Rajab had been in an accident that broke his leg. He later went to hospital for treatment but died during surgery when his blood pressure rose.
As a Muslim, his family planned to perform washing and burial rites the same day his body left the mortuary, as their customs require.
But when mourners arrived at the rented house to prepare his body, the landlady would not let them bring the coffin inside.
The landlady told relatives she could not allow the body of someone who was not of her blood to be taken into her compound.
She said her culture does not permit keeping a non-family member’s coffin on her property.
She offered instead to pay for the washing to be done in the mortuary, saying having the rites at the house was not healthy or acceptable to her.
Relatives were angry and hurt. An uncle said the landlady even came to the mourning site, but mourners asked her to leave to avoid an escalation.
With the house off-limits, the family moved their mourning to a neighbour’s home so they could complete the necessary rites before burial.
The incident drew strong reactions online. Some people blamed the landlady, saying she should have shown mercy to grieving relatives.
Others defended her right to protect her cultural beliefs and her property.
Several commenters felt the family should have been allowed to use the house, while some argued the relatives should not have expected to hold funeral rites at someone else’s property without prior agreement.
A video circulating alongside reports of the case showed a separate, unusual burial scene in which mourners damaged a coffin and lifted the corpse into a sitting position an act that surprised many viewers and prompted debate about funeral customs.