According to White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan, bin Laden's remains were buried "in strict conformance with Islamic precepts and practices." Brennan said the administration consulted "appropriate specialists and experts" before making the decision.
"They can say they buried him at sea, but they cannot say they did it according to Islam," Mohammed al-Qubaisi, the highest religious law official in Dubai, said of the burial. "Sea burials are permissible for Muslims in extraordinary circumstances. This is not one of them."
"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.
According to one school of thought, sea burials are permitted only when the person in question died on board a ship.
"If a man dies on a ship that is a long distance from land, then the dead man should be buried at the sea," said Shiite cleric Ibrahim al-Jabari. "But if he dies on land, then he should be buried in the ground, not to be thrown into the sea. Otherwise, this would be only inviting fish to a banquet."
Al-Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed El-Tayeb, a prominent Islamic scholar, condemned the burial as an act that goes against religious and moral values. According to El-Tayeb, Islam forbids the desecration of the bodies of the dead, irrespective of their beliefs and ideologies.
One possible deterrent for burying bin Laden at sea was the fear that had he been buried on land his grave might become a shrine or otherwise contentious symbol.
Nevertheless, some Islamic clerics have said that bin Laden's burial may well serve as a source of future unrest.
"What was done by the Americans is forbidden by Islam and might provoke some Muslims," said Abdul-Sattar al-Janabi, an Islamic scholar from Iraq who preaches at Baghdad's Abu Hanifa mosque. "It is not acceptable and it is almost a crime to throw the body of a Muslim man into the sea. The body of bin Laden should have been handed over to his family to look for a country or land to bury him."