Can the dead body of a Muslim be buried in a Christian cemetery?
We live in a place in the USA where there are few Muslims. We do not have the possibility of burying our dead people in a cemetery allocated for Muslims. We bury them in the cemetery of the People of the Book. We have to bury our dead people there. What should we do about it?
Dear Brother / Sister,
In terms of religious and traditional practices, a person is buried in the cemetery where the dead bodies of the people with the same religion were buried before.
Throughout history, the cemeteries of Muslims have been formed in different places from Christian and Jewish cemeteries.
The religion of Islam has practices regarding washing, enshrouding and burying the dead body, visiting cemeteries and praying peculiar to itself. They have been our culture. Cultural erosion and loss of identity can bring about disadvantageous outcomes for a nation.
Therefore, there is no drawback to a Muslim cemetery being in the same parcel of land as a non-Muslim cemetery but it is not appropriate to bury Muslims and non-Muslims in a mixed way.
Therefore, Muslims living abroad must try to establish their own cemeteries and bury the dead bodies of Muslims there. If it is not possible, and if the dead body cannot be transferred to another place, it can be buried in a separate corner of the Christian cemetery.
Questions on Islam
- Can the dead body of a Muslim be buried in a Christian cemetery?
- Is it necessary to plant trees / flowers in the grave, cemetery? Are they of any use to the dead?
- Is it permissible to collect the bones in a grave in order to change the place of a grave?
- As’ad bin Zurara (r.a.)
- Is it permissible to read the Quran next to graves?
- Arqam bin Abil-Arqam (r.a.)
- What does determine one country whether is an Islamic country or not?
- Is using a cadaver permissible? Is it religiously appropriate for the students studying and academicians teaching at the faculty of medicine to work on cadavers?
- What is the wisdom behind washing the dead person?
- Did Bilal (ra), who called the first adhan, die as a Muslim?

