The Battle For The Twin Cities' First Exclusively Islamic Cemetery
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Twin Cities will soon have it's only exclusively Islamic cemetery.
However, it's been quite a legal process for the project to get the go-ahead.
It will be located on a 72-acre lot in the Castle Rock Township in Dakota County. The town's board of supervisors denied the cemetery, but now a judge says that denial was arbitrary and unreasonable.
Web Exclusive: Read The Judge's Decision
Burial is an integral part of the Islamic faith. As Muslims leave this world, they're wrapped and covered in perfume. Hours after taking their last breath, they are buried.
Those behind the new cemetery say there's a need locally to make that process more private.
"The community does not have a cemetery that is exclusively for itself, the Muslim community," said Hyder Aziz of the Al Maghfirah Cemetery Association.
Aziz is working to make that cemetery a reality.
He'll soon turn the Castle Rock Township land into a resting place, but not without a struggle.
Initially, the town's planning committee said yes to the cemetery plans, but the board of supervisors said no.
Court documents say the board members were worried about discrimination to non-Muslims and losing tax money on the land.
As for discrimination, Aziz says that every community should have a right to exclusivity "in some of their religious activities."
So Aziz went to Jaylani Hussein of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights group. He also has a degree in civic planning.
"I know a little more about planning issues than most people," Hussein said. "Immediately, [the board's decision] sounded like a really discriminatory practice."
Late last week, a judge sided with the cemetery, saying the decision to stop it was "arbitrary and capricious."
Hussein called the ruling "absolutely wonderful."
"But it's also troubling," he added, "that in Minnesota the Muslim community has to go to court to get something that is very basic."
Aziz says the cemetery hopes to work well with the township now that things are moving forward.
Castle Rock Township's attorney released a statement, saying "the town respects Judge Knutson's order and is considering the legal implications of the decision."
