A Cemetery for Muslims in Washington

February 22, 2004

Source: The Seattle Times

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001862816_cemetery22m.h

On February 22, 2004 The Seattle Times published an article on the All-Muslim Cemetery in South King County, one of only a few cemeteries of its kind in the United States. "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... 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."