Muslim Cemeteries in Belgium’s Urban Landscape: Unveiling the Opportunities and Challenges

In recent years, the growing ethnic and religious diversity in Western European cities, including major cities in Belgium, has exposed significant challenges in meeting the funeral needs of religious minority groups, particularly Muslims. Although research shows that ethnically minoritized Muslims in Belgium face many barriers to opting for local burial and largely prefer to be repatriated to their (grand)parents' country of origin, there is nevertheless a gradual increase in federal and local regulations that accommodate some Muslim funeral practices (e.g., burial facing the East, separate Muslim plots). This, coupled with the fact that ethnically minoritized Muslims are now an ‘established’ group in Belgium’s metropolitan cities, has resulted in an increase in Muslim cemeteries and graves. However, this ‘visibility’ of Muslim graves in Belgium's urban landscape often sparks political debate, and there is evidence of racist incidents in Muslim cemeteries. These incidents highlight the symbolic significance of Muslim cemeteries and reflect the deep societal tensions surrounding the visibility of religious and ethnic diversity in public spaces. While scholars have focused on how Western European cities are visibly changing—examining the growth of ethnic minority marketplaces, places of worship, and other spaces—there has been little research on how cemeteries also serve as important ‘historical archives of migration,’ evoking feelings of acceptance and belonging, as well as rejection and fear. In light of these visible transformations, this mixed-methods research seeks to address these issues and knowledge gaps by examining the funeral preferences of Muslim minorities in Belgium, the extent to which local cemeteries are perceived as inclusive spaces, and public reactions to these archives of migration and minority religion. In this presentation, I will outline the state of the art, the project’s research questions, study design, and preliminary findings from the initial data collection.