Texas small town fears Islamic cemetery planned in community

The locals are nervous over the new cemetery.

Over 100 locals in a small Texas city have convened in a council meeting Tuesday night to publicly show their opposition against the projected installation of an Islamic cemetery in their community.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - Several residents in Farmersville, Texas, interrogated the purposes of the Islamic Association of Collin County, a Muslim group that owns 34 acres of land in the city. According to the group, it simply wants to build a place where Muslims can be laid to rest.

Some residents expressed fears over Islamic burial practices, particularly the burial of bodies not long after individuals die. According to Resident Mont Hendrick, "We used to grow onions here. We sure enough don't want to be growing bodies."

"When somebody dies they bury them at that time," stated resident Troy Gosnell. "They don't know whether they were shot, diseased or anything else. All they do is wrap them in a sheet from the grave and bury them."

Khalil Abdur-Rashid, a scholar with the Muslim group, asserted that he believes the opposition from many residents is because misinformation. "Some thought it was a mosque going to be built; others thought it was a training ground of some sort," he explained. "We want to be very clear that this is a cemetery."

Alia Salem, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations of Dallas, expressed that this is a good time for people to come together to educate one another.

"They are fearful of what they don't understand and hopefully it's an opportunity for us to come together and learn a little bit more about each other and hopefully dispel some of those misconceptions," Salem stated.

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