DOCUMENTARIES
🇬🇧 Whitechapel, London: The Muslim Undertakers of the East End | This is Europe
Horia Al Hadad, Al Jazeera
In this story of life, love and laughter, a family of Muslim undertakers offers a glimpse into a community the far right has tried to demonise. Across Europe, the far right is on the rise and it has some of the continent’s most diverse communities in its crosshairs. To the far right, these neighbourhoods are no-go zones that challenge their notion of what it means to be European.
God’s Waiting Room
ThreeNL
This documentary shows the story of an undertaker in London specialized in Islamic funerals, where the bodies according to the Quran must be buried within 24 hours.
NEWS STORIES
The Muslim undertakers of East London
horia el hadad, al jazeera
On the bustling Whitechapel Road, nestled between the distinctive red brick of the East London Mosque and a nondescript Islamic clothing shop, sits Haji Taslim Funerals.
‘We’re ready if we are needed’: East London Mosque opens Covid-19 morgue
Harriet sherwood, the guardian
The final few snagging jobs were still in progress at the end of a lightning conversion of railway arches into an emergency morgue as the first bodies arrived.
Minimizing Costs for Muslim Burials in Britain
Moona taslim, the new york times
As a small island, Britain had scarce space to begin with, and as the centuries go by, there is less and less land available for burials. The remaining space is increasingly expensive, and many people now opt for cremation.
The toll of burying Grenfell’s dead: London’s Muslim undertakers
James Rippingale. al jazeera
Haji Taslim, London’s oldest established Muslim funeral service, coordinated the burial process after Westminster Public Coroners began to slowly release the Grenfell bodies.
Postcard from Zaharah: Farewell in a foreign land
zaharah othman, new straits times
A close-knit community in another country can make all the difference for someone when his or her loved one dies unexpectedly. Last week, I found myself back at the East London Mosque in Whitechapel, one of Europe’s largest mosques.
London Councils Are Selling Private Burial Plots On Paupers’ Graves
Hannah al-othman, buzzfeednews
A London council is dismantling paupers’ graves in historic cemeteries to sell off private burial spaces for thousands of pounds to people who want to be buried in the inner city.
Buried like kings
the economist
AS BILLY BULLARD left home for the last time, one wintry lunchtime in the East End of London, a high-pitched wail erupted outside the pebble-dash terraced house where his seven surviving children, grandchildren and a crowd of close friends had gathered.
21 Historical Pictures Of What Life Was Like For Muslims In London That Will Make You Say “Wow”
Aisha Gani, buzzfeed news
The first ever British Muslim Archives will be opening this week at the East London Mosque Archives, with a collection dating back to 1910.
Peter Ross: Graveyards taught me how to read . . . they help us understand who we are
Kenny Farquharson, The times
As a child Peter Ross would hang around the Old Town cemetery in Stirling with only the departed for company, lost in a world of marble and moss. He recalls trying to decipher the chiselled words on the memorials.
East London Mosque sets up emergency morgue amid concerns over funerals
eastern eye
AT a time when Muslims in the UK have been perturbed by rumours about cremation of Covid-19 victims, the East London Mosque (ELM) has offered some solace to community members by setting up an emergency mortuary at Tower Hamlets.