Top PA Cleric Taysir Tamimi: Arafat Was Lowered Into His Grave Radiant and Smiling

The following are excerpts from an interview with Taysir Al-Tamimi, the head of the Palestinian religious courts, which aired on Palestinian Authority TV on December 8, 2004:

Taysir Al-Tamimi: We were in Ramallah to pray for (Arafat's) soul, after we took him out of the coffin. He was covered inside the grave. I was uncovering his face and… lo and behold! He was smiling. He was radiant. You could sense that he was "well-pleased and well pleasing (unto God)." You could sense he was calm. The faces of some of the dead are etched with sorrow and anxiety, and are dark. I saw the opposite of this: Light radiated from his face, and he was joyous, and this is proof of the status of the leader, martyr, and Mujahid (in heaven).