Necrophilia: Erotic Interest in a Corpse

 by Dr. Aslam Abdullah

The Egyptian parliament is reportedly set to introduce a law allowing husbands to have sex with their dead wives up to six hours after death.  Who is introducing this bill and with what purpose? It is not clear. One hopes that it is a hoax and those who stand for Islam would never indulge in this type of bizarre legislative process. It is alleged that those who proposed this bill come from groups that believe in Islam as their guiding principle. Unless we hear definite words from these Islamic parties, we would not refer to the legislation.

However, references have been made to a ruling by a Moroccan cleric Zamzami Abdul Bar who last year gave permission to husbands to have sex with their dead wives. His argument: since the two would meet in Heaven again anyway, death shouldn’t get in the way of one last post-mortem marital romp. It is this ruling that is the focus of this article.
Islam is very clear on the issue of matrimonial ties. With the death of a spouse, the contract of marriage comes to an end. There is no difference in this regard among the scholars of all schools of thoughts. Thus the ruling of the so-called Muslim cleric demonstrates the abuse of the authority in the name of God. It shows a total disregard to common sense or even the basics of the divine teachings. Furthermore, it shows how obsessed are some of the so called religious scholars with male sexuality. It is a shame that these people occupy positions of authority in the Muslim community and their views are accepted as a genuine interpretation of the divine teachings. What is even worse is that Muslim scholars, in general, have chosen to be quiet on this issue. The opposition to Zamzami has come from secularists as Muslim scholars, by and large, have preferred to ignore the issue.
What Zamzami decreed is a mockery of the divine teachings. The Sura (chapter) two of the Quran in Aya (verse) 79 described such people as those who frame the laws of the Sharia themselves and attribute them to God. The Quran describes them worse than animals. The Quran further explains “Worst of the creatures in the sight of Allah are those human beings who do not utilize the capabilities of hearing and speaking and refuse to understand (8:22).

The Quran goes even further consigning these people to a great torment while explaining “You will see many amongst both the Jinn (invisible beings) and Ins (humans) who are destined for Jahannam (hellfire) for they have been given the faculties of thinking, seeing and hearing but they do not utilize them (to grasp the truth). They are just like brutes - and indeed worse than them. They remain un-heedful of the laws of Allah.  (7:179)

Who in his or her right mind will think of having sex with a dead corpse? The only sick and perverted mind can think of these things when most people are concerned to ensure a swift and quick burial, as dictated by the faith. Imagine, the mourners are lining up at the house offering their condolences while the husband is busy in seeking his sexual gratification from the dead body of his wife in the name of fulfilling his obligation. It is blasphemy. It is animalistic and those who even think of these things deserve to be castrated rather than being given the legal and religious protection.  It is a shame that those who advocate such a practice and are willing to give it a legal shield claim to be Muslims representing Islam: the divine message that talks of human dignity, for dead or alive.

These perverted scholars are obsessed with male sexuality. To most of them, women serve the purpose of providing their male partners utmost sexual gratification. It does not matter to them what a woman thinks or feels. What is important for them is to ensure that male sexuality is taken care of. They have misused God and His messengers in justifying their lustful perverted thoughts. They talk of a divine curse on women who refuse to submit to the sexual desires of their husbands and they argue for a meek and submissive wife who must live in the shadow of her husband ever ready to serve him. They even justify marrying girls at a younger age because it serves the male sexual chauvinistic fantasies. The worst is that they concoct all their perversions in the name of God and His messengers especially Prophet Muhammad. They have even concocted stories attributing the practice of marrying younger girls to the Prophet and his companions against the Quranic commands, the common sense, and decency. To them what is more important is what has been explained by the previous scholars. The divine teachings or the actual character of the messenger hardly matters to them. They describe all those who refuse to accept their perversion as deviants, un-Godly, and worthy of denunciations. Some even go a step further by describing women who want to assert their independence as whores and a piece of worthless flesh. How abhorrent is their action and how despicable is their behavior. They do not deserve to be leading Muslims in prayers or teaching the believers their faith. They deserve to be sent in the institutions set up to cure mentally challenged people.. They need help in rediscovering their humanity.

Even if this bill is introduced in the parliament we hope that those standing for Islam would be the one fighting these perversions and manipulations. We have no reason to believe that they themselves are the ones who are supportive of these obsessions. Is this the priority of Islam to allow husbands to have sex with their dead wives? Is this the priority of Muslims to allow parents to marry their daughters at an early age when they are not ready to make big decisions in their lives?

We hope they are intelligent and would not turn a serious faith to ridicule by burlesquing and immaturity to imitate their perversions grotesquely and absurdly? We do not need these scholars who impose their ideas on divine ideas. We do not need these religious teachers who misuse religion to serve their egos. And that is why the Quran has empowered each and every individual to seek clarification and guidance directly from it. In the eyes of the Quran, those who manipulate the Quran are the culprits and they must be questioned and challenged

They should have known that even though legends with necrophilia themes are common throughout history and the concept of sexual interference with the dead has been known since the ancient Egyptians, it has been an abhorred practice as noted by Herodotus (428 BC)
"When the wife of a distinguished man dies, or any woman who happens to be beautiful or well known, her body is not given to the embalmers immediately, but only after the lapse of three or four days. This is a precautionary measure to prevent the embalmers from violating her corpse, a thing which is actually said to have happened in the case of a woman who had just died." (de Selincourt, translation, 1972, p.161)

"Necrophilia actions" or "Pseudo necrophilia" have happened in the recent past. Rosman and Resnick (1988) compiled 122 cases of necrophilia, both from the literature and previously unreported cases referred to investigators. The powerlessness and the lifeless condition of a corpse form the stimulus for the coward perverted individual who is consumed with the desire to satisfy an abnormal desire of seeking absolute subjugation, without the possibility of resistance.  The solution to such perversion is a treatment for necrophilia through cognitive therapy, use of sex-drive, reducing medications, and assistance with improving social and sexual relations as well as sexual discipline, etc. The solution is not a law in the name of God. 

In 2010 two cases of necrophilia were reported in newspapers. One was in The Philippines and the other in Pakistan.  In 2010, Police in Zamboanga, The Philippines started investigating into an alleged case of necrophilia after five graves were desecrated. Also in Karachi, a police offer at the Nazimabad police station reported that a detainee has admitted having sex with at least 48 dead women in the past few months.

Individuals who commit these anti-divine acts must be brought to justice rather than given protection in the name of God. 

In The United States, no federal law exists to prohibit this act. However, several states have their own legislation covering this abnormal behavior. In March, 2012, the State of Illinois voted unanimously to approve a bill that makes necrophilia a class 2 felony. It says: “A person commits an abuse of a corpse if he or she intentionally: (1) engages in sexual conduct with a corpse or involving a corpse; or (2) removes or carries away a corpse and is not authorized by law to do so.” The states that have laws are: Alabama - Class C felony;, Alaska - Class A misdemeanor; , Arkansas - Class D felony; California - Illegal, up to 8 years in prison; Colorado - Class 2 misdemeanor;, Delaware - Class A misdemeanor; Florida-- Second-degree felony; Georgia - Felony, up to 10 years in prison; Iowa - Class D Felony; Hawaii - Misdemeanor; Michigan - Class A felony, life in prison; Oregon - Felony for "Abuse of Corpse; "Texas - Class A Misdemeanor; Pennsylvania - Second-degree misdemeanor; Washington - Class C Felony for "Sexually violation human remains;" Minnesota and Nevada also have laws prohibiting necrophilia as well.  

One of the roles assigned to the Prophet, as explained in the Quran, was “to lift the burdens under which the humanity groans and free them from the shackles which bind them [7:157].  What a shame that the scholar speaking in the name of Islam wants to defy the A prophet in such a serious matter.