Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullah I am a recent revert to Islam and I belong to a Hindu family. I haven't informed my family about my conversion yet. My question is, if I were to pass away now, my body would be cremated, as per Hindu rites. I know cremation under Islam is haraam, will I be sinning if I am cremated. Will it affect my afterlife? I am striving hard to be a good Muslim and am very afraid of the Hell-fire. Please help me with my doubts. Jazakallah for your response.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

First of all, all perfect praise be to Allaah, Who guided you to Islam and we ask Him to make you firm and steadfast on His Religion until the day you meet Him. There is no doubt that this is one of the greatest bounties which Allaah blessed you with, and this is a bounty which requires you to be grateful to Allaah and take all the permissible means which will help you remain firm on this religion.

As regards cremation, it is forbidden and we clarified this in Fataawa 84963 and 84867. If we suppose that your family cremate you after you die, then you are not sinful and this will not affect your afterlife, Allaah willing, as this is against your will. However, you may make a will for your body not to be cremated, and this will should be given to the Muslims so that when you die, they will wash your body, perform the funeral prayer on you and bury you.

Furthermore, you should know that it is permissible for you to conceal your Islam from your family, and you may hide from them the prayer and other Islamic rituals that you are performing if you fear to be harmed by informing them, provided you are certain that they will most likely afflict you with harm if they discover, and provided that this harm is one which cannot be usually tolerated. If it is predestined that your family or other relatives come to know about you and you are exposed to some harm, then you should be patient and seek the reward from Allaah; you have a good example in the Prophets, may Allaah exalt their mention, as they were tried and tested and were patient. Allaah Says (what means): {Verily, Messengers were denied before you, but they were patient over [the effects of] denial, and they were harmed until Our victory came to them.}[Quran 6:34]. The same thing happened to Prophet Mohammad as the polytheists harmed him to an extent that they would put rubbish on his back while he is in the prostrating position at the Ka'bah.

Khabbaab Ibn Al-Aratt narrated that when the believers were severely inflicted by the persecution of the disbelievers, the Prophet said to them: "Among those nations before you, a man would be seized and held in a pit dug for him in the ground and he would be sawed into two halves from his head, and his flesh torn away from his bones with an iron comb; but, in spite of this, he would not wean away from his Faith.''  [Al-Bukhari]

When it becomes possible for you to inform them that you became a Muslim without risking your safety, then do so, as in this way, you will not be embarrassed when abiding by your religious obligations.

Finally, we advise you to do the following:

1-     Be keen to acquire beneficial religious knowledge and perform good deeds, and you should socialize with pious and righteous women even through the modern means of communication, like the internet, so that they would help you in going good.

2-     Migrate to a place where you will be safe about your religion and your own self because residing among the non-Muslims is a cause of trials and afflictions. For more benefit on the ruling of migration, please refer to Fatwa 86405.

3-     Seek the help of your Muslim brothers and sisters to find you a righteous and pious husband who will help you in your religion.

For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 92413, 92031 and 89563.

Allaah Knows best.