Blackburn man “heartbroken” after finding his late father’s headstone smashed into pieces

A man has been left heartbroken after his late father’s headstone was found smashed into pieces.

The incident is believed to have occurred over the past fortnight at the Pleasington cemetery, in its Muslim section.

Naveed Hussain has said that initially he thought that the grave had collapsed, as a result of which the headstone was broken. But, later, he grew suspicious that this was done intentionally.

Hussain’s father Syed Itrat Hussain, passed away in 2002 and his headstone was marked to signify that it belongs to someone who identifies as a Shia Muslim.

Shia Muslims make up around 10 per cent of the total Muslims across the world, and are based in several towns and cities in the North West region of the UK.

Hussain told Lancashire Telegraph, “When we checked first we thought it may have collapsed but then we showed it to a local stonemason and he said this would have been done by someone. It is a very heavy object and you can see for yourself it would have taken real intent to do this.

“It appears to have been smashed with an object of some sort.

“I do not know why anyone would want to do this. My father was a hard-working simple man who did nothing but good for everyone.

“This headstone was a double memorial – one to my father who is buried there and one to my wife who died of cancer aged only 25. She was buried in Pakistan.”

The headstones, similar to all other Muslim graves, feature engravings of the Kalima – a declaration of faith. The word ‘Ali’ who was the Prophet Muhammad’s son-in-law and is revered by all Muslims, is also added particularly for those who follow the Shia Muslim faith.

The headstone belonging to Hussain’s father was the only one in that small section of the cemetery to have been damaged.

He said: “The only word that appeared to be damaged is the word ‘Ali’ in Arabic. That is why I think this as a targeted incident and someone has deliberately done this to the grave stone.

“This has happened before.

“In 2017, the word ‘Ali’ was chiselled out on the same grave and also on two other Shia Muslim headstones. One of whom was from the early eighties, which led us to believe it was a targeted incident.

“The family were distraught they also had to replace the grave at great cost to themselves.

“At the time people didn’t want to say anything. People are fearful of repeat damage and are removing specific words and names from headstones. We should not have to do this.

“We won’t stay silent on the issue anymore.

“I was born in Blackburn and do not recognise this town with a rise in hatred and bigotry.”

He has written and informed about the incident to his local MP Kate Hollern and the Home Secretary Suella Braverman. He wrote: “I am distraught to inform you of hate crime in your town.

“The current attack is a complete destruction of the headstone – violation of my father’s resting place.

“This is an indication that Blackburn is not a place where people can tolerate each other or accept each other’s Islamic Faith

“Shias as a minority have been systematically persecuted for following their faith. This is an example of a continuation of this persecution in Blackburn.

“Islam the religion of peace now has extremists, residing in Blackburn, amongst it who will not allow the dead to rest in peace.”

MP Hollern’s office confirmed that they had been in touch with Hussain.

The police said an investigation had been launched after they were made aware of what had happened over the weekend.

A police spokesperson said: “We have received a report of criminal damage and we are investigating.

“We take these matters extremely seriously and we are working with partners to identify those responsible and establish what the motive for the crime was.

“Anyone with information or footage which could assist our investigation is asked to call police on 101, quoting log 1611 of June 3, 2023.”