Muslims say they’re looking for a place to bury their dead but locals in Farmersville say it’s a plot to gain a foothold in their small Texas town and are threatening to stop the plan by using pig parts.
A proposal to bring a Muslim cemetery to the rural town has stoked fears among residents who are vehemently trying to convince community leaders to block the project.
The sentiment reflects an anti-Muslim distrust that has been brewing over the last year in parts of Texas, most notably 25 miles away in Garland – the scene of a deadly May shooting outside a cartoon contest lampooning the Prophet Muhammad.
A proposal to bring a Muslim cemetery to Farmersville – similar to the Islamic Garden at Restland Cemetery in Dallas, Texax (pictured) – has stoked fears among residents who are vehemently trying to block the project
Some have said the project presents health risks because Muslims traditionally don’t bury their dead in caskets
The concern for us is the radical element of Islam,’ David Meeks, the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, told The Dallas Morning News.
He said he thinks the cemetery would be the first step toward a broader Muslim expansion in town.
The issue is flaring up as Farmersville leaders consider a 35-acre development request from the Islamic Association of Collin County, which faces a shortage of space to bury members of its faith.
During a City Council meeting earlier this month, some of the town’s 3,000 or so residents spoke out against establishing the Muslim cemetery in Farmersville’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, the Farmersville Times reported.
A woman who lives adjacent to where the proposed project would break ground called the idea of bringing the cemetery into the community ‘appalling’.
Another attendee, Gwen Kakaska, also told her concerns to the Planning and Zoning Commission.
She said: ‘I do not want my child indoctrinated toward their religion.
‘I do not want to be constantly in view of a mosque.
‘We do not want this to be a Muslim dumping ground.’
In addition to speaking out at meetings, other town residents have organized and are making threats about what will happen if the plan goes any farther, according to CBS Dallas-Forth Worth.
One man told the station that if they ‘dump pigs’ blood and put pig heads on a post’ then the Muslims ‘won’t buy the land’.
Alia Salem, executive director of the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, at the Islamic Garden in Dallas, a burial site for members of the Muslim faith that is part of the Restland Cemetery
Although the area already has a Buddhist center and Mormon church, residents showed up in force at a recent town meeting to oppose allowing a Muslim cemetery, which would include an open-air pavilion and small retail component that would run along a busy highway through town.
‘There’s just a basic concern or distrust about the cemetery coming into town,’ said Mayor Joe Helmberger, who calls the townspeople’s worries unwarranted.
He said the cemetery would be approved as long as the town’s development standards are met, pointing out that the US was founded on religious freedom and that the association is simply trying to secure a burial site.
Concerns over Muslim cemeteries gained national attention in 2010 when the town of Sidney Center in New York voted to investigate how Muslims were burying their dead.
The issue was quickly dropped after local leaders received widespread criticism.
Many residents of Farmersville, a predominantly white community of approximately 3,500 residents about 35 miles northeast of Dallas, are pushing their leaders to take a similar stand.
Some oppose the project because it would attract Muslims, while others expressed concern that Muslim burial practices – Muslims traditionally don’t bury their dead in caskets – would present health risks for residents.
‘When somebody dies, they bury them at that time,’ Farmersville resident Troy Gosnell told KTVT-TV. ‘You don’t know whether they were shot, diseased or anything else. All they do is wrap them in a sheet, throw them in the grave and bury them.’
Burial experts dismiss such concerns and comments as nonsense.
Khalil Abdur-Rashid, a spokesman for the Islamic association, said misinformation and confusion are fueling critics.
He said shrouded bodies would be placed in caskets and entombed in vaults underground, and that the plans for the cemetery have more to do with ‘human dignity’ than religion.
‘Some thought it was a mosque going to be built, others thought it was a training ground,’ Abdur-Rashid told WFAA-TV. ‘We want to be very clear that this is a cemetery.’
There are about five Muslim cemeteries in North Texas and they have little remaining space, so the association needs more land for burial, said Alia Salem, executive director of the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Salem told The Associated Press that state rules limit the places where a new cemetery can be placed, and Farmersville was one of the few options open to the association.
The purchase of the land was completed this week, she said.
‘We do want to take this opportunity to address misconceptions,’ she said, explaining that in many cases residents are simply seeking answers.
‘The questions about what this means for them, that’s legitimate.’
Source: Mail Online
