Muslim Burial Crisis in France: Pandemic Exposes Shortage of Islamic Cemetery Plots

According to a survey by the newspaper Le Parisien, municipalities are overwhelmed by the remains, particularly of Muslim foreigners, due to the saturation of burial sites. The combined effects of the pandemic and the inability to bury some of the dead in their home country are to blame.

Today, notes the newspaper, there are only an estimated 300 to 400 Muslim plots in French municipal cemeteries. Their establishment is not mandatory and remains subject to the sole will of the mayor. If the difficulties of burying Muslim deceased are so strong, it is because there is almost no more repatriation of remains to the countries of origin.

In this regard, the survey reveals that for more than a year, it has been almost impossible for families to honor their deceased relative on their native land. Before, in the Maghreb, post-mortem return was favored by states that, in some cases, financed part of the repatriation, as in Tunisia. In Morocco, families take out contracts with banks that take care of the funeral arrangements. But with the onset of the health crisis, these repatriations have been suspended due to the closure of air borders.

As a result, many grieving families are plunged into double distress: in addition to the death of their loved one, they find themselves unable to give them the farewell they would have wished for. The impossible repatriation of the deceased to their country of origin is combined with the obligation of a rapid burial in the Muslim religion.

The widespread establishment of Muslim plots is an old demand of Muslim associations for about twenty years. If they demand it, it is for ritual imperatives, the deceased lying on his right side must have his face turned towards Mecca. "If there is a need for denominational plots, it is not because Muslims do not want to rest in the ground with deceased of different religious faiths," emphasizes the president of the CFCM.

"The situation was already problematic before the epidemic," several religious leaders recall. In recent weeks, it has virtually turned into a crisis. The situation is particularly acute, according to Mohammed Moussaoui, in the Île-de-France region, in the North and in the Paca region.