Italian Muslims Ask for More Islamic Cemeteries

Roma, MINA – Muslims in Italy are calling for the establishment of more Islamic cemeteries in the country.

During the height of coronavirus outbreak (Covid-19), national and international travel has banned. Thus, the bodies of Muslims in Italy cannot be transported back to their original place.

The secretary general of the Great Mosque of Rome, Abdallah Redouane, said this caused a dramatic situation in Italy.

A number of corpses remain in the morgue, because there is no Islamic cemetery where the body can be buried.

The situation is even more serious in northern Italy, the area most affected by coronavirus and the place of the highest number of deaths reported.

Redouane told the Italian newspaper La Republica, that the Islamic community there was also larger, thus making the situation more difficult for Muslims.

According to the 2018 census, 2.6 million Muslims live in Italy.

Muslims comprise 4.3 percent of the country’s population. As many as 56 percent of them hold foreign citizenship and 44 percent are Italian citizens.

Although Islam is the second largest religion in the country, only 50 of the nearly 8,000 cities in Italy have dedicated space for Muslims in their funerals.

But even if these spaces are available, the numbers are very limited in many cases and not enough to meet demand.

Especially, when demand increases dramatically in the first half of 2020.

Most of the rooms for Islamic burials in public cemeteries are located in the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna region.

The first grave room for Muslims in Italy was established in Trieste in 1856.

Unfortunately, not much progress has been made on this issue since then.

Meanwhile, the Flaminio cemetery in Rome has had rooms for Muslims since 1974.

But now, according to Redouane, the space is full. In recent months, mortality rates have increased and so have funeral requests. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)