Muslim family seek exhumation of non-Muslim

[CFSKate]

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/11402870/Grandfathers-body-could-be-exhumed-after-relatives-of-Muslim-buried-alongside-complain-he-was-an-unbeliever.html

Local authority in Leicestershire tells the family of Shadrack Smith, 89, he might be moved to another plot after complaints from a Muslim family .

The article says "Burbage parish council confirmed that the cemetery is unsegregated" - if that is so, then I don't see how the Muslim family can win a legal battle, if it comes to that, but then a woman from the Smith family says

“I feel for the Muslim family because they obviously thought they were only going to have other Muslim families buried around them. But that’s not our fault."

I wonder why the Muslim family thought that, if the council is saying the cemetery is unsegregated?

why don't they move the Muslim chap as its his family being idiots

They knew it was a non segregating cemetery so I have little sympathy.

It's not Mr Smith who should be moved.

Mr Smith should not be moved.

If the Muslim family are not happy they should move their relative to a segregated cemetery.

poor mr smith

Poor family! If they knew it was non segregated then why kick up a stink now?! Let them both r.i.p I'm sure God will forgive.

Inter community relations from the grave.

I wonder if the issue here is that Mr Smith is non Muslim or that Mr Smith was a Romany Gypsy.

Having seen Gypsy funerals / graves first hand I do wonder if that has had some bearing on the Muslim family's decision. The graves are often not what you would expect and could be seen by some as being inappropriate.

hmm. There will be loads more to this. I wonder what kind mourning Mr Smith's huge family do? Or what the Muslim family were lead to believe before they accepted the plot?

XP nancy

I'm guessing the problem is that Mr Smiths family bought 3 plots not just 1 and the grave site is rather bright and spread out.

But clearly the other family should move not Mr Smiths

I don't understand why Mr Smith family has to move his grave.

If I wanted to bury all my family in one place I would buy enough plots. Or for that matter if I didn't want to have any other graves near my own. I think that is very simple logic no one can fault.

Exactly Pantone, I suspect many families, Muslim or otherwise, would object to being next to this particular grave.

I think these quiet, respectful families (as they would see it) would also think it was Mr Smith who should be moved.

It's a shame religion is being used as the objection though, as there must be several others that would sound more reasonable to non-believers.

I've read two more articles, and there doesn't seem to be any reason why the Muslim family should have thought this cemetery was segregated.

ISTR Muslim burials all face Mecca, so if all Muslim graves align that way it might make sense for them to have their own section. According to these articles, the Smith family chose their plot to look towards home, it says this is a Romany tradition.

www.hinckleytimes.net/news/local-news/dispute-over-grave-plots-after-8584294

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2947394/Gipsy-great-grandfather-s-body-exhumed-relatives-Muslim-neighbouring-plot-don-t-want-buried-unbeliever.html

I think you can say that burial ceremonies carry very old and misunderstood traditions and when they meet feet from each other we are seeing test for multicultural society.

"Islamic religious authorities say that it is forbidden for non-Muslims to be buried alongside Muslims under normal circumstances."

So why on earth would they choose to bury their Muslim relative in "the multi-denominational Lychgate Lane Cemetery"? Why would they do that?

Shame on them for causing all this distress to the recently-bereaved Smith family.

Maybe they couldn't find a space in a Muslim cemetery. Are there even lots of Muslim cemeteries around?

i feel that Mr smith should be allowed to rest in peace. If muslims want Muslim only grave yards then they need to buy their own land. Local authority grave yards are for everyone. Travellers deserve equal rights in both life and death.

I am sorry that Mr smith's family are having to go through this.

It's a shame religion is being used as the objection though, as there must be several others that would sound more reasonable to non-believers.

Because racism towards the Roma is acceptable in the UK?

Sanity, I don't think anybody here is racist towards the Roma.

We live in a multicultural society and as such every group needs to start realising that there is an accepted cultural norm that the majority go along with. In order to live together everyone needs to accept a bit of give and take.

In this case asking for a body to be moved is way outside of that norm and is rightly causing comment however Roma/traveller funerals & graves are also quite often outside of that norm and that will also be a cause for comment.

The muslim family are the ones who are complaining. The Roma family have not complained about their loved one being buried next to a muslim. I feel that the muslim family with the problem should move the body of their loved one.

As an aside, I don't think that severely pissing off 400 travellers is a good idea. I am not suggesting that the traveller community would do anything illegal, but it will set back community relations substantially. Interestingly travellers believe that the dead can come after people. I imagine that they would leave revenge to the ghost of Mr Smith.

Travellers/ Roma/ Gypsies and non travellers have been buried side by side in the UK for centuries. My great aunt is buried next to travellers' grave plot and it does not bother my family. The over the top flowers do not last forever. Five years down the line the grave will be less flambouyant.

Reading about gypsy traditions, I feel it would be utterly inhuman to ask the traveller family to exhume the body.

www.newforestromanygypsytraveller.co.uk/birthdeathmarriage3.html

There is more too this, for example it says that the Muslim family objected before the burial but the other family didn't change their plans. How did the Muslim family know to object prior, did the council contact them?

I kind of agree that it is a shame the Muslim family were misinformed or assumed wrongly but it is too late now

The Smiths bought the plots.

It's not illegal to have brightly coloured etc. stuff around and decorating graves.

The cemetery is UNSEGREGATED, and the Muslim family knew that.

There has been no slip in protocol, no unfair action. Everything is exactly as the Muslim family could have expected it to be. So while they have every right to be unhappy about the situation, there are surely absolutely no grounds for the Smith family plot to be disturbed. THEY are unhappy with the situation, the onus is on THEM to move.

I can't believe any other option can fairly or legally be considered.

But, the cemetery is UNSEGREGATED, the Muslim family would have known that. If they were going to object to a non-Muslim potentially being buried next door, they should not have chosen an unsegregated plot. They have no recourse, no matter how sympathetic one is to them.

Surely they would have known that they would have no control over who was buried in the adjacent plot! - be it another Muslim, a Catholic Romany gypsy with their colourful traditions for burial plots, or an atheist who chooses a huge etching of Darwin for their headstone... the list goes on!

it says that the Muslim family objected before the burial but the other family didn't change their plans

If I remember well Muslim bury their relatives very shortly after they die.
Can I assume that the Muslim person was buried first and then their relatives opposed?
Would they have opposed anyone being buried there or just this particular person?

Well, it's certainly the first time the Daily Mail has been on the side of Romanies! Now, I wonder why that is....................