Under pressure from Corona ... French Muslims find it difficult to bury their dead

With the start of Ramadan, and in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, Muslims in France found themselves unable to transport their dead to their countries of origin, at a time when the few arenas designated for religious denominations in French cemeteries were filled, putting some municipalities in an emergency situation.

To shed light on this problem, the French newspaper Lacroix published an investigation written by Mellini Le Priolle, which it started from the case of Rahal, the eighty Moroccan who was just buried a month after his death in an Islamic square in a cemetery in Rennes, after his sons had been tricked to transfer him to Marrakech, where he wanted To be buried with his parents, because Morocco has stopped all repatriation operations.

One of his seven sons, Fatima, said that if they had found an Islamic cemetery in France instead of Islamic squares in mass graves, their decision would have been easier, explaining that "we have the impression that we failed in our duty, and according to Islamic tradition, the dead rushed to dwell in his grave;

Wash the dead and cargo planes

The newspaper said that many Muslim families found themselves - with an increased death rate due to Covid-19 - in the face of a question: Where do we bury our dead? They are torn between fulfillment of the deceased's desire, health necessities, and religious beliefs.

This became evident since the Muslim helpline was opened at the end of March, as the questions centered on the issue of burial, and is it permissible to leave the washing of victims of the epidemic.

In the responses that the families concerned receive - as the newspaper says - imams show that what some Muslim countries such as Algeria and Turkey offer to accept the transport of some coffins in cargo planes does not include those who died of the Coronean epidemic, especially since "most countries say that they will not accept corpses that carry the infection until After the epidemic ends, "says Fathiya Momani.

The newspaper pointed out that the impossibility of returning the bodies to their countries of origin, especially for Maghreb immigrants who die in France, raises a sensitive and controversial issue, which is the place of Islam in French cemeteries, or what are called "Islamic squares" within French cemeteries that are believed to be about six hundred.

The president of the Great Mosque of Lyon says, "This crisis reveals a problem that no one has tried to solve before," since "since 2008, not a single Islamic square has been established in the Lyon region, which contains only 11 fields for more than one hundred thousand Muslims."

The newspaper pointed out that in 2008 the last circular was issued by the Ministry of Interior framing this practice after the two circulars issued in 1975 and 1991, explaining that this circular encourages the establishment of communities by religion in French cemeteries, knowing that since the 1881 law, cemeteries have been seen as spaces "shared between Religions, "it is forbidden to separate them even with a low wall, and no religious sign can be installed in any place other than the graves.

In this context, the newspaper refers to the case of Mohamed Mesbah, who was unable to bury his mother in Algeria, so he searched for an Islamic square in Lyon and the surrounding areas, but after several cases he refused because of the fullness of all the arenas, before his mother was buried not heading to the qibla as required by Islamic traditions, After he "did his best", knowing that there was a fatwa burial outside these arenas "to respond to the state of absolute necessity."

The head of the Higher Committee for Islamic Religion, Muhammad al-Musawi, believes that this solution "relieves the mayors of their responsibilities," noting that some mayors agree to open new squares and there are others who refuse to do this, but that "the matter seems arbitrary if the squares are legal and the request is real."

The newspaper pointed out that some mayors are disturbed when they find themselves under intense pressure from Islamic societies backed by other religious bodies, considering that these bodies "exploit" the health status of progress in this sensitive field.

The newspaper pointed out that some of them reject - despite the availability of an Islamic arena - requests from families outside their circles, for fear of the flow of requests from other families, while others accept them in case of necessity.

The newspaper concluded that the end of the Coruna epidemic will not be sufficient to close this debate, especially since younger generations of Muslims - unlike the older ones - prefer burial in France where they grew up.