You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Home Front: WoT
Virginia imam seething over Speedbump's burial
2013-05-12
An Islamic community in the US state of Virginia is said to be in uproar after it emerged a Boston bombing suspect was buried at a nearby rural cemetery.

An imam said local Muslims were upset their loved ones would have to use the same graveyard as that where Tamerlan Tsarnaev was secretly laid to rest.

His body was interred on Thursday after protests at the Massachusetts funeral home where it was kept. Officials fear the site might become a shrine for anti-US sympathisers.

Tsarnaev was interred at a small Islamic cemetery in a rural area just north of the state capital, Richmond. His burial follows a long search for a community that would accept the body, after several states rejected his remains.

Imam Ammar Amonette, of the Islamic Center of Virginia, said the move made "no sense whatsoever".
He's absolutely right.
"The whole Muslim community here is furious," he said. "Frankly, we are furious that we were never given any information. It was all done secretly behind our backs."
Correct again. How come no one came to him up front?
"Now everybody who's buried in that cemetery, their loved ones are going to have to go to that place."

County and state officials say they were not told of the burial in advance, although that is not required. Floyd Thomas, chairman of the board of supervisors for Caroline County, told CNN that if any protocols had been flouted in the burial, "we would look into undoing what happened".

Martha Mullen, a private citizen of Richmond, is credited with having co-ordinated efforts behind the scenes to resolve the problem of where to bury Tsarnaev.

"It was an interfaith effort," she told the Associated Press. "Basically because Jesus says love your enemies."
So how does Ms. Mullen have the influence to coordinate a burial at an Islamic cemetery? How can Ms. Mullen arrange for a burial there without the local imam finding out about it in advance? How about a little history on Ms. Mullen? Who is she?
Massachusetts police said on Thursday: "As a result of our public appeal for help, a courageous and compassionate individual came forward to provide the assistance needed to properly bury the deceased."

Preparations are believed to have been made by Ruslan Tsarni, the suspect's uncle, after Tsarnaev's widow, Katherine Russell-Tsarnaev, released the body to her in-laws.
The BBC, like every other news outlet, refuses to use the widow's full, proper name...
Earlier, Mr Tsarni said the atrocity in Boston had brought shame to the entire Chechen community. The Tsarnaevs come from a family of ethnic Chechens and had been living in the US for about a decade before the attacks.
Posted by:Besoeker

#4  Heh. Speedbump could end up being the only one buried there.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia   2013-05-12 18:43  

#3  "An imam said local Muslims were upset their loved ones would have to use the same graveyard as that where Tamerlan Tsarnaev was secretly laid to rest."

So have their bodies moved.
Posted by: Barbara   2013-05-12 18:31  

#2  Should have dumped him into a swamp somewhere. Let him do some good being gator food.
Posted by: Rjschwarz   2013-05-12 18:16  

#1  How can Ms. Mullen arrange for a burial there without the local imam finding out about it in advance?
I know of at least one other cemetery, a Catholic one, where burials have happened without the pastor knowing about it. It's inside of an Indian reservation.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2013-05-12 15:50  

00:00