Exclusion after Death: The Politics of Death and Muslims in Spain

In this article, I turn to the case of Spain to theorise exclusion after death. It is not widely known that Franco’s army primarily consisted of Moroccan-origin soldiers during the Spanish Civil War. Even less known is that, at the time, Franco instated a structure for accommodating Islam, including the building of Muslim hospitals and the designation of Muslim cemeteries. Despite this historical precedent, today’s Spain has insufficient infrastructure to satisfy the needs of its constantly growing Islamic population of around 2.5M people.

Based on archival research, interviews and data provided by the Spanish Observatory of Religious Pluralism, this article identifies social and political factors that lead to the contemporary normalisation of repatriation practices while also shedding light on attempts to (again) carve out space for Muslim life—and death practices—in Spain. This article maps the cemeteries habilitated for such aims from the Spanish Civil War until today. Whether/where they are still used, contested spaces, forgotten or repurposed, it focuses on three cases representing the different paths these cemeteries have taken. Finally, it connects these to the current situation of Muslims in Spain and the challenges they face when dying and seeking a place for burial according to their religious precepts.