Tennessee Muslims Denied Right to Construct Cemetery

TENNESSEE, United States, November 24 (IslamOnline.net) – The Muslim community in the southern US state of Tennessee has been denied the right to construct a cemetery over protests from local residents.

The Muslim Society of Memphis submitted a request to the Fayette County Planning Commission to approve the rezoning necessary for constructing the cemetery, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) reported Tuesday, November 23.

The proposal was rejected by the Fayette County Development Committee though it was approved by the Planning Commission.

“Tennessee Muslims believe that (the) decision was swayed by a packed courtroom of area residents who expressed anti-Muslim sentiment in their opposition to the proposal,” CAIR said on its website.

“One resident equated Muslims with Nazis. Another claimed that many people
he knew had been killed by Muslims.”

Unprecedented

AIR, the major Muslim advocacy group in the United States, called on American Muslims and other people of conscience to contact officials of the Fayette County to grant local Muslims the right to construct the cemetery to bury their dead.

“This seems to be the first time a similar planning commission recommendation has been turned down by the development committee,” said CAIR Civil Rights Coordinator Khadija Athman.

“The Muslim community's proposal should not be denied because of the bigoted attitudes some residents have toward the Islamic faith.”

Nearly 57 percent of American Muslims polled by CAIR complained of having experienced bias or discrimination since the September 11 attacks and 87 percent know of a fellow Muslim who experienced discrimination.

A May report released by the US Senate Office Of Research concluded that the Muslim community in the United States < a href="http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-05/11/article07.shtml">has taken the brunt of the Patriot Act against terrorism and other federal powers applied in the aftermath of the 9/11 deadly attacks.

Several Americans, however, said Muslims are part of the US’s multi-ethnic fabric who were regrettably discriminated against following the 9/11 attacks.

“As far as Muslims are concerned, I do believe that Muslims are part and parcel of American society,” Martin Williams, a cab driver, told IslamOnline.net.