Brit Muslims pay 150K pound for graves to face Mecca
By ANISaturday, June 5, 2010
LONDON - Muslim burial plots need to face northeast, with the Prophet Mohammed’s birthplace of Mecca to the southeast on their right. And in the UK’s Buckinghamshire area, Muslims have paid out 150,000 pounds so that their graves at High Wycombe cemetery in Buckinghamshire to meet this requirement.
According to the Daily Mail, the local council has decided on new burial areas, walls, paths and steps. Work is expected to start in the autumn.
One local resident, who did not wish to be named, grumbled: “Yet again, thousands of pounds are being spent for the benefit of the Muslim community.”
Councils have a statutory duty to provide burial space for people of all faiths.
The idea of burying Muslims alongside Christian graves was ruled out after a report prepared for councillors said it would be unpopular would involve extra maintenance costs.
A request made for land at a local Church of England burial ground to be deconsecrated for Muslim use was refused.
Muslims must try to complete funeral rites within 24 hours of a death. (ANI)
