Muslim cemetery in Covington fulfills teachings of Islam

COVINGTON — The All-Muslim Cemetery sits on a wooded slope on the western edge of this suburban community in South King County.

Bordered by Soos Creek, its grave sites angle slightly toward Mecca.

It seems an unlikely final resting place for immigrants of the Islamic faith — men and women from countries such as Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria — and their children.

The 3-year-old graveyard is one of only a few in the United States exclusive to Muslims.

It's the only one in the state of Washington.

Dr. Mahmood Sarram, a retired Tacoma obstetrician from Iran, who first envisioned this place more than 16 years ago, thought the region's growing Muslim population needed a burial site that fulfilled the teachings of Islam — and a place where "future generations could come, pause and reflect," he said.

Plans also call for a Muslim school and a mosque on the site.

"It's ironic, isn't it?" Sarram says, a kind look on his grandfatherly face as he ushers a visitor toward the cemetery. "In 13 years, I delivered 6,000 babies. Now I'm burying people."

The state of Washington is home to an estimated 50,000 Muslims — more than half of them Somalis who fled their war-ravaged African country during the 1990s. Less than one-fourth of the state's Muslims were here when Sarram arrived in Tacoma in 1986.

Islam is believed to be the world's fastest-growing religion, and the customs and practices of its followers here are as varied as the countries of their birth.

Sarram said he wanted to reach out to all Muslims — regardless of their sect or cultural backgrounds. "According to Muslim teachings, if a group of Muslims is in a non-Muslim county, they are obligated to develop a cemetery exclusive to Muslims," he said.

About 50 people have been buried here, about half of them children.

"This place will become an icon for future generations," Sarram said. "They can identify themselves when they come and see their forefathers buried there."

Thamer Al-Hasu said he was lucky to find a cemetery exclusive to Muslims when his daughter, Shahla, died two years ago.

"When she was sick, I talked to someone in the community about burial for Muslims, and they suggested this cemetery and another in Snohomish County," he said. "This one was very close to our home."

Shahla Al-Hasu was a pharmacist who worked at Auburn General Hospital for more than 10 years after graduating from the University of Washington. Her parents joined her from their native Iraq in 1990, after she was diagnosed with Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma, a rare form of cancer.

Thamer Al-Hasu said the family visits the site every Friday around 2:15 p.m., the time of day when his daughter died.

"When I go I visit all those who are buried there. It's tradition to read something for the dead. I do it for my daughter and for everyone else there."

Muslims in most areas of the United States don't have this advantage.

In many cities, Muslims must reserve sections of traditional cemeteries to bury their dead, a process that can be complicated.

Islamic tradition calls for the body to be wrapped in white cloth and placed in the ground — returned to the earth, dust to dust. At All-Muslim and other Muslim cemeteries and cemetery sections across the United States, the body is typically placed on soil within a concrete vault, primarily for environmental reasons.

Islamic tradition also calls for burial to be within 24 hours of death, which can overwhelm some cemeteries and funeral homes, said James Noel, executive director of the Washington State Funeral Directors Association, who is also an adviser to the All-Muslim Cemetery.

"Muslim tradition requires that graves face in the direction of Mecca — it's a very important tenet, so much so that they will come out and measure to make sure it's correct down to the degree," Noel said.

Noel, who retired from Mountain View Funeral Home in Tacoma after 34 years, said that in some cemeteries, Muslim families have had to buy as many as six grave plots to get two that could be properly aligned.

Richard Chapman, who owns Woodlawn Cemetery just west of Snohomish, established a Muslim section in the southwest corner of his family-owned burial yard 10 years ago at the request of local Muslim leaders. His is one of several cemeteries across the state with special sections for Muslims, as well as for those of other religions.

"We had to replat the section so it would be correct," Chapman said. "The Muslim people are very good people. They have a right to grieve how they want to grieve. In this cemetery we cater to all religions."

In Covington, House of Mercy All-Muslim Cemetery takes up a portion of 8 acres Sarram bought with $200,000 saved from his income as a physician. "I went to a lawyer and said, 'I want to do something for Muslims.' He said, 'Can you afford $30,000 a year?' "

Sarram established the American Moslem Foundation in 1988 to fulfill his mission and later donated the land to the Muslim community. Its South King County site is a central location for the region's Muslim population in Seattle and Tacoma, he said.

Landscaped, with fencing separating it from the residential subdivision next door, the property includes a pair of houses — one for gatherings and prayers, and a second, smaller one where bodies are prepared for burial.

From this second house, the washed and wrapped body is carried in a wooden casket a few yards to the burial site.

While Muslim traditions differ by country and sect, here the body is removed from the casket and placed in the earth facing Mecca.

The concrete casing was a compromise in response to concerns from some neighbors, who worried about the environmental impact bodies placed directly in the earth might have on Soos Creek, Noel and some neighbors recall.

Residents who live in the Meridian Trace subdivision next to the cemetery worried, too, about noise and traffic from a cemetery, school and mosque.

Theodore Lange, who lives three blocks away, said some neighbors closer to the property had early concerns, but he's heard no recent complaints.

Another neighbor a block and a half away said some in the neighborhood wanted to block the project when it was first proposed, fearing their property values might drop with a cemetery so close. But since the cemetery opened, he's not been aware of any problems.

Some similar cemeteries in other parts of the country have had a tougher time getting established.

In January, a long-planned all-Muslim cemetery near Lawrenceville, Ga., finally opened after a fierce, years-long rezoning battle that drew world attention.

The Georgia Islamic Institute of Religious and Social Sciences spent $140,000 to comply with a list of rezoning requirements, such as groundwater monitoring and fencing that included an 8-foot-high privacy fence along the abutting neighborhood. The institute also must use stone grave markers, a practice often eschewed by Muslims wanting modest graves.

Ann El-Moslimany, whose husband, Mohammad, is buried at All-Muslim, said, "We felt (Sarram's) goal of uniting all Muslims was a noble one. That has been one of my husband's goals. And he's put a great deal of emphasis on it throughout his life."

Mohammad El-Moslimany, who moved to Seattle in the 1960s, helped found the Islamic Center of Seattle and the Islamic School of Seattle.

Ann El-Moslimany said she and her husband bought burial sites at Woodlawn years ago but never discussed his final wishes before he died of a rare brain disease last summer.

"When we (she and other family members) sat and talked about where to bury him, we felt (burial at All-Muslim) is what he would have wanted."

Lornet Turnbull: 206-464-2420 or lturnbull@seattletimes.com