There was no law against it, but Chestnut Ridge leaders expressed their “respectful wishes” that it not be done. The mosque went ahead and buried the imam in the mosque backyard anyway. Remember: the principle is always and everywhere the same. In Muslim countries, one must conform one’s behavior to suit Islamic sensibilities. And in non-Muslim countries, one must conform one’s behavior to suit Islamic sensibilities.
“Imam buried behind mosque sparks debate in Rockland County village,” by Jon Levine, New York Post, July 27, 2019:
A mosque buried its imam in the backyard — and a little Rockland County village almost died of shock.
Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi al-Halveti, who founded the Jerrahi Order of America mosque in Chestnut Ridge, died at the age of 92 in February 2018.
He was laid to rest behind the house of worship a few days later. And in May of this year, the faithful erected a grand monument made from imported Turkish marble. A bench was installed next to it.
Etched into the marble tomb is one of the sheikh’s favorite sayings: “The most beloved of Allah’s servants are those who engender Allah’s love in his servants and their love in Allah.”
The gravesite is the picture of tranquility. But it has not been a peaceful resting place.
The issue of private burials has haunted the public discourse in this village of 8,000 souls ever since, with opponents — led by a retired FBI agent — saying backyard graves are public health risks and that village officials should never have OK’d one.
“I don’t think that an incorporated village where people live next door to one another on small or large parcels of land should allow the burial of human remains on properties,” said Hilda Kogut, the ex-Fed and chairwoman of Citizens United to Protect Our Neighborhoods, who called the town policy a “shock to the system.”
Embarrassed village officials soon claimed they tried to stop the burial, but didn’t have the legal authority to block it. The mosque, providing correspondence as proof, said it asked for permission from the village to bury their beloved imam, and received it.
The mosque “did it against our respectful wishes,” Chestnut Ridge Mayor Rosario Presti insisted.
The mosque’s current sheikh, Yurdaer Doganata, noted that the congregation followed “local safety codes and health regulations and used a traditional casket. It was a green burial and there were no chemicals used. The grave site was approximately six feet deep. A member of our community who is a licensed contractor performed the ground preparations.” The coffin was made from wood with no nails, he said.
The state does not have a law against home burial and allows local governments to pass their own ordinances regarding the practice. Chestnut Ridge has no law on the issue….
Mayor Presti said the village hopes to soon draft an ordinance that bans backyard burials. But the late shiekh’s followers will not have to worry about an exhumation.
“You can’t unring that bell,” the mayor said.
Of course.
mortimer says
The state should pass a law forbidding backyard burials as a health risk to the public. Burials should only be in designated burial grounds. Exhumation should be ordered in the new law.
Mark Slinger says
What is wrong with burials on Church or Mosque grounds? It has been going on for millennia.
Emilie Green says
The mosque “did it against our respectful wishes,” Chestnut Ridge Mayor Rosario Presti insisted,
Said the stupid, naive kuffar mayor. They’re learning all about Islam – that’s a one-way street. You give; Muslims take.
elee says
+1
DBM echo says
“’You can’t unring that bell,’ the mayor said.”
What a mensch, that mayor. No wonder he’s a community leader.
lebel says
No laws were broken but it’s still jihad.
One can only imagine what jihadwatch would have said had they bowed to public demands. Taqqiya!
It’s a catch-22.
Angemon says
“One can only imagine what jihadwatch would have said had they bowed to public demands. Taqqiya! ”
The one in question being you, in your never-ending quest to denigrate JihadWatch…
gravenimage says
This is cultural Jihad, as lebel well knows.
lebel says
I was hoping the savy infidels would not have noticed….bad Dhimmis!
Yes, it is cultural jihad as I well know. I admit it now, the mask is slipping….
Wellington says
Nah, not jihad, lebel. Just stupid Muslim shit. Sometimes, you know, Muzzies don’t engage in jihad though still offensive—they just manage to be offending and parasitic in other ways, which is the wont of Buttlims en masse. Besides, this guy isn’t really there, is he? Nope, he’s enjoying his 72 virgins (raisins?) in Muslim paradise, blah, blah, blah.
Islam is wretched, lebel, in sundry ways (damn dangerous too often times, for example if you are a Muslim and convert to Christianity), but often times it is “merely” laughably stupid. No jihad need be involved. As here. Or don’t you get this either? There is, after all, much that you do not get.
lebel says
Well if no jihad is involved it’s kinda strange that this is a news item on jihadwatch.
Then again, it makes perfect sense as this is a hate site. It needs a daily “Muslim guy did something bad” to keep jihadwatchers in a constant state of hate.
Keys says
I hate Islam. Everyone ought to hate Islam.
lebel, do you love Islam or hate Islam ?
Barb says
Bodies are exhumed for identification purposes! The Sheikh should be re-buried in a cemetry! What if there’s a murder in the Mosque they could bury the murdered victim with the already dead Sheikh’s casket????
Many Muslim’s wrongly believe that Sharia Law is above western Law – they need to know when they disobey Western Law they are disobeying GOD’s Laws as given to Moses by GOD himself at Mt Sinai and there was a multitude of witnesses!
There were no witnesses when Mohammed was supposedly given Sharia Law by an Angel / Devil???
Rhonda says
Point taken but unfortunately they didn’t break the local law because there was none against this type of burial. It seems muslims will take advantage of every loophole American laws have, A backward society degrading ours.
Keys says
I guess Obama was right that “Islam has always been part of America”.
Sure looks like that mosque has been there since 1703 ! The muslims were here first !
/ hostile sarcasm off
gravenimage says
New York: Imam buried in mosque backyard against the “respectful wishes” of community leaders
………………………..
At the very least, this is a health risk to the community.
Wellington says
True, gravenimage, but then Islam in general is a health risk to any community.
Rhonda says
1+++++
gravenimage says
So true, Wellington. This is the least of it.
J_not_a says
What’s to stop them from burying another and another there….?
Rarely says
No problem if they’re dead.
Rarely says
Where’s the problem? They asked for permission from the appropriate authority and got it. Muslims bury quickly so any opposition likely would have been afterwards.
Public Health issue? It may be an issue but I’ve never heard of a person contracting an illness from a grave since the Black Death. I live in a city of +/-850,000 and there are 3-4 churches within spitting distance that have cemeteries attached. To my knowledge the ghosts and goblins have been well behaved.
In anticipation of criticism of this post I will admit that I would not want to live in close proximity to a graveyard. Then again, I wouldn’t want to live next door to a mosque either.
Kay says
My understanding is that Muslims bury in a different way, without embalming and possibly with a simpler coffin. I understand that one cemetery in my city allows their particular type of burial; the others do not.
Kepha says
I understand traditional Jewish burial was done in a shroud only, and the body had to go into the ground within 24 hours. In Taiwan, they dig up the dead after a year and put the bones in a brown urn to stash in a public ossuary or a niche in the side of a rice paddy. Some people are opting for natural burial (sounds attractive to Uncle Kepha). If bural customs were all that was off with Islam, I don’t think I’d complain.
Keys says
Each State’s burial laws are “laid out” ? here:
https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/burial-cremation-laws
From above site:
“Where can bodies be buried in New York?
After the registrar (of the district where the death occurred) reviews the death certificate and finds it is complete, the registrar issues a burial or removal permit to the funeral director and the body can then be buried. Most bodies are buried in established cemeteries, but burial on private property may be possible in New York. (See the New York State Division of Cemeteries FAQ.) Before conducting a home burial, check with the town or county clerk and local health department for any rules you must follow. If you do bury a body on private land, you should draw a map of the property showing the burial ground and file it with the property deed so the location will be clear to others in the future.
New York law also allows any individual to make a grant of land, by deed or at death, to be used as a family cemetery. The parcel may be as large as three acres and must not be located within 1,650 feet of a dwelling. For more information, see New York NPC Law § 1401(c) and contact your county clerk’s office.”
Hari Singh says
The Halveti Jerrahi order of dervishes are not into Jihad. See their beautiful chanting where they often sound like Byzantine Christians.
They buried their Sheikh who they regarded as a living saint and friend-Wali of God. It will be a place of prayer and intercession. As well s a place of pilgrimage.
These are the Muslims who make good citizens and neighbors. Upstate New Yorkers have been burying family on their land for centuries.
The Sufis are not into Jihad. They do vigorous chanting and pray regularly. In the history of the Ottoman state they were known as recluses doing long retreats. This order of Sufis were often artisans not Soldiers like the Bektashi or fundamentalists like the Naqshabandi sufis.
winoceros says
Thank you, Hari.
CogitoErgoSum says
If everything was done according to the law and no toxic chemicals were involved, I don’t see the problem with this. Dust to dust…….
Eric Jones says
Back yard burials are a violation of public health. All over the world burial sites are in places specified for that :and away from under ground water sources and, areas where animals graze. This town has bowed down to Islam. What a shame.
Eric
Shirley Ann says
Once Muslims Bury their Putrid Dead in American Soil, Muslims are here to Stay! They are Claiming the land, as their Very Own. Muslims have had so much Help in Claiming Our Country, by the Cowardly Mayors, who silently agree to fulfill all the
Wishes of their New Muslim “Residents”. Elected Politicians, have led Americans Into a Deadly Trap!
elee says
I keep hearing about “the dustbin of history.” Can we bury him (them) there?
James says
It is a time in history where playing the bigotry and race cards is the way to get what one wants. The Muslims do that constantly. And they can back it up with violence. Everyone knows they can and so they give in to them. And if they resist, that can be compared to Jim Crow and discrimination against innocent persons’ civil rights.
Dapto says
Its a Plot
FYI says
Speaking of plots..
14 Lo!They plot a plot against thee o muhammed
15 And I plot a plot against them
koran 87 v 14-15
muhammed/allah appears to be talking to himself…
Yet when muhammed failed the poison test I guess al lah didn’t plot sufficiently against the Jewish woman who administered the poison as muhammed didn”t see it coming.
Beneath the Veil of Consciousness says
If I interpreted it correctly, Hari Singh, it was primarily the Sufis who carried out the genocide against the Armenians at the behest of the Turkish leadership. This, according to the Apostate Prophet, is an historical fact. According to David Wood, as peaceful and loving as any Muslim may be, they have in their toolbox (the Koran and hadiths) the justification for carrying out horrific acts of violence.
George Parker says
Perhaps their waste bin was full, so they buried the trash.
MJP says
The Community where this took place needs to get a court order & make them move the body to a Cemetery it is time for this nonsense of the Quran overrides American Law to stop if you are not going to go by the laws here GET OUT
Liam says
Quite like burial in a churchyard. Certainly less toxic to nature than typical American burial practices.
J D S says
Muslims always start crying when the pinch gets tight……if one doesn’t get his way they start crying foul.
gravenimage says
Hari Singh wrote:
The Sufis are not into Jihad.
…………………………..
This is utterly falser, and has been debunked here at Jihad Watch many times.
And the idea that this town in upstate New York should welcome becoming a pilgrimage site for <Mohammedans is deeply disturbing.
The implication that Sufis reject Islam is mistaken.
And the implication that they were some kind of otherworldly hermits is also false–they had strong links to many of the brutal leaders of the Ottoman Empire.
Battle says
How is polygamy, honor killing, female genital mutilation, marrying children, Islam Moslem supremacy, wife beating, kidnapping claimed unbelievers female children forcing conversion and forcing marriage and stoning adulterers, daughters inherit only half of brother’s amount, taxing claimed unbelievers, call to prayer not by phone, punishment of claimed blasphemy and other Sharia, being “good citizens and neighbors?”
George says
In all fairness, I grew up a stone’s throw from the village of Chestnut Ridge, which wasn’t even there when I moved away oh so many years ago.
Chestnut Ridge was formed in reaction to or in support of creating areas where zoning laws could be enforced or changed different from the unincorporated parts of the town of Ramapo, in reaction to what was happening with the ultra-orthodox Hasidic Jewish communities. In this case, it appears that they failed to incorporate the full and necessary zoning regulations that they now desire.
Not that I think burial in your backyard in the face of community objection is particularly neighborly, but I also think there’s another element to the story that should be told.
Sandy says
I doubt there isn’t a law that you can’t hurt your dead in your backyard.
Someone needs to research those books!