http://www.detnews.com/2004/religion/0408/09/a01-236403.htm >From birth to burial, region adapts to culture Islamic beliefs enter mainstream By Doug Guthrie / The Detroit News Monday, August 9, 2004 When the Islamic call to prayer was allowed to be broadcast through the streets of Hamtramck, it thrust religious tradition into the national spotlight and illustrated the growing influence of Muslims in the multi-ethnic enclave. But the religious and cultural practices of Muslims in Metro Detroit are taking hold on a much quieter and broader scale with schools, businesses, hospitals, funeral homes and even cemeteries adjusting to meet their needs. At Henry Ford and St. John hospitals, policies have been adopted that allow Muslim women to maintain their religious modesty during medical treatment. East-facing graves are being added at cemeteries like White Chapel in Troy to meet the growing demand for graves facing Mecca. And schools in Hamtramck and Dearborn are tailoring schedules and offering Halal food that meets the dietary needs of Muslims. �Accommodation of beliefs is very important for the Muslim community and society as a whole,� said Sally Howell, a University of Michigan graduate student and member of a research team that studied Metro Detroit Arabs last year. �Mainstreaming their culture is a boost to them, but perhaps more important to the the rest of the community to increase our understanding of them.� Nehaya Silmi, 25, found the kind of childbirth experience she wanted, but it was after her first two children were delivered by male doctors. Her third child, Yousef, was born Feb. 28 at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit with the help of a female midwife. Silmi�s husband, Ramzi, whispered the child�s first call to prayer in his right ear, followed by a prayer in the left ear. �It was very, very important to us,� she said. �According to the religion, if there is a woman who can do the job, that is best. This time, there was and that made me feel better. The privacy of a woman is a simple thing.� The hospital last year hired midwife Katherine �Trinka� Robinson, who is also a certified nurse, to assist Muslim women. In Islamic tradition, modesty is not a personal preference, but rather an edict of the religion. �The bottom line is that this is not a hard thing to do,� Robinson said of providing services geared toward Muslim women. �Treating people with respect should come naturally.� Dr. Cheryl Gibson-Fountain, an obstetrician and gynecologist at St. John Riverview Hospital, said staff there is trained to knock first, wait and let expectant Muslim mothers put on head scarves. They also don�t question requests that seem unusual, like taking home the placenta, a practice of some Muslim women who may follow the custom of burying the placenta. �It�s a matter of not questioning things that might not be familiar to us,� said Gibson-Fountain, who was born and raised a Methodist in Detroit. �Those simply are their beliefs, and when you think about it, it doesn�t affect the way I practice medicine.� Burial rites honored David Krok�s family has operated a funeral home in Hamtramck for 70 years. The business was almost exclusively Polish Catholic until the last decade, when immigrants and refugees from Muslim countries began to arrive in large numbers. He said he now sees an increasingly diverse clientele of Muslims from places like Yemen and Pakistan. �When we tried to raise funds to restore our statue of the Polish pope, one of the mosques was the first to present a check,� Krok said. �Why would I ignore the needs of my good neighbors like that?� More and more funeral homes provide places for Muslim families to perform ritual bathing and clothing of bodies. Quick burials are arranged in modest cardboard and wooden coffins, sometimes with burial vaults lowered upside down with no bottom to promote ground contact and natural decay, consistent with Muslim burial traditions. John Santieu Jr. and his family have helped facilitate Muslim rites at their funeral home in Garden City since the 1960s. He said much depends on regional culture. Iraqis have different needs than Bengali, Bosnian or African Muslims. The latest trend, he said, appears to be the increasing frequency of shipping bodies for burial back to the Middle East. He said he handled about 30 last year and believes it is a sign of growing affluence in the local Muslim community. White Chapel in Troy is adding areas with graves facing Mecca to meet a growing number requests, said Bill Beemis, a counselor there. But an issue that has been debated for years is the precise direction a grave should face. Santieu said some Asian followers of Islam prefer to place the dead in a north/south grave, turned on their left side to face east. The new Valley of Peace section of Roseland Park Cemetery in Berkley has graves oriented 44 degrees north of east, in alignment with the great circle route used by airlines as the quickest route to Mecca. Schools diversify menu There are more than 60 mosques in Metro Detroit representing differing sects and ethnicities. Howell at U-M estimates 130,000 followers of Islam live in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. The U.S. Census bureau doesn�t provide such information, because it does not ask questions regarding religion in order to preserve the separation between church and state. Many Muslims are concentrated in Dearborn and Hamtramck, and the school systems there are accommodating the cultural and religious practices. School calendars for the upcoming year have days off marked in November and January that coincide with the holiest days of Islam. Not allowed under law to recognize religious holidays, the public schools have scheduled conferences and teacher in-service sessions to accommodate Muslim students. �It�s not an irony that two of our in-service days fall this year on Muslim holidays. It�s just practical,� said Pat Victor, principal at Hamtramck High School, where up to 60 percent of students are Muslim. School cafeterias in Dearborn offer Halal diet menu selections � based on rules similar to Kosher food regulations in the Jewish faith � no pork and some dishes need to be certified as properly prepared. Last year a daily Halal menu was started in Hamtramck, where officials estimate the Muslim population in some schools is as high as 95 percent. �We would have done it earlier, except it was a matter of economics and supply,� Dearborn Public Schools spokesman David Mustonen said. Most welcome changes The accommodations being made for Muslims are a positive sign, said Adnan Kahloul, 46, even though he suspects the institutions aren�t doing it entirely for the good of the community. �Now there is a recognition here, but don�t think for a minute that it is all about respect. It�s about money,� said Kahloul, who works for the Wayne County Health Department. �There are a lot of us now. We are awakening in many ways.� Imam Mohamed Mardini of the American Muslim Center in Dearborn said Muslims, like any other religious people, are part of the larger society. And in a time of terrorism and suspicion, it�s important for people to understand and accept that. �There is great fear now of Arab people in the face of media about fundamentalism, but our children ask the same questions when they see the news on television, �Who are these terrorists?� We fear what we don�t know. These growing accommodations here are a sign of understanding and tolerance and are welcome.� You can reach Doug Guthrie at (313) 222-2359 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ No banners. No pop-ups. No kidding. Make My Way your home on the Web - http://www.myway.com ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. 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