Italy’s Muslims call for more space to bury their dead

Mustapha Moulay, who has been living in Italy for 32 years, prays next to the grave of his wife, who died on April 7 from Covid-19, This photo was taken on June 5 in the Muslim section of an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic cemetery of Bruzzano, Italy. Picture: AFP/MIGUEL MEDINAItaly’s Muslim community, like others, suffered many deaths as the coronavirus pandemic hit the Mediterranean country hard.

More than 34,000 people have died from the virus in Italy, mostly in the industrial north, and for months global air travel has been at a near-standstill. As a result, Muslims who died of Covid-19 or other causes could not be repatriated to their countries of origin, as was the practice previously.Italy’s Muslims number about 2.6-million, or 4.3% of the population. Living mainly in the country’s north, 56% hold foreign citizenship, many from countries in North Africa or South Asia.

One of the most extreme cases was that of Hira Ibrahim, a Macedonian woman in Pisogne, near the northern city of Brescia, whose mother died from coronavirus. Ibrahim had to keep her mother's body at home for more than 10 days for lack of a Muslim cemetery in her community, according to the newspaper La Repubblica.Tchina, the imam, said the problem persists even after the biggest waves of deaths have subsided.

Thanks to the combined efforts of municipalities and central government authorities, solutions were ultimately found most of the time, he said. Boubakeur acknowledged the government’s co-operation, but urged more “political will” to create additional Muslim burial spaces.

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