New cemetery discussed as Somali population grows
6/16/2008 9:37:33 AM
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Associated Press
ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- In a sign that Somalis and other immigrant refugees are becoming a permanent part of central Minnesota, the Somali Elders Council and two faith-based groups are working to establish a Muslim cemetery in the St. Cloud area.
Since Somalis started arriving in the region in the late 1990s, more than 20 St. Cloud-area families have had to travel to the Twin Cities to bury their loved ones according to Muslim rituals, said Ismail Ali, chairman of the Somali Elders Council. Ali said the cost can be $7,000.
"You have to hire a car to transport the body, and it's more expensive in the Twin Cities to buy a grave than it is here," he said. "It only makes sense for us to have our own cemetery here."
For the past year and a half, the Somali Elders Council has been working with the Great River Interfaith Partnership and the Diocese of St. Cloud to find land to purchase for a cemetery.
"When you start burying your dead here, it really marks this as your community," said the Rev. Steve Cook, pastor of outreach at Bethlehem Lutheran Church and chairman of GRIP's spiritual leaders team.
Like some other religions, Islam requires specific burial rituals, including having a separate plot of land dedicated as a cemetery for the faithful. Islam requires a quick burial when possible, and without a nearby cemetery, it is difficult, Cook said.
"Imagine that your loved one dies and the only site you know of where you can bury them is 1 1/2 hours down the road," he said. "It's disruptive. It makes a death worse than it needs to be, and it makes it more difficult for family members to pay their respects and visit later on."
Nothing in Muslim burial traditions would contradict or violate state requirements for burials, Ali said.
"We will follow the rules for here," he said. "We have already talked with the counties about how to do it so that it is a Muslim burial but it is following the law."
Because of zoning requirements, the search for land has so far focused on existing cemeteries that might be able to part with some land, Cook said.
Amin Kader, an accounting professor and trustee for the Minnesota Islamic Cemetery Association in the Twin Cities, said burials are more complicated than they appear. Kader helped start an Islamic funeral home 14 years ago in Burnsville.
"It's important not to just have volunteers but people who are willing and have the time to do it and can receive calls at any time and respond," he said. "Sometimes, we get a call in the morning, and by 3 or 4 o'clock, the person is buried. Honoring the dead means hastening his burial in Islam."
Unless they work out an agreement with a St. Cloud-area funeral home, St. Cloud-area Muslims will need to establish their own funeral home to take care of arrangements and paperwork, said Tim Koch, mortician investigator for the Minnesota Department of Health's Mortuary Science section.
Once the Somali Elders Council can find some land, the group will likely conduct fundraising to buy it.
