer comes at once: "He will give them life Who created them for the first time!" The next verse speaks of fire itself, which He brings out of the green tree. So fire is His creation, and it has no power over Him. When others asked the same about bones and dust, the reply was "be ye stones or iron", and you will still be raised. God (﷾) can restore "the very tips of his fingers", and He knows how much of each person the earth takes. The Prophet (ﷺ) told of a man who had done no good. Fearing God's (﷾) punishment, he told his family to burn him and scatter his ashes, half on land and half at sea. God (﷾) commanded the land and the sea to gather what they held. Asked why he had done it, the man said it was from fear of Him, and God (﷾) forgave him. The hadith tells what God (﷾) did with that one man, and gives his fear of Him as the reason. It does not make burning right. It shows that fire puts no one beyond God's (﷾) reach.
“And he makes comparisons for Us, and forgets his own (origin and) Creation: He says, "Who can give life to (dry) bones and decomposed ones (at that)?" Say, "He will give them life Who created them for the first time! for He is Well-versed in every kind of creation!-”
“"The same Who produces for you fire out of the green tree, when behold! ye kindle therewith (your own fires)!”
“They say: "What! when we are reduced to bones and dust, should we really be raised up (to be) a new creation?" Say: "(Nay!) be ye stones or iron, "Or created matter which, in your minds, is hardest (to be raised up),- (Yet shall ye be raised up)!" then will they say: "Who will cause us to return?" Say: "He who created you first!" Then will they wag their heads towards thee, and say, "When will that be?" Say, "May be it will be quite soon!”
“Does man think that We cannot assemble his bones? Nay, We are able to put together in perfect order the very tips of his fingers.”
“"What! When we die and become dust, (shall we live again?) That is a (sort of) return far (from our understanding)." We already know how much of them the earth takes away: With Us is a record guarding (the full account).”
Abu Hurayra reports that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) told of a man who had never done any good. He said that when he died his family should burn him and throw half of his ashes on land and half in the sea, for if Allah caught him He would punish him as He had punished no one. Allah commanded the sea and the land to gather what they held of him. Allah then asked him why he had done this. He said it was from fear of Him, and Allah forgave him.
Abu Hurayra reports the same account from the Prophet (ﷺ): a man who sinned told his sons to burn him, crush him and scatter him on the wind. Allah ordered the earth to gather what it held of him, and the man stood before Him. Asked why he did it, he said it was from fear of his Lord, and Allah forgave him.
Abu Hurayra reports the same account from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ): a man who had never done good asked his family to burn his body and scatter half of the ashes on land and half in the sea. Allah commanded the land and the sea to gather what they held, asked him why he had done it, and pardoned him when he said it was from fear of Him.
Laid in a grave
Turned to bones and dust
Burned, with the ashes scattered on land and sea
Burial is obedience and honour, not a condition of resurrection
God (﷾) raises the buried, the burned and the scattered alike. A grave gives Him no help. Muslims bury because He taught it and the Prophet (ﷺ) did it. So burial is obedience from the living and honour for the dead. It also does good to those who remain. Those who carry the body and stand at the grave meet their own end. The Prophet (ﷺ) told people to visit graves, for they remind you of the Hereafter. He said that whoever follows a Muslim's funeral with faith, hoping for Allah's (﷾) reward, earns one qirat for staying until the prayer. Whoever stays until the burial earns two. Each qirat of reward, he said, is like the mountain of Uhud. The Prophet (ﷺ) himself was wrapped in three plain white cotton sheets, and a Muslim's shroud today is just as simple.
“From what stuff hath He created him? From a sperm-drop: He hath created him, and then mouldeth him in due proportions; Then doth He make His path smooth for him; Then He causeth him to die, and putteth him in his grave; Then, when it is His Will, He will raise him up (again).”
Abu Hurayra reports that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) told of a man who had never done any good. He said that when he died his family should burn him and throw half of his ashes on land and half in the sea, for if Allah caught him He would punish him as He had punished no one. Allah commanded the sea and the land to gather what they held of him. Allah then asked him why he had done this. He said it was from fear of Him, and Allah forgave him.
Abu Hurayra reports that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: visit the graves, for they will remind you of the Hereafter.
Abu Hurayra reports that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: whoever follows the funeral of a Muslim out of faith and hoping for Allah's reward, and stays with it until the prayer has been offered and the burial is finished, returns with two qirats of reward, each qirat like Mount Uhud. Whoever prays over it and goes back before the burial returns with one qirat.
Abu Hurayra reports that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said that whoever attends a funeral until the prayer is offered has a reward of one qirat, and whoever stays until the burial has two. Asked what two qirats are, he said: like two great mountains.
Aisha reports that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was shrouded in three white cotton sheets from Yemen, with neither a shirt nor a turban among them.
What God (﷾) does
He raises the buried, the burned and the scattered alike.
Obedience from the living
Muslims bury because He taught it and the Prophet (ﷺ) did it.
Honour for the dead
Breaking a dead man's bone is like breaking it while he is alive.
No one is lost because of a fire
No Muslim may say that a person is lost because the body was burned. What happens to a body after death does not decide anyone's end. The Qur'an says no bearer of burdens bears another's burden, and each person sees his own deeds, down to an atom's weight. Even a Muslim who asked for cremation keeps his right to the funeral prayer. Dar al-Ifta says his request is not carried out, and Muslims still pray over him and ask forgiveness for him. The Qur'an condemns the makers of a pit of fire for what they did to believers. The Prophet (ﷺ) told how those believers were thrown into it for their faith. No Muslim thinks them lost. So what counts is what a person believed and how he lived, and God (﷾) alone judges that. He wrongs no one.
“Say: "Shall I seek for (my) Cherisher other than Allah, when He is the Cherisher of all things (that exist)? Every soul draws the meed of its acts on none but itself: no bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another. Your goal in the end is towards Allah: He will tell you the truth of the things wherein ye disputed."”
“Then shall anyone who has done an atom's weight of good, see it! And anyone who has done an atom's weight of evil, shall see it.”
Says a Muslim's will asking for cremation must not be carried out, because it infringes human dignity. Muslims must still pray over him, bury him in the Islamic manner and ask Allah to forgive him. Asking for cremation is a sin, and it does not take away his right to the funeral prayer.
“Woe to the makers of the pit (of fire), Fire supplied (abundantly) with fuel: Behold! they sat over against the (fire), And they witnessed (all) that they were doing against the Believers. And they ill-treated them for no other reason than that they believed in Allah, Exalted in Power, Worthy of all Praise!-”
Suhayb reports that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) told of a king before our time. When the people came to believe in the Lord of a young believer, the king had ditches dug and fires lit in them. Whoever would not turn back from that faith was thrown into the fire.
“And the Book (of Deeds) will be placed (before you); and thou wilt see the sinful in great terror because of what is (recorded) therein; they will say, "Ah! woe to us! what a Book is this! It leaves out nothing small or great, but takes account thereof!" They will find all that they did, placed before them: And not one will thy Lord treat with injustice.”
What the funeral says about what comes next
Each funeral follows a belief. In the Gita, the body is cast off and the self goes on to another. In the Pali texts, the body is one more thing that wears out. In the Qur'an, the one who was laid in the grave is raised and meets his deeds. So the question that matters most is what a person brings to that meeting, and it is answered in this life. The Qur'an speaks to every reader about the One who made them and will raise them. Read it for yourself, and weigh what it says while there is time.
“As a man, casting off old clothes, puts on others and new ones, so the embodied (self) casting off old bodies, goes to others and new ones.”
“How could it possibly be so that what is born, created, conditioned, and liable to wear out should not wear out, even the Realized One's body?”
“From what stuff hath He created him? From a sperm-drop: He hath created him, and then mouldeth him in due proportions; Then doth He make His path smooth for him; Then He causeth him to die, and putteth him in his grave; Then, when it is His Will, He will raise him up (again).”
“Then shall anyone who has done an atom's weight of good, see it! And anyone who has done an atom's weight of evil, shall see it.”
| Point | Hindu texts | Pali texts | Islam |
|---|---|---|---|
| What is done | The body is given to the fire. | The Buddha's body was cremated, and many Buddhists follow. | The body is washed, wrapped, prayed over and buried. |
| Why | Fire is the last offering that sends the dead on. | What is born must wear out. | God (﷾) taught it, and the Prophet (ﷺ) did it. |
| The body | Old clothes cast off. | A bag of bones to lay down. | Honoured, and laid in the earth. |
Two replies, answered
Qur'an 36:78-79 — Surat Ya Sin (Yaseen), verses 78-79
“And he makes comparisons for Us, and forgets his own (origin and) Creation: He says, "Who can give life to (dry) bones and decomposed ones (at that)?" Say, "He will give them life Who created them for the first time! for He is Well-versed in every kind of creation!-”
Cited for
A body burned to ash is gone. If the resurrection is of the body, a cremated person cannot rise, so burial must be what makes it possible.
The response
The resurrection does not rest on what lies in the ground. The Qur'an itself quotes those who ask about people who "die and become dust". It answers that God (﷾) knows how much of them the earth takes. The One who made man the first time can make him again. In the hadith of the burned man, the land and the sea gave up what they held at His command.
Where it lands — Fire sets no limit on God's (﷾) power. Burial is not what makes the resurrection possible.
Qur'an 80:18-22 — Surat Abasa (He frowned), verses 18-22
“From what stuff hath He created him? From a sperm-drop: He hath created him, and then mouldeth him in due proportions; Then doth He make His path smooth for him; Then He causeth him to die, and putteth him in his grave; Then, when it is His Will, He will raise him up (again).”
Cited for
If God (﷾) can raise anyone, burial makes no difference, and cremation is just as good.
The response
God's (﷾) power and God's (﷾) teaching are two different things. He can raise anyone, and He has also shown how the dead are to be treated. Muslims bury because He taught it, not because He needs it.
Where it lands — Burial is obedience and honour, and it is owed even though God (﷾) needs nothing from it.
Perspectives
Hindu: fire is the right end
Fire is the last offering. It sends the dead on to the Fathers, and the body is only clothing that the self has left.
The funeral hymns ask Agni to send the dead to the Fathers, so the fire does what a grave cannot.
Rebuttal
The same book speaks of Fathers "consumed by fire or not cremated" in the midst of heaven. So by its own words the fire is not needed to reach them. In Islam no rite carries the soul: God (﷾) Himself takes it at death.
The Gita says the self leaves the body like old clothes, so there is no reason to keep the body.
Rebuttal
That rests on rebirth. The Qur'an teaches one life, a barrier, and then the raising of the dead, so the body is not a cast-off coat. The Prophet (ﷺ) said that breaking a dead man's bone is like breaking it while he is alive.
Fire is pure, and Hindu law names it among the things that purify.
Rebuttal
The same verse names earth as a purifier too, and Manu sends young children into "pure ground". The hymns call the earth a mother. In the Qur'an it is where man was made and where he returns.
Buddhist: let the body go
The Buddha's own body was cremated. The body is impermanent, and holding on to it only feeds attachment.
The Digha Nikaya records that the Buddha's body was to be cremated, so cremation is the fitting way.
Rebuttal
The text gives this as the custom for a wheel-turning monarch, and it tells Ananda not to get involved in the rites. It lays no rule on every Buddhist, and Buddhists have no agreed rite. The Qur'an gives burial as something God (﷾) taught.
The body is a bag of bones that must be laid down, so no one should hold on to it.
Rebuttal
A thing can wear out and still deserve care. The same text wraps the Buddha's body in five hundred layers and builds a monument for him. Islam asks far less: plain cloth and a prompt burial. It honours the body without clinging to it, because God (﷾) will raise the person.
The Islamic perspective
God (﷾) taught burial, the Prophet (ﷺ) practised it, and the dead keep their honour. God (﷾) raises everyone, whatever became of the body.
The four schools of Islamic law agree that burial is a duty
God (﷾) showed a son of Adam how to cover his brother, through a raven.
The Qur'an places the grave between death and the raising of the dead.
Scholars of all four schools record burial as an agreed duty on the community.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said that breaking a dead man's bone is like breaking it while he is alive.
God (﷾) raises the burned as surely as the buried, so burial is obedience and honour, not a condition of resurrection.