Osama Bin Laden’s body was buried at sea to deny his followers a shrine, it has been widely reported. But why do the graves of leaders matter so much? For a man who had been the world’s most wanted, it was a deeply undistinguished final resting place. The remains of Osama Bin Laden met an inauspicious fate – his body dropped into the ocean from an American aircraft carrier.US officials were at pains to insist that the process was conducted in “strict conformance with Islamic precepts and practices”.
But the purpose of his burial at sea was clear – to ensure that there was no grave to become a shrine for supporters, and a recruiting tool for extremist Islamism.It’s a motive with clear historical antecedents. Victorious regimes, particularly when confronted with ideological movements with charismatic leaders, have often been anxious to deny their defeated enemies a rallying point, a place where sympathisers can gather to venerate their dead. Read the rest of this entry »
