Elena, the Muslim, the mosque and cemetery

Source:  Protagon.gr

© Translation: Muslim Association of Greece

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I have never met Elena in person. We have been talking on the phone for the past two months. She has a bright smile, nice voice and is very polite. She is 23 years old studying Business in England. The only thing I knew about her is that she was wearing hijab. She started learning about Islam from stubbornness. She wanted to prove to her colleagues at university that they were wrong.  She studied the Quran quickly to gain more arguments against it, but that made her change her own beliefs and religion.

The last emails we exchanged were regarding the French ban of religion symbols. Elena wanted to point out two things regarding that, the cemeteries and the worship places. I am copying what she wrote to me.

“Greece is the only European country that does not have a cemetery and a mosque.  I am a Greek citizen and I pay tax as every other citizen in the country, I obey its laws, I defend its rights when they are correct. What hurts me is the behaviour of the reliable people regarding that matter. What we are asking for is to praise God in its place, to marry and die next to our families as every other human being on that planet.”

 ”The Muslims in Greece are a minority but not only in Thrace, the northern part of Greece, but also in Athens where they are almost 700.000 Muslims working and living. But except the everyday problems they have to deal with, they also have to consider what will happen with their bodies when they will die. And this is because in the European Athens today there is no cemetery, a basic need for a human being and especially a Muslim. And this is because in the Islamic tradition the body must be buried no more than 24 hours after death and under some conditions. Something that Muslims in Athens today cannot even think or dream of. Nowadays the bodies are sent to Thrace or to the country of origin, if that is possible.  What happens though with the many Greek Muslims or with the second generation children that do not know any other country except Greece? Don’t they have that ‘luxury’ or they are excluded from the life circle.”