In the days since two deadly bombs and the separate shootings that followed brought Boston to a standstill, the region's Muslim community has loudly condemned the violence and distanced itself from the suspects. 
 
 The reasons behind the explosions at the Boston Marathon Monday and the shootings in Cambridge and Watertown, Mass., Friday, which resulted in four deaths and more than 170 injuries, are still unknown. Investigators are working to uncover whether the suspects, Chechen-American Muslim brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, were lone assailants or trained by a terrorist organization. It also is unclear whether their possible motives were related to politics, religion or, as some reports have suggested, struggles assimilating after immigrating to the United States nearly a decade ago. 
 
 But after 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's capture late Friday night, less than a day after his 26-year-old brother died in Friday's shootout, Muslim communities now face a vexing question: Do they accept the men as Muslims despite the allegations against them? If so, will they give Tamerlan Tsarnaev an Islamic burial? 
 
 Fearing retaliation, dozens of mosques and Islamic groups have distanced themselves from the brothers after friends and family described them as Muslims, and social media accounts registered in their names indicated they were interested in Islamic Chechen insurgency groups. 
 
 Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older of the two, has been described as more attuned to radical Islamic movements in recent years. Federal authorities are investigating a six-month trip he took in 2012 to Chechnya and Dagestan, Muslim-majority regions in Russia's north Caucasus with militant separatist movements. 
 
 "I would not be willing to do a funeral for him," said Imam Talal Eid of the Islamic Institute of Boston, a community services organization that frequently arranges funeral prayers and burials in the region. "This is a person who deliberately killed people. There is no room for him as a Muslim. He already left the fold of Islam by doing that. In the Quran it says those who will kill innocent people, they will dwell in the hellfire." 
 
 Imam Suhaib Webb of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, the city's largest mosque, said he had not been contacted about a burial. A smaller mosque in Cambridge with the same owners, but a separate administration, the Islamic Society of Boston, confirmed in a statement Saturday that the suspects occasionally attended prayers there. But a representative from the Cambridge mosque said in an email it has had "no contacts or discussion" about a funeral. 
 
 "He should be buried according to the religious tradition he adheres to. His case is with God. We can judge him as best we can according to the savage and insane actions he has done, but in the end, his soul is going to be brought before God," said Webb. "I don't think I could ethically lead a prayer for him, but I would not stop people from praying upon him." 
 
 Islamic tradition dictates that the body of the deceased is tended to as soon as possible after death, preferably before sunset, with a ritual washing. The washing is often done by family members of the same-sex or a spouse, and is followed by shrouding in a white cloth, funeral prayer gathering and burial. Boston has at least two washing facilities for Islamic rites -- one at a general funeral home Watertown where Eid helps facilitate Islamic funeral services, and one at Al-Marhama, an organization that shares space with Webb's mosque. 
 
 "We have not discussed it," a representative from Al-Marhama said regarding a funeral for Tsarnaev. 
 
 In the U.S., few Islamic cemeteries exist, but Muslims often buy sections of cemeteries to reserve for Islamic burials. There are at least four such sections in Boston-area cemeteries, said Eid. 
 
 Tamerlan Tsarnaev died at a hospital after he was critically injured early Friday morning in Watertown, Mass., the city west of Boston where his younger brother was arrested while hiding in a backyard later that night. His body was turned over to the law enforcement for forensic experts, medical examiners and investigators seeking more details about his death and his actions. 
 
 It's unclear where the body is currently. A message left with the Massachusett's Medical Examiner's office was not returned, but experts in forensics and high-profile investigations say its release should be imminent if it hasn't happened already. 
 
 "If it's not ready for release now, it is probably going to be released as early as tomorrow," said Joseph Scott Morgan, a professor of criminal justice and forensics at North Georgia College and State University. "Evidence on bodies is very fragile, and people tend to go through the examination very quickly ... [looking for] trace evidence, blast evidence, relevant residue left behind from explosives or anything relative to trauma." 
 
 "In Boston, they deal with a large Muslim community, it's not something they have no experience with. Most medical examiner's offices in diverse communities will have clergy on call if they need to take special considerations when doing their work," said Morgan. "But the interests of the state trump everything else in this case." 
 
 The next-of-kin to take custody of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's body would be his wife, Katherine Russell, who grew up in North Kingstown, R.I. Russell is the mother of Tsarnaev's 3-year-old daughter, Zahara, and reportedly converted after meeting Tsarnaev while at Suffolk University in Boston. Her parents released a statement this week saying they were "sickened by the knowledge of the horror (Tamerlan) has inflicted." The Russells did not respond to a voicemail asking about a funeral. 
 
 "Nobody has asked me, nobody has called me," said a man who answered the phone at Masjid Al-Hoda in Kingston, a Muslim community center about a 20-minute drive southwest of the Russell home. 
 
 Abdula Hameed, the imam of Masjid Al-Kareem in Providence, said he wasn't sure if the mosque would be open to a funeral. "I'd have to talk to our board members," he said. 
 
 Imam Ikram ul Haq, of Masjid Al-Islam North Smithfield, is listed as a contact for funeral prayer requests on the Rhode Island Council for Muslim Advancement website. He said he has not received a funeral request and questioned if the suspects would be seen as truly Muslim considering the accusations against them. 
 
 "We have to confirm if (Tamerlan) was a Muslim. If that was confirmed through reliable sources, that he lived a Muslim and died as one, then we (would be allowed) to do a funeral for that person," said ul Haq, emphasizing that he did not support the killings in Boston. 
 
 Anzor Tsarnaev, the father of the suspects who has said they were framed, told CNN on Saturday that he would travel to the U.S. from his home in Makhachkala, Dagestan, but did not say if his plans included a funeral. 
 
 Even if a mosque steps forward to conduct a funeral for Tsarnaev, Webb said that Islamic law still could place restrictions on the service. 
 
 "In fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), for somebody who has committed a major atrocity, it is recommended that the imam does not pray over him, but that someone else does. It's meant to somehow symbolize that there is some grieving with the victims of the person's actions," he said. 
 
 "In Islam, if someone is alive and has committed a crime, their opportunity to repent is open until they die," said Webb, referring to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is being treated at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. "We hope this man would be guided first of all to help the investigation and seek the forgiveness of family members and all people he has harmed." ||||| WORCESTER – The body of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect killed in a shootout with police now lies in a Main South funeral home long known for burying the poor, loners and the unwanted. 
 
 The body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev will remain at the Graham Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlors until a cemetery willing to accept his body for burial can be found, a search that has proved fruitless so far. 
 
 The presence of the infamous remains inside the stately white Victorian building, on a busy stretch of Main Street lined by shops and business, attracted a vocal crowd of protestors by early evening – as well as a heavy police presence, a half-dozen television news trucks and a helicopter circling overhead. 
 
 Waving American flags and “Boston Strong” signs, protestors chanted “We don't want him here,” and “Shame on you,” eliciting supportive honks from passing motorists during rush hour. 
 
 "I'm not honoring a terrorist. I'm just burying a body," said Peter Stefan, owner of Graham Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlors. 
 
 Mr. Stefan said everybody deserves a proper burial and that he would pay for whatever expenses the family couldn't cover. He said he does not plan to file an application for Safe Burial Funds, which often pay for burying the poor. 
 
 "He doesn't deserve it," Mr. Stefan said. 
 
 
 
 Meanwhile, a death certificate released today says Tamerlan Tsarnaev died from gunshot wounds and blunt trauma to the head and torso. 
 
 Worcester Police Chief Gary J. Gemme said he likely will keep officers stationed outside the funeral home at 838 Main St. as a precaution as long as the body remains there, although he may reassess the need for them if the crowd of onlookers and media dwindles through the weekend. 
 
 "We are in discussions with the funeral home so they can absorb some of the cost," Chief Gemme said. 
 
 Members of Mr. Tsarnaev's family first contacted Graham Putnam a couple of days ago as authorities prepared to release the body. An uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Maryland, went to the Worcester funeral home yesterday afternoon to work with Mr. Stefan on funeral arrangements. The body arrived there last night. 
 
 Mr. Stefan has not talked to Mr. Tsarnaev's widow, Katherine Russell of North Kingstown, R.I., about the funeral arrangements. 
 
 As word spread this morning that the remains of one of the suspected bombers was in Worcester, television news trucks from Boston and a few curious locals congregated on the sidewalk outside Graham Putnam, drawn by the spectacle of a story that has made headlines around the world. 
 
 Perhaps sensing a potential backlash, some prominent members of the neighborhood praised Mr. Stefan's three-decade history of providing funeral services for those who were addicted to drugs, shunned by society or short on cash. 
 
 "He's probably the only one in the state who would do this," said William T. Breault, chairman of Worcester's Main South Alliance for Public Safety. 
 
 Mr. Breault said he respects the funeral director's commitment to bury those who led troubled lives that left them without mourners, but feels Mr. Stefan went too far in accepting the suspected bomber's body. 
 
 "I told him to his face, 'Peter, you're wrong on this one,' He's just plain wrong to bring in a dead terrorist," said Mr. Breault, who paced the sidewalk across from the funeral home speaking to reporters all morning. 
 
 Among the neighborhood residents who also gathered there, chatting in the sunshine and answering questions about what was going on from passing motorists, opinions ranged from indifference to outrage. 
 
 "I think Peter is a brave man for taking on this responsibility," said Doug Medina of Worcester. "Somebody has to bury him. He can't hurt us any more now and it has to be done." 
 
 Nery Lopez, who heard the news in Maria's Kitchen down the street, called Mr. Stefan a good and decent man. 
 
 "This guy deserves to be buried, he's still a human and I'm sure his parents are suffering," Ms. Lopez said. 
 
 But Charlene Guinard, who lives in the neighborhood, said she was appalled to hear the funeral home had agreed to handle the burial. 
 
 "He should be overseas where he belongs," Ms. Guinard said. "He just bombed Boston. My kid was there the day before he bombed it. I can't believe he's in there, this is crazy." 
 
 Mr. Stefan said logistics and expense ruled out returning the body to Mr. Tsarnaev's native Kyrgyzstan or the Dagestan region of Russia, where his parents now live. 
 
 For now, while Mr. Stefan continues looking for a cemetery, the body is destined to remain in the Worcester funeral home. 
 
 Mr. Stefan, who has been a funeral director for more than 30 years, said he has handled arrangements for more than 100 Muslim burials, and is experienced in their religious rites. 
 
 "The Muslims have to wash his body," Mr. Stefan said. "We have the soaps, no animal fats, for the washing of the body. Then the body is wrapped in a shroud." 
 
 Several protesters showed up outside a North Attleboro funeral home Thursday night where Mr. Tsarnaev's body was taken initially following its release by the state medical examiner. 
 
 The Tsarnaev family has said they are trying to arrange an independent autopsy, which Mr. Stefan said could be performed at his funeral home if the family wishes. 
 
 As for the controversy swirling on the street outside and on social media about the funeral home handling the burial of an alleged terrorist, Mr. Stefan simply said the job of funeral directors is to bury the dead. 
 
 "Who buried Timothy McVeigh? Who buried Jeffrey Dahmer? Who buried Lee Harvey Oswald? Who buried Ted Bundy?" Mr. Stefan said. "Somebody had to do it." 
 
 If he can't find a cemetery willing to accept the body, Mr. Stefan said he will have to ask the government to intervene. 
 
 Mr. Stefan said he will be responsible for filing the death certificate in Boston after the burial. The state medical examiner's office has not released the cause of death for Mr. Tsarnaev. 
 
 Former District 4 Councilor Barbara G. Haller called Mr. Stefan a kind, gentle, nonjudgmental man who has served on the board of directors for a local homeless shelter. She said she understands that having Tsarnaev's body in Worcester will be hard for some, but someone has to oversee services for the family. 
 
 "He takes people who don't fit into the mainstream," she said. "He's just going about his business." 
 
 Shamil Mohammed, president of the Worcester Islamic Center, said today that no one from the family of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect killed in a shootout with police contacted his center about funeral arrangements. 
 
 Worcester does not have an Islamic cemetery, so usually a family member of a deceased Muslim in the area will contact the center, and the center will make arrangements, Mr. Mohammed said. 
 
 Muslims typically bury the body quickly. The process entails washing the body and wrapping it in a simple garment. There will be a short prayer over the body, and then it is moved to the burial grounds. Compared to the more ceremonial Christian burial, the Muslim process is more simplistic, he said. 
 
 The center has spoken out critically against the marathon bombing brothers, yet it can't lower itself to not afford a person his basic right to a proper burial, Mr. Mohammed said. 
 
 “This is not acceptable for any human being,” Dr. Imad Khreim, a center board member, said of the attacks. “I have three boys who were in Boston and they were watching the marathon. What do you think I felt?” said Dr. Khreim, who was speaking as a member of the Muslim community and not for the board. “There's no decent human being who will accept this kind of indiscriminate, violent behavior.” 
 
 "(But) where you bury him and how you bury him - I think somebody has to bury him,” Dr. Khreim said. 
 
 The local men spoke after today''s main weekly prayer session at the center on East Mountain Street. 
 
 Mr. Mohammed said his center was more focused on doing its work to have a positive impact on both local Muslims and the general Worcester community.He said it wants to make sure children have the right understanding – that the bombings were not condoned by Muslims.The local Islamic community is grieving in two ways, he said. 
 
 First, the religion has been tainted through the brothers setting off the bombs in the name of Islam, he said. Second, local Muslims identify with being Bay Staters, and many of their children are Red Sox and Celtics fans who identify with Boston. 
 
 In the coming weeks, he said, grief counselors who have many been understandably focused on helping Boston area Muslims cope with the tragedy will be dispatched to Worcester to hold sessions with kids and adults. 
 
 Bob Kievra, Brian Lee and Scott J. Croteau of the Telegram & Gazette staff and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 
 
 Contact reporter Thomas Caywood at tcaywood@telegram.com or follow on Twitter @CaywoodTG
– Authorities are ready to release Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s body to his family, but family members—so far—have nowhere to hold the funeral. The Boston-area mosque the family attends declined a request to hold the suspected Boston bomber's burial and funeral there, Tsarnaev's aunt tells NBC News. And over the weekend, the leader of an organization that arranges Islamic burials and funerals in the Boston area told the Huffington Post, "I would not be willing to do a funeral for him." "This is a person who deliberately killed people," says the aforementioned leader. "There is no room for him as a Muslim. He already left the fold of Islam by doing that. In the Quran it says those who will kill innocent people, they will dwell in the hellfire." Dozens of other Islamic organizations and mosques have distanced themselves from the Tsarnaev brothers, but an imam from Boston's biggest mosque says that while he wouldn't feel ethically comfortable leading a prayer for Tamerlan, "I would not stop people from praying upon him."