Body of San Bernardino killer Tashfeen Malik remains unclaimed at morgue so may end up cremated - a practice strictly forbidden by Islam

The body of San Bernardino terrorist Tashfeen Malik may be cremated - a practice strictly forbidden by Islamic law - because nobody wants to claim it, it has been reported.

Malik's body and that of her husband Syed Farook is still being held at the San Bernardino County morgue more than a week after the pair were shot dead by police.

But while Farook's remains are expected to be released to his immediate relatives in California soon, nobody has stepped forward to take care of Malik's body, Fox News reports.

Malik, who came to the U.S. with Farook in 2014 on a fiance visa after meeting Farook in Saudi Arabia, has no relatives in America.

While her family in Saudi has been contacted, Fox News reports that nobody has stepped forward to handle her funeral, while a Washington embassy spokesman said the Saudi government will take no responsibility for her either. 

Malik is not known to have worshiped at mosques close to her former home in Redlands, and was not active with other local Islamic groups, who would typically have stepped forward to offer a burial.

Fox claims to have spoken with an unnamed source in the Muslim community, who said: 'No one wants to claim her and no one wants to do the funeral.

'They are all waiting for someone else to be the one to take care of this part of it.' 

If Malik's body is still unclaimed in a month's time, then officials will cremate it at the taxpayer's expense, in accordance with state law.

Cremation is typically preferred for unclaimed bodies as it is the cheapest form of burial. However the practice is forbidden in even the most moderate forms of Islam.

However, attorney Troy Slaten said that San Bernardino county officials will not grant the same privilege to Malik if her body remains unclaimed.

He said: 'If nobody claims a body, it is turned over to the public administrator, who will handle it civilly and not religiously.'

Another attorney, David Wohl, added: 'The state is not going to care about religious tradition. She was a terrorist.'

Technically Malik and Farook's burials have already breached the strictest interpretation of sharia law, which states that they must be buried as soon as possible after death - usually taken to mean within 24 hours.

While medical and legal personnel are typically allowed to inspect the body - usually a right reserved only for the family - they are frowned upon if they perform an autopsy, as most Muslims consider this as desecration of the dead.

Even if the body must be kept for inspection, it is expected that it will be washed and wrapped in cloths for the family to receive when the remains are finally released. 

Malik and Farook shot 14 people dead at the Inland Regional Center in California last week after being inspired to carry out their attack by a form of fundamentalist, radical Islam.