10-09-2008, 09:38 PM
<b>Hindu-Muslim Familyâs Choice of Cremation Arouses Anger </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->But within hours of his death on Sept. 10 after a car accident, his memory â in fact, his very body â had become the object of a tug-of-war over religious freedom and obligation. It began when his mother, who was raised Hindu, and his father, who is Muslim, decided to have his body cremated in the Hindu tradition, rather than burying him in a shroud, as Islam prescribes.
His parents, Mina and Farhad Reja, say a small group of Muslims who do not understand their approach to religion are trying to intimidate them over the most private of family choices. âThis is America,â Mrs. Reja said. <b>âThis is a family decision.â </b>
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<b>Mrs. Reja said she brought up her children by attending both Hindu temples and Muslim mosques. âHumanism is what I taught my children,â she said. âI want to see my son as a perfect human being, and not as a perfect religious person.â</b>
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<b>When word spread that the family would hold both Muslim and Hindu rites for their son and then have him cremated, the Rahmans and others were upset. Father and daughter both asked the family to give him a Muslim burial. They said the conversations were polite; the Rejas said they were hostile.
Several dozen people, including the imams of the Jamaica Muslim Center and other mosques, came to the funeral home in Richmond Hill on Sept. 12, to attend the Muslim rite and express objections to the cremation. The Rejas say people crowded around them to press their case as they wept beside their sonâs body. âI was having my last moment with my son,â Mrs. Reja said. âWhat gave them the guts to do that?â
The funeral staff called the police in part because the Rejas feared the crowd would try to block the hearse going to the crematorium. Mishal Reja stood in the door of the funeral home, asked the group to leave the family in peace, and promised he would try to get the cremation canceled â just to get them to leave, he said. The crowd dispersed peacefully.</b>
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His parents, Mina and Farhad Reja, say a small group of Muslims who do not understand their approach to religion are trying to intimidate them over the most private of family choices. âThis is America,â Mrs. Reja said. <b>âThis is a family decision.â </b>
.....................
<b>Mrs. Reja said she brought up her children by attending both Hindu temples and Muslim mosques. âHumanism is what I taught my children,â she said. âI want to see my son as a perfect human being, and not as a perfect religious person.â</b>
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<b>When word spread that the family would hold both Muslim and Hindu rites for their son and then have him cremated, the Rahmans and others were upset. Father and daughter both asked the family to give him a Muslim burial. They said the conversations were polite; the Rejas said they were hostile.
Several dozen people, including the imams of the Jamaica Muslim Center and other mosques, came to the funeral home in Richmond Hill on Sept. 12, to attend the Muslim rite and express objections to the cremation. The Rejas say people crowded around them to press their case as they wept beside their sonâs body. âI was having my last moment with my son,â Mrs. Reja said. âWhat gave them the guts to do that?â
The funeral staff called the police in part because the Rejas feared the crowd would try to block the hearse going to the crematorium. Mishal Reja stood in the door of the funeral home, asked the group to leave the family in peace, and promised he would try to get the cremation canceled â just to get them to leave, he said. The crowd dispersed peacefully.</b>
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