Leaders of a Massachusetts mosque are hoping to build a Muslim cemetery on farmland in Dudley, but residents are vigorously opposing the project.
Neighbors say they fear Islamic burial practices could contaminate groundwater or well water because Muslims traditionally do not embalm or use coffins.
Similar sentiments have been expressed by people in communities around the country where Muslim cemeteries have been proposed, including Farmersville, Texas, Walpole, Massachusetts, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and Farmington, Minnesota.
Muslim leaders say the opposition is rooted in bigotry. But residents of the communities where the cemeteries are being proposed say they have legitimate concerns.
