Rabia Halim and her family went last weekend to her late father’s burial place at Bohemian National Cemetery to pay their respects on his birthday.
But when they arrived, Halim’s father’s gravestone was missing — and so were many others in that section of the cemetery, 5255 N. Pulaski Road.
Halim said the family was “in shock.”
“We didn’t know it would be gone, and it’s almost like we’re reliving his passing as we’re trying to figure this out,” Halim said.
That section of the cemetery is owned by the Muslim Community Center of Chicago, which had just been targeted by vandals earlier this month, so Halim and her family members feared the worst.
“What if the same thing happened here?” Halim said she wondered.
But when Halim called the Bohemian National Cemetery, its workers told her the Muslim Community Center asked them to remove the grave markers, which Halim’s brother later found by the cemetery’s dumpster, she said. There were around 100 tombstones strewn about.
“It was horrific to see our father’s headstone, among many others, unceremoniously disposed of in this manner,” Halim said.
When Halim’s family contacted the Muslim Community Center, they were told the organization removed the grave markers because they weren’t uniform with the required type of headstone at the cemetery, Halim said. Later, representatives from the Muslim Community Center told Halim the gravestones had to be removed because they were cracked or damaged.
“But my father only died five years ago, and when we got the gravestone back from the dumpster, it wasn’t damaged or destroyed at all,” Halim said. “So we’re still trying to get to the bottom of this.”
Halim’s family shared photos of the headstones in a group chat for members of their community, and some people stopped by the cemetery on Friday to see if their loved ones’ grave markers had been affected.
“I got a text from my cousin who saw the photos and wanted me to look into this,” said Sajid Bhagat, who visited the cemetery on Friday and found his father’s headstone was still in place. “These photos have been going around and people want to know what’s happened.”
Later Friday, the Muslim Community Center released a statement addressing the confusion.
Grave markers have historically been managed by the cemetery until 2023, when the Muslim Community Center took over responsibility of the headstones, according to the organization.
The community center was tasked with making sure all headstones had a uniform design that lies flat on the ground, but many non-compliant grave markers had already been installed without the cemetery’s knowledge, according to the Muslim Community Center.
This led to some of the grave markers having the incorrect type of base, causing them to come loose, according to the center. The cemetery’s grounds crew was tasked with removing the loose headstones.
“These markers were moved for storage elsewhere so that they can be retrieved at a later time for re-installation with the appropriate concrete base (at an additional cost),” the Muslim Community Center’s statement said. “We regret the distress or hurt this may have caused to the beloved members of our community.”
Representatives from the Muslim Community Center will work with affected families to have the grave markers properly reinstalled, according to the organization.
“[We] are committed to supporting families who may face financial difficulties in this process, and will consider supporting the families on a case-by-case basis,” the organization’s statement said.
Representatives for the Muslim Community Center did not immediately answer questions about the costs of re-installation and why the gravestones were found by the dumpster instead of in storage.
Halim’s brother took photos of them lying by the dumpster.
“They were placed by the dumpster for removal and families were not notified in advance,” Halim said. “If a new process began in 2023, there should have been ample time to inform families and disposal of personal property should never have occurred.”
Representatives for Bohemian National Cemetery declined to comment.