On one side, there are dozens of crosses lined up, bearing the names of soldiers who fell during the First World War. On the other, separated by the alley, burials bearing a crescent – one of the symbols of Islam – follow one another, all oriented towards Mecca, the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad. In Villejuif, in Val-de-Marne, one of the two municipal cemeteries has a “Muslim square”, a reserved space where the deceased of this faith are buried. In France, the French Council for Muslim Worship (CFCM) estimates their number at 600, in the 40,000 cemeteries present throughout the territory. But for the past ten years, requests related to the creation or extension of these squares have increased. “Muslim children no longer want to see their parents buried in their country of origin. It is also a sign of integration”, explains Kamel Kabtane, rector of the great mosque of Lyon. In addition to the orientation of the graves, another argument would justify the establishment of such spaces according to the religious dignitary: “If Muslims came to pray in front of graves of other faiths, this could annoy the relatives of the deceased concerned. It is important that Everyone has their own idea of death.
In Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis), the allocation of these dedicated spaces in cemeteries has recently been debated. The Tahara association, specializing in Muslim ritual toilets, filed an appeal in April 2020 with the courts to demand the expansion of the Muslim square in the municipality, in a context of high mortality due to Covid-19. “This association, which is not from Montreuil, started from the principle that our dedicated space was complete, without even having contacted us beforehand. However, there were indeed places left”, relates Florian Vigneron, deputy mayor responsible for the graveyard. On social networks, the case is gradually gaining momentum, and calls to the town hall or the cemetery are becoming more and more numerous. “We have even been contacted by residents of other towns. But in Montreuil, our internal regulations provide that the Muslim square is reserved for people who, at the time of death, were residing in the town”, continues the deputy.
If the administrative court of Montreuil finally rejected the appeal of the Tahara association, on the grounds that the urgency was not really established, Florian Vigneron believes that these requests are still relevant. “The situation is complicated, because the legal framework is extremely vague, and we do not want to favor one part of the population to the detriment of another,” he notes. The association’s lawyer, Nabil Boudi, considers that “Montreuil did not play the game” by refusing to accept deceased from other cities. “If a person wants to be buried according to his rites, the law must allow it”, he adds, while specifying that other associations continue to contact him on this question.
“Political Offensive”
However, from a legal point of view, a certain vagueness remains on the subject. The Council of State, seized on June 16 by the administrative court of Paris, will soon have to decide on the legality of these spaces. A priori, the law of November 14, 1881 removes the obligation to allocate part of the cemetery to each cult, and prohibits “any grouping by confession in the form of a material separation from the rest of the cemetery”. Concretely, the various denominational squares existing in fact can neither be indicated by signs, nor be separated by walls, fences or shrubs. In 1905, the law of separation of Church and State affirms this principle of neutrality in the common areas: only the tombs can show religious signs. With the increasing arrival of Muslim populations, the position of the State will however evolve on the creation of squares. In 1975, a first circular from the Ministry of the Interior thus recommended that mayors “reserve special squares in the existing cemeteries”. In 1991 then in 2008, two other circulars will go in the same direction, “for the sake of integrating families of immigrant origin”. Deprived of these spaces, the majority of Muslims – 80% according to the CFCM – indeed decide to be buried in their country of origin.
Gilbert Abergel, president of the Republic Secularism Committee – an association that promotes secularism in public debate – has since noted a “political offensive” on the subject. “About once a month, we are approached by municipal councilors on the question of Muslim squares. Very often, they send us insistent requests, which come from associations or activists”, he testifies. Opposed to the creation of these squares, “because it would encourage other denominations to ask in turn for reserved spaces”, Gilbert Abergel assures him: “The pandemic has made it possible to amplify these claims”.
A “surprising” approach
In Aulnay-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), a petition to demand the creation of a Muslim square was thus launched in May 2020, bringing together nearly 3,000 signatures today. “This approach is surprising, insofar as the city has a significant financial participation in the management of the intercommunal cemetery of Tremblay, which has 700 sites still available for the Muslim faithful”, observes Benoît Le Foll, director general of technical services. In a neighboring town, several messages from the “LES Musulmans” collaborative platform were also received in the midst of the crisis. Created by Marwan Muhammad, the former director of the Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) dissolved in 2020, the latter makes it possible to generate in a few minutes an email intended for the town hall and the prefect of his commune, to encourage them to “set up a Muslim square” or “increase the number of places available”. As of April 23, 2020, more than 7,500 people have used this device, according to the platform’s Twitter account. Contacted by L’Express, Marwan Muhammad affirms that he has no longer been “involved in these activities on a daily basis for a little over a year”.
In April 2020, Didier Leschi, the director general of the French office for immigration and integration, also looked into the phenomenon. In his “Crisis Tracts – The Republic of the Dead” (Gallimard), he recognized the legitimacy of the request for orientation towards Mecca, while refuting the relevance of the reserved spaces: “As much as the orientation of the tomb allowing the face is turned towards Mecca is an anciently attested tradition (…); as much the need to be surrounded by Muslims in one’s final resting place refers to a desire for separation that is fundamentally contrary to the idea of a common brotherhood of the dead and our secular idea of citizenship beyond death”. And to conclude: “This separation today demanded by some as an imperative has no scriptural foundation in Islam.” A statement disputed by several religious leaders.