The number of Muslims in Sheffield has increased significantly over the past decades, with more people embracing Islam or moving to the South Yorkshire metropolitan city.
As the community risk running out of burial plots, hundreds have signed a petition calling for action to ensure there are enough Muslim burial sites in Sheffield.
Ibrar Hussain, a former councilor, presented the petition, signed by more than 4,450 people, at a full council meeting last week, saying there needed to be a long-term plan in place, Yorkshire Live reported.
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He said, “Because of the ever growing Muslim community in Sheffield we need to make sure we don’t just plan for two or three years, we need to plan for many years ahead…
“The provision is only for the next two to three years, with the rate it’s going at in the current climate that is not going to be enough and we don’t want to be scratching our heads when it hits us on the head…
The community needs to know in clear terms that there is a commitment and you are going to resolve this.”
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Seeking Solutions
Councilor Alison Teal, co-operative executive member for sustainable communities, acknowledged the problem, saying they were working to find solutions.
“We do need to find new sites and officers are very much aware of this. I know that councilor Abdul Khayum from Labour has been doing work on this and also councilor Mohammed Mahroof from the Lib Dems,” he said.
“What we have done now is we are going to set up a stakeholder group to look at actually taking a multi-faith approach because there are a number of other communities that also have special provision.
“We have currently got six years provision available which I hope is reassuring and of course we do need to have a longer-term strategy, more like 20 years and we are talking with colleagues in property services to ensure we have land available.”
Funerals in Islam have always been simple with no elaborate services or extravagant caskets.
Islam calls for respecting human beings whether alive or dead.
A Muslim’s dead body should be immediately taken to a mortuary for washing and preparation.
Two or three adult Muslims should wash the body and then put on the shroud (kafan). Muslims perform a funeral prayer before the burial.
It is makruh (reprehensible) to delay the burial of the dead.