EMILY JANE DAVIES of The
Daily Mail reported that UK Michaela Community School is
facing legal action because one Muslim student out of the majority that attend
has filed a complaint against a policy banning prayer rituals on the premises, as
being discriminatory.
The student claims the decision 'banning prayer rituals' also breaches
her right to freedom of religion.
Sarah Hannett KC, representing the student, told the court that the
policy had the 'practical effect of only preventing Muslims from praying
because their prayer by nature has a ritualised nature rather than being
internal'. Ms. Hannett said it was 'a ban uniquely on Muslim prayer', stopping
pupils praying 'at a time as required by Islam', under which it is part of the
'five pillars' of the faith. Hannet claims that it 'wouldn't prevent a
Christian child sitting quietly in the corner of the playground from praying.'
Nor anyone else from any other religion.
It should be noted that this school – has
been rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted -
has been described as having an ethos likened to private schools.
What The Daily Mail article does not tell you is that Shariah
allows those who cannot leave work to join prayers. This means they can combine
prayers. For this reason shariah states the policy is not only NOT discriminatory,
it does not pose any effect on the students who do attend. The assumption here
is that non-Muslims are ignorant of Islamic law. According to Reliance of
the Traveller:
As this information is in the public domain it is somewhat dishonest on the part of The Daily Mail to present an unbiased presentation of facts. It easily explains why the majority of Muslim students have never complained. In ignoring this publicly available information, they not only avoid presenting shariah, they ignore the many Islamic leaders who have made YouTube videos on the topic. Below are just a few.
This next video says students taking exams may combine prayers. He does not agree with work combining prayers, but recognizes that some places they can not pray so combining prayers is then acceptable.
The true purpose of the charge against the school, is to force them to accept Islamic law as supreme. The secondary purpose is to place Islamic leadership over the school.
No comments:
Post a Comment