Developers alter proposal for Muslim cemetery in East Moriches

A proposed Muslim cemetery in East Moriches will be open to people of all faiths and will have thousands fewer plots than originally planned, the project's developers said in recent interviews.

The changes come as developer Ghulam Sarwar and a business partner, Nayyar Imam, seek Brookhaven Town and Suffolk County approvals for the cemetery, which would occupy the former Spadaro Airport site off Montauk Highway.

Sarwar and Imam have said the cemetery would address a chronic shortage of plots that conform to the burial traditions of the Muslim faith. Muslims bury their dead facing Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, and cremation is strictly forbidden.

The East Moriches graveyard was to have been New York State's second Muslim cemetery, joining another in upstate Orange County, state officials previously said. There also are an unspecified number of Muslim cemeteries owned and operated by religious corporations that do not require state authorization, officials have said.

Brookhaven and Suffolk officials helped Sarwar and Imam secure the former airport, but the cemetery has faced questions from some East Moriches residents about traffic that would be generated by funerals. 

'It will be a regular cemetery'

Sarwar said in an interview the number of plots at the graveyard, previously dubbed Suffolk Muslim Cemetery, would be reduced from 25,000 to about 16,000. Cutting the number of graves creates more space for drainage at the site, he said.

The cemetery's name will be changed to reflect its nonsectarian status, but a new name has not been selected, he said.

“There will not be a Muslim cemetery, it will be a regular cemetery,” Sarwar said in a telephone interview, adding the number of plots allotted to non-Muslims will be determined by “whatever the need is.”

“A lot of cemetery people approached me and said they have a shortage [of plots]," Sarwar said. "We said, 'No problem.' "

The 28.3-acre property is zoned for housing, but cemeteries are allowed on land zoned for residential uses, Brookhaven officials said. Sarwar and Imam must obtain a special permit from the town planning board, which is also the town board.

Jim Gleason, of the East Moriches Property Owners Association, a civic group, said the cemetery "offers nothing to the community," calling it "dead space" that should be used in a different way.

“It would be better used for something more lively than a cemetery,” he said Monday by phone. “Most other uses, it seems to me, would be better for East Moriches residents and Center Moriches residents.”

No public hearing has been scheduled to consider the project, Brookhaven Councilwoman Karen Dunne Kesnig, who represents East Moriches, said in a phone interview.

She declined to comment on the proposal, except to say the town has no control over who is buried at this or any cemetery. She added there is “nothing in the application about who can be buried there."

Addressing a need

There does not appear to be a huge shortage of burial plots in general on Long Island, partly because more people are choosing to be cremated rather than buried, said Ken Lysak Jr., immediate past president of the Nassau-Suffolk Funeral Directors Association.

But he said the East Moriches cemetery would fill a need for Muslim plots, noting the special needs for Muslim burials.

“Cremations are on the rise, though Muslims do not cremate, so I would understand that their sensitivity is that there would be a need for that," said Lysak, who operates Perry Funeral Home in Lynbrook. “Obviously, more choice as far as cemetery [plots] opens up a little more competition as far as grave availability."

Imam, an adviser for the Islamic Association of Long Island mosque in Selden, said getting approvals for the graveyard is "taking longer than we anticipated," adding there is "no previous example" to follow because new cemeteries are rare.

He said most graves at the cemetery probably will be used by Muslims, downplaying the number of non-Muslims likely to be buried there.

“You can do that, but they have their own cemeteries,” citing Christian and Jewish cemeteries in the area. “They don’t have a need for that like we have.” 

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.