At 16:00 Friday, Muslims will finally have a burial site of their own in Denmark. Representatives from the Danish Islamic Burial Foundation along with the minister of ecclesiastical affairs and education, Bertil Haarder, open the country's first Islamic cemetery after 15 years of wrangling, protests, accusations and, in the end, agreement.
The cemetery is located in Brøndby, about 10 miles southwest of Copenhagen.
'It's wonderful having the burial grounds,' said Danish-Pakistani author and lecturer Rushy Rashid. 'Now Muslims can really feel that religious equality also applies to them as it does to the other large religions, which have had their own cemeteries for years.'
Denmark has an estimated 200,000 Muslims. Most of those who pass away are buried in Danish cemeteries that have a Muslim area set aside, while another 70 per year are taken abroad to be buried.
The Danish Islamic Burial Foundation believes the site is an important step in Danish - Islamic relations and hopes that more Danish Muslims will now choose to be buried in Denmark.
'It's a dream for Muslims that has now become reality. That the cemetery is now inaugurated confirms that there is religious freedom in Denmark, and we see this as an expression of tolerance,' said Kaseem Said Ahmad, the foundation's chairman.
Source: Copenhagen Post (English)
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