Council Spends £150,000 So Muslim Graves Can Face Mecca
THE TELEGRAPH: A council is spending £150,000 to extend a cemetery so that the graves of Muslims can face Mecca.

High Wycombe Cemetery in Buckinghamshire currently has a separate Muslim burial section but this is due to run out of space in 2012.

Muslim graves are required to face North [?] East, so that Mecca, the birth place of the Prophet Muhammad in the Sirat Mountains of Saudi Arabia, is on their right to the South East.

While graves could be placed in the existing plot with Christian graves, the different orientation would mean encroaching on areas currently maintained as lawn sections.

A report by High Wycombe District Council also expressed fears that mixing Muslim and Christian graves could lead to a backlash in public opinion.

The council put in a request for land at the Church of England burial ground at Priory Road, High Wycombe to be deconsecrated for Muslim use but this was refused.

The council have now settled on extending High Wycombe cemetery terracing to form new burial areas, walls, paths and steps for access at a cost of £150,000.

According to the Equalities Impact Assessment carried out, an extension would provide 15 years worth of Muslim burials[.]

One local resident, who did not wish to be named, said that enough money had been spent catering to the needs of the Muslim community.

He said: ''Yet again many thousands of pounds being spent pandering to the local Muslim community.

''Just like when they fenced off all of the Muslim graves in the local cemetery to protect them from vandalism yet left all of the other graves from other racial/religious groups left wide open to vandalism.'' >>> | Friday, June 04, 2010

When Town Halls Turn to Mecca
THE ECONOMIST: For many European municipalities and a few American ones (see article) accommodating Islam is a big dilemma—but not an insoluble one

IN CITIES all over Europe, mayors are fretting about the coming religious festivities. No, not just Christmas lights. They want to ensure hygiene and order in the slaughter of sheep for the feast of Eid al-Adha on December 8th. This remembers the readiness of Abraham—the patriarch revered by all three monotheistic faiths—to sacrifice his son. Muslims often sacrifice a lamb, whose meat is shared with family members and the poor.

In the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek, where the dominant culture is that of Morocco, a circular from the district authorities reminds residents not to kill animals at home. It invites them to a “temporary abattoir” that will function for 48 hours in a council garage. Molenbeek is one of four areas of Brussels which have set up makeshift slaughterhouses, each with a capacity of at least 500 sheep. In practice, home killing is hard to stop, despite vows by the city authorities to prosecute offenders.

In places like Molenbeek, a few miles away from the European Union’s main institutions, talk of the continent’s transformation into Eurabia doesn’t sound absurd. Although Muslims make up less than 4% of the EU’s total population, their concentration in urban areas is altering the scene in some European cities.

In some of these places bad relations between Muslims, non-Muslims and the authorities are creating political opportunities for the far right. In east London, for example, arguments are raging over plans for a “mega-mosque” near the site of the 2012 Olympics. In rough parts of northern Paris, there are fights between Muslims and Jews. In Italian cities, where Muslims are numerous but not many can vote, Catholics and secularists have united to stop the erection of mosques.

Yet talk of civilisational war in Europe’s cobblestoned streets is out of line in one respect: it understates the ability of democratic politics, especially local politics, to adapt to new social phenomena. For cities to work, compromises have to be struck and coalitions assembled. In city affairs, more than in national politics, politicians borrow each other’s slogans and policies.

In London, many expected a change in municipal attitudes towards Islam when a Conservative, Boris Johnson, took over as mayor from Ken Livingstone, a leftist maverick who had feted Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a controversial Muslim preacher. But in October, when the fasting month of Ramadan ended, Mr Johnson worked as keenly as his predecessors had done with the Muslim Council of Britain to stage an Islamic celebration in Trafalgar Square. >>> DUISBURG, LYON AND ROTTERDAM | December 4, 2008

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