BCN Acció Intercultural

Throughout the “Barxiluna برشلونة: (Dis)memory of the Islamic Past and Present” programme, jointly organised by the Espai Avinyó and the Religious Affairs Office (OAR), a range of different activities highlighted Barcelona’s Muslim heritage. “History and Heritage” and “(Im)possible Museums: from Historical Narrative to Museum Interpretation” focused on the link between the past and the present of the Muslim community in the city, through reflections on the positioning of Islam in heritage, history and museography. Another opportunity for reflection was provided within the framework of education, through the activities “The Curriculum” and “The Hidden Curriculum”, which focused on the space occupied by knowledge and narratives of the Islamic past in schools, textbooks and educational discourse, and how these are often hidden or undervalued. Meanwhile, “Memory and Public Space” affirmed the position of the Islamic past in today’s urban space via an artistic installation and performance that took place in the Plaça Comercial in front of the Born CCM, where the only documented Islamic burial site in Barcelona was discovered.

“Cemeteries”, organised in collaboration with Cementiris de Barcelona, focused on the adaptation of funerary facilities in line with the rites practiced by different faiths, which is key in terms of the recognition of religious pluralism in a city like Barcelona. The spotlight was on the Islamic enclosure at the Collserola cemetery, where the activity took place on Saturday 2 December. It began with a few words from Sara Belbeida, commissioner for citizen relations and cultural and religious diversity at Barcelona City Council, who praised the celebration of events such as these, which vindicate the plurality of Barcelona’s population: “Death is a fundamental part of all religions. This is why to respect religious diversity, different funeral rites need to be taken into consideration, and at the City Council we do everything possible to improve them, always within the legal framework”. Next to speak was Miquel Trepat, general manager of Cementiris de Barcelona, who stressed the need to establish dialogue between communities and the local government, with a view to working towards true pluralism in terms of burials: “We’re here to keep on learning, and getting to better understand the cultural practices of all groups. Barcelona was a pioneer in creating an Islamic enclosure, and we’re currently proposing regulatory changes to the Generalitat de Catalunya in order to achieve real pluralism when it comes to funeral rites”.

The first part of the activity consisted of a guided tour led by Joan Manuel Aparicio, manager of cemetery services in Barcelona. The first stop was the first Islamic enclosure. Built in 1997, today it is still managed by the Islamic community itself, which has been in charge ever since it opened. Joan Manuel Aparicio underlined the importance of the processes of dialogue and negotiation between the Muslim community and the local administration that the installation of the enclosure involved: “As a municipality we need to offer options and solutions for such a sensitive issue as burials for people who decide to settle in Barcelona. This space was built by the community, it’s managed by the community, and it has the characteristics that the community deemed appropriate at the time. I think that now it would be worthwhile for the community to discuss the principles of Muslim burials in order to reach a consensus, and for the local administration to act in accordance with these principles”.

The visit continued in the second Islamic enclosure, managed by Cementiris de Barcelona, built in 2017 and expanded in 2021 in response to the growth of the city’s Muslim community, and the exceptional situation that arose due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In this space, Joan Manuel Aparicio reflected on the future of the site, which once again will require ongoing collaboration with Muslim communities in order to move towards true religious pluralism, including in relation to death. But as always, he pointed out, “taking into account the regulations and the health of the workers, given that there may be demands that could put them at risk”.

The second part of the activity consisted of a colloquium moderated by Fatima Ahmed, co-founder and vice-chair of the Women’s Intercultural Dialogue Association and member of the National Women’s Council of Catalonia, the Religious Diversity Advisory Board and the Barcelona Municipal Immigration Council (CMIB). Participating were Mayson Douas, leader of the Dignified Burial Association for the defence of the burial rights of Muslim citizens, Mohammed Halhoul Debboun, member and spokesperson for the Catalan Islamic Cultural Council, general secretary of the Islamic Federative Council of Catalonia and president of the Tot Raval Foundation; Jordi Moreras, lecturer at the Department of Anthropology, Philosophy and Social Work at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili and specialist in the study of Muslim communities in Catalonia, and Fátima Radimy, member of the Manos de Fátima Association.

The various contributions revolved around questions such as the need to have Islamic enclosures like the one at the Collserola Cemetery to guarantee the right to religious practice for Muslims, including at the moment of death, plus the challenges posed by the pandemic in this sense, and those that will arise in the future related to Muslim burials in the city. In this vein, Fatima Ahmed began the presentations with a reflection on the importance of understanding what represents a dignified burial in accordance with one’s own convictions as a human right.

Jordi Moreras was next to speak, giving a brief historical presentation that highlighted the existence of a gap between the first documented Muslim burials in Barcelona in the Born, which were the central theme of the most recent Barxiluna activity, “Memory and Public Space”, and the construction of the Montjuïc and Barcelona Islamic enclosures. “There are people who died in 60s and 70s who were not buried in accordance with their faith”, said Jordi Moreras, insisting that as the health emergency has made clear, in order to prevent this from happening again, what is needed is “an agreement between the local community and the municipal administration. This is often complicated, because on occasion those in charge lack the required sensitivity, and the demands of the community cannot be met within established frameworks and with the resources available”.

Mohammed Halhoul began his speech by responding to Jordi Moreras. While pointing out how fortunate the Muslim community in Barcelona is to be able to “accompany the deceased in death”, he also insisted on the need to reach a consensus: “There is a bureaucratic process that the community has always tried to adapt to, and although it’s true that the local administration has always listened to us, there are regulatory issues”. He ended by thanking both parties, underlining their willingness to seek solutions.

To place the situation in Barcelona in a broader context, the colloquium included the participation of Mayson Douas, who focused on the lack of spaces for Islamic burials in Madrid, and the urgent need to collect data from the public in order – at the very least – to understand the extent of the problem: “In Madrid there’s nowhere for us to go when we die, the only space we had ran out long ago. They say that there’s no need, because people repatriate, but if no space exists, it can’t be proved whether or not that is in fact the case. And that lack of data is doing us a great deal of harm. A lack of knowledge regarding people’s religious beliefs affects all public services. Looking beyond the case of Madrid, Mayson Douas’ contribution pointed out that this is a problem all over Spain: “We conducted a study that showed that at present there are just three cemeteries for every thousand municipalities that have been adapted to meet our needs, and there in five autonomous regions there are none at all”. Finally, Mayson Douas concluded his speech by expressing his thanks for the hosting of events such as this one: “Thank you for Barxiluna, and I very much hope that Barcelona will continue to be a benchmark for these types of things in the future”.

Fátima Radimy brought the colloquium to a close with a brief but forceful speech, where she called on local authorities to open up spaces for dialogue: “We are asking for spaces that are appropriate for Islamic funeral rites, spaces to which imams have access, and for the establishment of the right of each deceased person to be buried in a grave on their own. We understand that we can’t bring every single Moroccan tradition to Spain, but it costs nothing to ask. And in any case, we must stand together, because a dignified death is vital to all cultures; it’s a question of respecting the rights of each individual”.

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