Cremation is a funeral method that uses extreme heat
to reduce the human body to its fundamental parts.
Recently, people have started cremating the corpses
of their loved ones, yet the issue of cremation is a
trending but controversial topic in Yorubaland,
especially in Lagos, Nigeria, as there are lots of
cultural and religious issues surrounding it. Therefore,
this research focuses on the religious perspectives of
cremation in Yorubaland. It also examined cremation
from philosophical, Islamic, Biblical, and African
sociological perspectives in Yorubaland, with little or
no references to other tribes in Nigeria or Africa. This
research adopted a descriptive sampling
methodology with 280 respondents from two main
religious organisations and several ethnic groups in
Lagos State, and the data were analysed and
discussed. It discovers that most of the Christian
denominations in Yorubaland do not have a specific
official statement that either endorses or condemns
cremation, hence leaving the choice to individuals
and families. Islamic scholars also believe that
cremation is forbidden by God in the Quran and that
the only acceptable manner of disposing of a dead
body is Islamic burial. The study reveals that, in the
religious and ethnical context, cremation faces huge
opposition, with traditional burial being the most
preferred method of body disposal in Yorubaland.