Minnesota’s largest Muslim cemetery breaks ground near Farmington after 10-year saga

By Katelyn Vue, Sahan Journal

This story comes to you from Sahan Journal through a partnership with MPR News.

In Arabic, “al maghfirah” means forgiveness. 

Forgiveness — and hope — were on display Tuesday as two dozen people gathered in a desiccated field south of Farmington to break ground on Al Maghfirah Cemetery after a decade of delays and legal challenges.

The 72-acre parcel in Castle Rock township will be the largest Muslim cemetery in Minnesota, once it is developed.

“It has been a long and challenging journey. Ten years of a struggle. Litigation. Vandalism. And countless obstacles,” said Mohamad Osman, director of the Muslim cemetery project. “But through our collective resolve, we have finally overcome.” 

The cemetery will offer nearly 50,000 burial plots and will serve Muslims from the Twin Cities metro area. It is expected to open in May 2025. 

The cemetery association spent $900,000 on the land. It will cost another $1.5 million for the development stage, according to Osman. The two existing buildings on the land will be converted for funerary purposes, and will include gathering areas and bathrooms. 

“I want to be very transparent in this by saying this moment should have come a lot sooner,” said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations. 

At Tuesday’s news conference, he added that some of the neighbors, local businesses and the faith community have voiced support for the cemetery.

The Al Maghfirah Cemetery Association purchased the parcel in 2014 to develop burial plots and a funeral home, but faced multiple hurdles getting approval from the township. 

The Castle Rock Board of Supervisors rejected an application to build an Islamic cemetery, and the township denied a conditional use permit for the project. The Castle Rock planning commission also amended zoning ordinances to prohibit cemeteries in the area.  

The cemetery association filed a lawsuit in 2015, challenging the zoning ordinance, and a judge ruled in the association’s favor in early 2016. However, the judge’s ruling did not include a funeral home. Still, when the association submitted a conditional use permit, including a funeral home, the Castle Rock Board of Supervisors approved the application in June 2022. 

In addition, the association experienced two incidents of vandalism, resulting in over $200,000 in damages, several speakers said Tuesday. 

There are subtle differences that set Muslims funerals and cemeteries apart from other faiths. In preparation for burial, for example, Muslims wash the dead person’s body without chemicals and then wrap the body in a white, unstitched cloth. The body is buried as-is, without any makeup or clothing.

Other burial sites across Minnesota offer Muslim burials and funeral rituals, but there are limitations. The Garden of Eden Cemetery in Burnsville is the most-well known place for the Muslim community in the Twin Cities, but has limited parking and no Islamic center for funeral prayer, which is part of religious tradition. The site is also running out of burial plots. 

A funeral last year for five young women killed in a Minneapolis car crash drew thousands of mourners to the Garden of Eden, crowding nearby streets and spilling over prayer areas, Jaylani said.

“A cemetery is a remarkable and an important part, asset of the community,” he said. “I really look forward to this cemetery being that.” 

“This place is very significant for us, in Islam and in this community in Minnesota, that we can have this place, maybe in the next 100 years, where we’ll be burying our people,” Imam Mohammed Dukuly said at Tuesday’s news conference. 

Kassim Busuri, the executive director of Islamic Da’wah Center and former St. Paul City Council member said he wants to be buried in the new cemetery with his children when the time comes. 

“This is our home, and we will also be buried here as well,” he said. 

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