SEPANG: For Ustaz Mohd Ajib Ismail, the funeral rites performed on the remains of Muslims crew and passengers on board the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 at the Monuta Innemee funeral centre at The Hague, Netherlands, were almost a daily routine.
The handling of each of the victims’ remains had become routine for him and several other Islamic Development Department (Jakim) officers who were sent there on July 18.
Ajib, who coordinated the tasks for the 10-man team, only carried out funeral rites upon MAS’ notification that the remains had been released from Hilversum by the Disaster Victim Identification Team (DVI) and Dutch authorities.
Yesterday, Ajib and three other Jakim officials arrived safely at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) — 45 days after arriving in Amsterdam.
The group, led by the Putra Mosque grand imam Abdul Manaf Mat, was greeted by Jakim Director-General Datuk Othman Mustapha after the flight touched down at 6:35am. Other team members were Zulrushdi Salleh, and Sitaton Mohd Osman.
He said the remains of Muslims were treated with utmost care and respect in line with the Islamic teachings.
“Normally, a Muslim body has to undergo four specific steps before it is laid to rest, starting with bathing and shrouding of the body before a special solat jenazah (funeral prayer) is performed in preparation for the burial.”
The team, he said, brought along with them substantial logistics, including kain kafan (white shroud), camphor and sandalwood powder and cotton sheets.
Other items included minyak atar (non-alcoholic perfume), plastic wrapping, soap bars and surgical hygienic goods such as rubber gloves.
Apart from performing the last rites, the team was also tasked with coordinating the tahlil prayers and yasin recitals.
“We also gave grieving next-of-kin, counselling,” he said.
Manaf, meanwhile, said the process of bathing and enshrouding the remains of a Muslim was compulsory, regardless of the body’s condition.
“This is unless they (remains) have been turned into ashes,” he said, adding that the body would be bathed with dust (tayammum) if water was scarce.
Tayammum refers to the dry ablution in Islam using sand or dust.
On the challenges faced throughout the mission, Manaf said apart from the abruptness of their departure to Netherlands, the team had to work in days where they had to fast for over 19 hours.