The more than 2.3 million Muslims residing in Spain only have around thirty cemeteries in which they can be buried according to their beliefs. Four communities, Galicia, Cantabria, Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha, do not even have a space of this type and in others, such as Madrid, the two available cannot currently be used. In practice, between public and private, The Islamic community has 42 cemeteries in 27 provincesalthough only 35 are operational at this time (two per thousand of the 17,850 existing in Spain). Another seven are full or under construction.
It is the reality that the Entierro Digno entity wants to put an end to, which was presented this Tuesday in Madrid, «Entierro Digno is an association that was born to demand a burial space for Muslim people near their municipality,” explained its president Maysoun Douas. “Although the Spanish Constitution includes the right to receive a dignified burial without discrimination for religious reasons, some autonomous communities, such as Madrid, do not have any cemetery, public or private, that carries out burials according to the Islamic rite,” has indicated in the presentation ceremony.
Douas also highlighted that “the association works on the dissemination and accessibility of information related to the funeral and burial rights of Muslim citizens.” Furthermore, its purpose is also to “accompany families and mediate to guarantee access to a dignified burial“and a more vindictive function through “contact with public administrations and agents involved in the funeral process, to whom it provides support, but also to those who demand and demand compliance with the law.”
«What we are asking public administrations right now is to really make accessible those municipal spaces that are part of their powers as well and We’re not talking about anything weird.we are talking about the orientation [de la tumba] is appropriate because the rest of the funeral protocol is the same,” Douas explained in statements to the media.
The entity arises in the face of a reality that generates complex situations when the last hour reaches some of the Muslim faithful. On many occasions, especially if they are part of the 56% of Muslim residents of immigrant origin, The solution is to repatriate the body, most of it to Moroccothe country from which 37% of Muslims residing in Spain come. On other occasions it is not possible, either due to expenses, or for Muslims of national origin (around one million, 44% of the total), who if they have not had a forecast, are forced to delay the burial for months. .
“Evidently, not all Muslims are foreigners and that means that Spanish Muslims do not have a place to bury themselves and rest,” Douas explained on the subject. He also explained that the body of some Muslims has spent up to three months in cold storage rooms waiting for a solution. Regarding costs, he has estimated funerals between 3,000 and 12,000 euros, depending on where the body will finally rest.
The case of Madrid is paradigmatic. The oldest cemetery, in Griñón, to the south of the community, has not admitted new graves for two years, since it is full and burials are only possible if there are previous exhumations. On the other hand, in Carabanchel, the negotiation remains open and is pending that a plot be developed according to the necessary criteria for the burial of Muslim faithful. In this way, the alternatives for the around 300,000 Muslims who live in the community include moving to other autonomous communities, such as Valencia, or expatriating the body.
Burial according to Muslim rituals requires that the grave, always in the ground, have an orientation perpendicular to Mecca, since the face of the deceased must face his holy place. This means that it is not easy to fit in with the rest of the plots, so the best solution is through an area of the cemetery dedicated to Muslim burials, so that the space can be optimized. “No physical separation from the rest of the tombs is necessary, a simple line that can be made of vegetation would suffice,” Douas explained to ABC.
Another requirement, that the body rests on the ground without the need to use a coffin, is being met in those communities that allow exemption from the coffin. However, The regulations, in this case regional, are not homogeneous and there are paradoxes such as that Galicia, which already allows burial without a coffin, does not have any cemetery enabled for burials according to Muslim rites.
In addition to being president of Entierro Digno, Maysoun Douas Maadi has been a councilor for Más Madrid in the Madrid city council since 2019. She has a doctorate in Physics from the Autonomous University of Madrid, she defines herself as “entrepreneur and expert in innovation”, as well as “feminist and “Muslim.” In his work in the scientific field, the creation of Excellenting stands out, an algorithm to match technological supply and demand through innovation mapping.
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