The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the full extent of the scarcity of Muslim burial plots in France, a concern that adds insult to injury for bereaved families
Being and living as a Muslim in France nowadays is hard enough, what with having to deal with the constant fear and threat of being discriminated against or fighting for your right to dress as you please, without anyone saying you look like a letterbox or terrorist.
But it seems the struggle does not end with life, as the toil of Muslims in France continues after death, haunting the families of the deceased as they grapple with numerous obstacles.
The country’s estimated 5 million Muslims, the largest Muslim population in Western Europe, have been increasingly struggling to bury their loved ones in accordance with Islamic tradition since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has claimed over 76,000 lives in the country.
Following a spike in Covid-19 cases and fatalities, the French government imposed a slew of restrictions, suspending international flights and closing borders in a bid to curb the spread of the virus.
These measures have halted the tradition of many French Muslim families repatriating the bodies of their loved ones back to their country of origin, the Maghreb in particular.
For many Muslims and immigrants in France, adapting to the new norms has produced “grave concerns” about finding proper Muslim burial grounds and conducting traditional Islamic rituals for their deceased.
The pandemic has unveiled the full extent of the scarcity of burial plots for Muslims, a concern that adds insult to injury for families grappling with grief.
A bereaved French citizen, talking to Ömer Aydın, an independent Turkish journalist, stressed his days-long struggle to find a burial spot for his dad who passed away during the pandemic, saying, "We couldn't find a place to bury our father's body, which lied in the mortuary for days. This problem should be seriously taken into consideration."
Millions of Muslims in the European country, who are in despair due to lack of burial plots, are calling on the state to expand the size of cemeteries to provide their loved ones with a final resting place.
There are currently only two cemeteries designated to Muslims in the country: one located in Bobigny, and the second in Strasbourg.
In France, in addition to these two cemeteries, there are only 400 sections designated for Muslim citizens out of more than 36,000 public burial grounds.
