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but it seems to me that God (or Allah) is not going to condemn a
soul based on the method by which the body is interred.

I am not sure. There was a case not too long ago in which a funeral director was letting students from a tattoo school use his corpses to practice on, and some were Jewish, and when the families found out it was a great tragedy because a tattoo meant you would not get to heaven, something about defiling the body.

Also, some Christian faiths insist that the body be intact and not cremated to assure heavenly ascent. I worked as a backup EMT a while ago and severed fingers and so on were very important, so that bodies could be buried whole.

Also, remember Mohammed Atta's "last will", in which he described in great length the method to prepare his body, taken from the Koran and other similar texts? "Let no woman touch my body" and stuff like that.

It could be that post mortem preps are important.

Another thing- compare the Pershing story to Kipling's "King- of the Khyber Rifles". He has the British spread the rumor that the cartriges of his enemy (Muslims in the Afghanistan Khyber Pass, now Pakistan) were oiled with pig fat, so they were unwilling to tear open the paper cartriges with their teeth to load the muzzleloaders.

Kipling's "King- of the Khyber Rifles"

No, I was wrong, Talbot Mundy was the author not Kipling.

"KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES has a lone hero and none of the emphasis on military camaraderie, or the careless, Boys' Own tone to be found in such as GUNGA
DIN. Authentic details of Indian atmosphere convey a sense of accuracy, such as the rumors that the cartridges for the new Enfield rifles are greased with pig's fat,
simultaneously offending Moslem and Hindu alike. King must use his unique appeal as a fellow native to lead the Khyber Rifles in an attack on Khan's encampment. At the
last moment, King's men resolve not to use the rifles but offer to follow him using their knives."

The Sepoy mutiny in India (1850s or so) was triggered by a report that the musket balls were greased with cow fat (offensive to Hindu soldiers) and/or pig fat (offensive to Muslim soldiers). I suspect that Kipling's work is based on the Sepoy Revolt.

The difference in our arguments is that in the case of Kipling (and the Sepoys), the individual is commmitting the act, whereas in the alleged Pershing story the individual is incapable of acting, having assumed ambient temperature.