No Mercy For You, Says Mosque to Boston Bomber’s Family…

… The Soup Nazi would be proud.

American authorities have told the family that they can have Tsarnaev’s body, and an uncle approached the mosque to request a burial and funeral but was declined, said the aunt, Patimat Suleimanova.

She said that she did not know the name of the mosque but that it was one the family attended. A mosque in Cambridge, Mass., has said that Tsarnaev attended and occasionally caused disruptions and that mosque leaders threatened to kick him out.
A spokesman for the mosque, run by the Islamic Society of Boston, has said that congregants have been questioned by the FBI. The mosque did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday from NBC News.

Earlier this week, Imam Talal Eid of the Islamic Institute of Boston told The Huffington Post: “I would not be willing to do a funeral for him. This is a person who deliberately killed people. There is no room for him as a Muslim.” [SOURCE]

This smacks of unforgiving callousness. Sure Tsarnaev was a despicable and disturbed individual but can you imagine the pealing public outcry from amnesty groups if we started refusing proper burials for prisoners? Are not convicted murders who “deliberately killed people” deserving of human dignity as well? What is the difference in this instance?

The Catholic Church teaches that burying the dead is a corporal work of mercy and to pray for the deceased is a spiritual work of mercy. Mercy is seriously lacking in this particular example. Can you imagine hearing that there was no room for you as a Catholic?

What does Islam teach about mercy and forgiveness? Perhaps one of our writers in the Muslim portal can address this and explain the Iman’s actions. Can it even be explained and excused? Personally, from what Catholics know and believe about God and His infinite mercy I can’t really see any justification. However, that doesn’t mean I’m not interested or open to a discussion on the matter. As appalled as I am, I am equally curious. It would never in a million years even occur to me to refuse someone a burial. It seems so… so, inhuman. Disturbingly inhuman.

As someone commented on facebook, wouldn’t it be something if the archdiocese of Boston agreed to give Tamerlan Tsarnaev a burial; not a Catholic burial, but out of charity saw to it that the arrangements were made at least.

Updated: Shows ya what I know. Apparently Catholics used to do it too. Most notoriously, in 1986 mobster Anthony Spilotro was denied a Catholic funeral. So how does that jive with our own spiritual and corporal works of mercy then?