RIYADH Saudi Arabia's interior ministry has moved to halt the increasingly popular practice of Muslims seeking burial in the holy cities of Makkah and Madina, a Saudi newspaper said on Saturday.

A recent ministry circular said all Muslims, whether Saudis or foreigners, should be buried in the place where they die, the Arab News reported.

It added that the country's top Muslim scholars of the Council of High Ulema agreed that families should not ship the corpses of loved ones to the holy cities for burial, the newspaper said.

“Under shariah (Islamic law) rules, the dead bodies should be buried without any delay before the corpse begins to decompose,” the ministry said.

The newspaper quoted Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh as saying there was no basis in Islamic texts like the Quran for people seeking burial in Makkah or Madina.—AFP