Friday 20 Mar 2015 - 14:43 Makkah mean time-29-5-1436
Dr. Osama Haikal won unanimous approval Wednesday for a private, nonprofit Muslim cemetery
Las Vegas, Nevada (IINA) - Clark County authorities Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States have given their permission to establish its first Islamic cemetery, despite opposition from some local residents, news agencies reported Friday.
Earlier, the plan for the cemetery on a patch of land next to an Islamic academy near Warm Springs and Bermuda roads was approved by the Clark County commissioners but some nearby residents opposed a cemetery in the neighborhood.
Dr Osama Haikal, a longtime local physician, won unanimous approval on Wednesday for a private, nonprofit cemetery on two acres, a few miles south of McCarran International Airport, despite the objections of several local residents.
He said local Muslims need a burial place of their own to practice traditional funeral rites, which call for the dead to be washed, wrapped in plain cloth and buried as quickly as possible facing Makkah in a grave with no casket and only modest markings.
“I’ve been working on this project for 12 years,” said Haikal, a 30-year valley resident who helped establish the Omar Haikal Islamic Academy and Mosque just north of the cemetery site.
According to Dr. Aslam Abdullah, director of the Islamic Society of Nevada, the opposition by the residents was a result of a theological problem, "We don't have a place. We need a place. But we don't want a place at the expense of our neighbors," Abdullah said.
There are around 18,000 Muslims in the region and no dedicated cemetery for the community.
SM/IINA
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