 At the meeting, all the speakers in support of the Islamic Society were booed, and members of the public variously denounced the need to bury Muslim dead locally compared to the deaths of American soldiers fighting radical Islamic terrorist groups overseas, called the existing cemetery a "pigsty", and called the society's attempt to build a cemetery a "crusade" (both offensive given Islam's consideration of pigs as ritually unclean, and the history of Christian Crusades conquering parts of the Middle East).Though Muslim tradition is to bury without a coffin, in response to concerns about water quality the Islamic Society promised to use vaults.A series of test pits dug by the applicant, with the Dudley Board of Health Inspector present, showed that the average water table was 24" below the grade of the ground, with many spots having ground water only 18" from the surface.