Muslim mourner finds no peace (in Albuquerque)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Before sunset Muhammad Khan would come to pray, to cry, to say goodbye again and again to his youngest son Tehseen, whom he buried last month. On June 15, Tehseen committed suicide. He was buried June 19 at Fairview Memorial Park, one of Albuquerque’s first cemeteries and blocks away from the Islamic Center of New Mexico, where Khan, who is Muslim, worships.
Muhammad Khan thought nothing could hurt as much as losing his handsome, gentle Tehseen to suicide, but what he says happened to him at the cemetery was like reopening the still-fresh wound and reminding him that sometimes, especially these days, the world can be a heartless, hateful place.
Khan said, a security officer interrupted him while he was praying and reciting the Quran, appeared to mock Khan’s accent and ordered him to leave the cemetery or he would be locked inside for the night. This, even though Khan said it was between 7:05 and 7:10 p.m., well ahead of the 8:30 p.m. closure time.
(A Fairview official clarified that the cemetery closes at dusk, which at this time of year is around 8:30 p.m.)
Khan described the officer – who is not employed by Fairview but by Mesa Detection Agency – as wearing a uniform but no name tag, blond and skinny, young and a tobacco chewer. The next morning, Khan said, he reported the incident to a Fairview employee and confirmed the cemetery closing time. He said he was advised to get the name of the officer should the same thing happen again.
That evening, it did, and then some.
Khan said he arrived at his son’s grave slightly earlier than the evening before to make sure he had enough time to complete his prayers, which take about 35 to 45 minutes and involve reciting passages along with a recording of the Quran. Khan said he was not being loud or disruptive. But he apparently disturbed the security officer.
What happened next, according to Khan, was horrifying, humiliating, discriminating and mostly unprintable in a family newspaper. Khan said the officer refused to allow him to finish his prayers, refused to acknowledge Khan’s grief, refused to provide his name.
That evening, it did, and then some.
Khan said he arrived at his son’s grave slightly earlier than the evening before to make sure he had enough time to complete his prayers, which take about 35 to 45 minutes and involve reciting passages along with a recording of the Quran.
Khan said he was not being loud or disruptive.
But he apparently disturbed the security officer.
What happened next, according to Khan, was horrifying, humiliating, discriminating and mostly unprintable in a family newspaper. Khan said the officer refused to allow him to finish his prayers, refused to acknowledge Khan’s grief, refused to provide his name.
Khan said a supervisor later arrived and allowed Khan to finish his prayers.
An email sent by Mesa Detection Agency, owned by Troy Grimes, said that no comment would be forthcoming. Calls to a phone number listed for the security officer went unanswered.
A Fairview Memorial Park official said the incident is being investigated.
https://www.abqjournal.com/1336051/muslim-mourner-finds-no-peace.html
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