Rabat – The French Council for Muslim Faith (CFCM) has asked the country’s authorities to make avilable burial spaces for Muslims who died from COVID-19 in France.
“The number of victims of the coronavirus pandemic continues to increase, leaving many families facing the pain of mourning and the fact of being unable to bury their dead in accordance with their rites,” the CFCM lamented in a press release today, April 13, on its official website.
The CFCM, as an elected body, the highest public representative of Islam in France.
“Today we are facing a serious crisis which calls for urgent intervention by the public authorities,” CFCM added.
The council also highlighted its role in establishing communication between each town’s mayor and its Muslim community, whenever they report difficulties, in order to find a solution.
Without a solution on offer, CFCM President Mohamed Moussaoui said that Muslim families are living amid anxiety, worry, misunderstanding, and regret.
In the press release titled “Let’s not add to the pain of the families suffering from the inability to honor their deceased,” the CFCM urged bereaved families who face difficulties finding burial places to immediately approach the Regional Council of the CFCM via its platform at 01 45 23 81 39.
The council had presented a request to French President Emmanuel Macron on March 23, asking authorities to create burial spaces for members of the Muslim communities in France. Representatives of other Muslim organizations in France unanimously supported the request, according to the source.
The council has been following the COVID-19 crisis closely, inviting its affiliate imams to implement preventive measures against the virus in France’s mosques.
In an “urgent message” on March 1, Moussaoui urged those responsible for French mosques to take some “simple but useful” measures, reports the French Press Agency (AFP).
The Moroccan-born official recommended “avoiding shaking hands in favor of oral and remote greetings.” He also suggested frequent hand-washing as well as “removing multiple-use towels from the places of ablution in mosques” and “replacing them with single-use towels.”
In a similar but successful initiative, the consulate general of Morocco in New York City expressed solidarity with Moroccan expatriates living in the US amid the pandemic. The consulate announced in an April 6 statement that it will cover funeral costs for low-income members of the Moroccan diaspora who die from COVID-19.
The Moroccan consulate added that it will also cover the cost of funerals for expatriates who do not have insurance in the US.
Read also: Morocco to Cover Funeral Costs of Low-Income MREs
