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Catholics offer burial spaces to Muslims as Sydney cemeteries fill up
Muslim community leader Kazi Ali was distressed to see the nearly full Muslim section at Rookwood Cemetery that he helped transform 40 years ago from paddock to an oasis of palms.
- Julie Power
- The Sydney Morning Herald
Many who helped Mr Ali build the cemetery in the 1980s are among the 6000 Muslims buried there now. A friend’s daughter was buried behind a white picket-style fence. Mr Ali pointed to a grave of his former teacher.
“Our tradition is to put trees in the grave because we believe when [the rain] soaks through, it goes to the deceased’s heart,” he said.
This section of Rookwood is a few years away from being full, and the Muslim cemetery at Riverstone has only 50…