Al Quaeda chief Osama Bin Laden was buried at sea: Did U.S. policy makers commit a mistake by burying his dead body in northern Arabian Sea? This awkward question has arisen amid the justified celebrations over the killing of Osama bin Laden. Several Muslim authorities said that the sea burial in fact violated Muslim tradition and warned that it could help trigger calls for revenge from militant Muslims. The sea burial "runs contrary to the principles of Islamic laws, religious values and humanitarian customs," Sheik Ahmed al Tayeb, the grand Imam of Cairo's Al Azhar mosque, said.

There are several different versions of Muslim clerics about Osama's burial at sea. While Mohammed al Qubaisi, Dubai's grand mufti is of the view, "If the family does not want him, it's really simple in Islam, You dig up a grave anywhere, even on a remote island, you say the prayers and that's it." He added, "Sea burials are permissible for Muslims in extraordinary circumstances and this is not one of them." And Abdul-Sattar al-Janabi, who preaches at Baghdad's Abu Hanifa mosque declared, "It is not acceptable, and it is almost a crime to throw the body of a Muslim man into the sea," adding that the action "might provoke some Muslims." On the contrary, Imam Shamsi Ali, of the Islamic Cultural Center of New York, said that in emergency circumstances, any Islamic law can be overlooked. "For example, you're not allowed to eat pork," he said, but added that if you were starving to death, it would be considered acceptable.

Whereas the Pentagon says the body was treated in accordance with traditional Islamic procedures including washing the corpse before it was placed in the waters of the northern Arabian Sea. U.S. officials have said they wanted to avoid the Al Qaeda leader's grave site becoming a shrine for his followers. They've also said it would have been difficult to find a foreign country willing to accept Osama Bin Laden's remains, especially in so short a time, as Islamic tradition and practice call for the body of the deceased to be buried within 24 hours of death. Keeping Islamic practices aside, the decision is already triggering conspiracy theories that cast doubt on whether Osama Bin Laden is truly dead, even though DNA testing is said to have confirmed with virtual certainty that the Al Qaeda leader was indeed killed. Reluctance on part of Obama administration to release photographs of Osama's body is also paving way for increase of skepticism in some quarters.