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This would not be particularly important if the scarf were just a scarf. But it manifests an intention to obey Islamic law. Does Rick Smith know that Islamic law is not just personal, but sociopolitical? The "national civil rights group for Muslims," CAIR, demands that non-Muslims accept as axiomatic that Muslims in America have no intention of following through on the Sharia's political imperatives, while maintaining its personal ones -- and if we don't accept this, CAIR tars us as "hatemongers" and "bigots."
But what is the evidence of this? Where are the Sharia manuals redlined by CAIR or any other Muslim group to cross out the elements that mandate that states be governed according to Islamic law? And if Muslims in America have not really renounced these elements of Sharia, then is not Emily Smith's action a declaration with enormous political implications?
From AP, with thanks to all those who sent this in:
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) -- A public high school changed its dress code to allow religious headscarves after a national civil rights group for Muslims complained to the principal on behalf of a student.A spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Emily Smith, 18, a senior at Chattanooga's East Ridge High School, wore her headscarf, or hijab, on campus for the first time Thursday.
Smith said that although friends and a few teachers offered congratulations, "I wanted to keep it as low-key as possible."
Khadija Athman, civil rights manager for the Washington, D.C.-based council, said the group sent the school principal a letter Jan. 6, three days after the student e-mailed the council asking about her rights.
The letter said that as a Muslim, the student is "required to cover her hair in public. Ms. Smith stated that despite numerous efforts to explain to you the importance of the headscarf in her faith, you always found an excuse to hinder her."
The letter said religious headscarves are protected by the Constitution and laws against discrimination in a public school.
Rick Smith, an assistant superintendent for Hamilton County schools, said the school had banned all head wear, but the principal agreed to allow Emily Smith's hijab after attorneys were consulted.
"This particular item was a little different because it is a religious garment," Rick Smith said.
Posted by Robert at January 14, 2005 7:22 AM
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at January 14, 2005 8:06 AM
Emily Smith. Sounds like one of those recent converts. A flake. So gung-ho and wide-eyed and naive as she steps knee deep in it. Her "rights". Right to be subjugated and sexualized and made to feel shame and fear for showing her ... shock, horror ... her hair!!!! Religion? Well, in Islam, religion, politics, same thing. Silly Emily. Used as a pawn by a backward Arab political, pseudo-religious movement to chip away at freedoms fought with blood, sweat and tears by people before you. People and sacrifices silly Emily couldn't appreciate in a million years.
Posted by: feralee at January 14, 2005 8:25 AM
Having spent many of my teenage summers in Chattanooga living with my sister, who was not a native, no one would ever accuse Chattanoogans of being the brightest bulbs in the country.
Posted by: Rick at January 14, 2005 9:18 AM
The door is ajar in Tennessee.
Posted by: Hugh at January 14, 2005 11:24 AM
Check out this Canadian Islamic site that also runs a show on Saturday nights where it tries to
demonize non-Muslims as Racists and Islamophobes.
The video's make it very clear that Muslims aren't here in Canada to obey our Charter and Constitution,the show has stated on several occations that Muslims must live by the Quran and Sharia law to be a true Muslim.
at January 14, 2005 11:28 AM
Look, the ultimate point about this is that the US is founded on quite tolerant (at least relatively) Christian principles. Certainly there's going to be all kind of whining about behaviour that Judeo-Christianity objects to, but the underlying current is tolerance if not acceptance. And, unfortunately, that's your problem. Someone wants to do things their way - what's your societal response? "Well, shucks, okey-dokey." That's the core of it. The religious base of other societies (well, let's be frank here - ONE other society) doesn't do that. They do unpleasant things to you if you don't do as they say (and their god, of course, knows best...right) and they don't have this tradition of openness and tolerance. Their religious dogma sees it as societal weakness.
Unfortunately, what's the answer?
Geoff
Posted by: Geoff at January 14, 2005 11:37 AM
"CAIR, demands that non-Muslims accept as axiomatic that Muslims in America have no intention of following through on the Sharia's political imperatives, while maintaining its personal ones"
Does this mean CAIR actually admits there are political imperatives within Sharia that might be seen as offensive?
Posted by: waterdragon52 at January 14, 2005 12:57 PM
The funny thing is, they got the constitutional stuff exactly wrong.
The ban is constitutional because it covers all headscarves without regard to religious significance. Making an exception for Ms. Smith because "it is a religious garment" is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.
So the ban was constitutional, the exception isn't.
That said, I think the ban is stupid and she should be allowed to wear her scarf.
Posted by: byrd at January 14, 2005 4:19 PM
"The door is ajar in Tennessee."
Hugh, old friend, I give up. What are you talking about?
All the best
Robert
at January 14, 2005 7:20 PM
Tennessee is the home of my greatly despised ancestor William, no slouch when it came to thinking. The state is capable of producing millions of men and women of his calibre, given the chance.
And yes, they might well be as despised in this time as is William Walker. The question is who will lead the people of the state? Who among them knows what we know from reading Spencer's posts and Hugh's essays? We know, thanks in part to Robert and Hugh. The people of Tennessee will know thanks to us if we go out and do our own preaching and converting.
Who in Tennessee wants to be despised like William Walker? Not many, I'd guess, but who would shy away from doing the Good in the face of Evil?
Sometimes we have to take the criticism of our fellows and live with it. If Tennessee becomes a mini-sharia state, whose going to wish they'd said something before it was too late, even if others laughed at them and called them names? I'm guessing that most people in Tennessee are smart enough to know this sucks, and that they're waiting for someone to stand up and say so. Who is going to be the first to go into the community to start organizing against this parody of Human life that's encroaching on our great state? And who in yours? who can live with being called a crank and a bigot? Who thinks it worth some scorn for the sake of stopping Islam in our schools before it gets even worse? Who in Tennessee and other states is willing to go out to talk to people about what we know from being here to spread the alternative word? Who is out there who hates this Isalmic travesty of life so much that they're willing to talk to people about it? Who is from Tennessee? And where are you. Islam is everywhere, and they get stronger every day because we don't try hard enough to stop it. We can if we want to.
Tennessee does not have to be ruled anywhere by sharia laws. Not even in one school.
Posted by: sonofwalker at January 14, 2005 7:29 PM
Robert, perhaps I didn't articulate clearly enough. I said to leave your weapons at the door. Keep your Wallace Stevens until just after the door.
While we are on the poets, here's a fugitive verse for the world-wide audience of Jihadwatch:
Il faut qu'une porte
Soit ouverte ou fermée
Vous m'embêtez, ma bien-aimée,
Et que le diable vous emporte.
The person who sends in the first correct entry received by Jihadwatch, emailed by 12 midnight on this octave of the Theophany
Stands to win public praise
From us, not filthy lucre
But the palm, the oak, the bays.
And Robert, although ordinarily the families of employees of Jihadwatch are not eligible, a special exception in this case is going to be made for you.
at January 14, 2005 7:34 PM
Hugh,
As it is past time for Vespers, alas, the Octave of Theophany is over, for today is the Leave-Taking.
But anyway:
См. перевод
Send the palm, the oak, the bays to the usual address.
Many thanks
Robert
at January 14, 2005 7:44 PM
I'd advise all children in Tennessee with Scandinavian ancestry to start wearing Viking Horn helmets to school as their 'religious headwear' and all Irish children to start adopting the little green caps of the 'Lucky Charms' type as their 'religious headwear'...
The camels nose is under the tent... and the idiots in Tennessee (who once disallowed the teaching evolution... and now I can see why) don't understand what endless folly they have wrought.
If wish I were back in high school -in TN. My friends and I could have had endless fun harassing the teachers and the state with our own 'holy hats' and many days off spent in court defending such things as ancient Egyptian Snake tiarras, Druid wolf pelt mezzuzahs, ad absurdum.
STUDENTS IN TENNESSEE! Go for it!!!!!
Posted by: profitsbeard at January 14, 2005 8:23 PM
Unfortunately this ruling was based upon the totally false theory that the hijab is a religious garment.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/GuestColumns/Taheri20030819.shtml
If further proof of this is required, certainly the taxpayer funded lawyers that represent the Hamilton County School District should be able do the legwork. Nowhere in the Koran does it state that the hijab must be worn by Muslim women. These attorneys should fact-check such claims before advising the school board. Can we now expect a counter-suit to remove these offensive political statements from school grounds?
In addition, Chattanooga's East Ridge High School is allowing its school to be coerced by an already proven terrorist-linked organization in CAIR. CAIR needs to be stopped, period.
Posted by: pyrexia at January 14, 2005 9:19 PM
Tennessee, oh T’anasi,
Land of the Free and home
to the ancestors and me,
friends and family, we wait patiently.
Our pens are busy, we visit the Hill,
our guns are poised and ready to kill,
we read Sung T’zu, and the mohammedan trilogy,
we hawk the net and find many like minds.
We watch the jihadis, their imams and stores.
We challenge their beliefs, debate and more . . .
We meet and talk, listen and learn,
From the Egyptian Copts, the Hindus,
Armenian, Kurds, Bangladesh Buddhists,
And other Victims of Jihad . . .
The scarf is an outward symbol
Of a political belief.
Let them wear it
and the knot be tied
Let the jihadi be identified.
at January 14, 2005 9:38 PM
Robert,
Though it is already (uzhe) late, as I am still (eshcho) awake, I might as well announce, with disappointment, that not a single entry to the contest announced above has been received.
It is true that in your own posting above you included the Russian for "See translation" but despite the Cyrillic, and the Methodius in your madness, you did not identify the author, though perhaps you were slyly hinting at his provenance, Surely you understand that if I were to award you the palm, oak, and bays, others would accuse us, unfairly, of collusion.
The contest was a bit tricky. The verses, though in French, were not by a French but by a Russian poet -- Fyodor Ivanovich Tiutchev, 1803-1873, a passionate man, a political reactionary, a lover of lightning, young ladies and Lutheran services.
Tiutchev wrote at least a dozen French verses, such as "Comme en aimant le coeur devient pusillanime." Andrey Makine, author of "Le testament francais," may know them all.
There will be other contests. A few months ago there was the famous "Saracen's Head Contest." Now the contest of the French door and the Russian poet, who suggests that that door should be open, or closed, but please Don't Mess With Mr. In-Between. So far my contests have met with as much success as my eleemosynary appeals.
Well, if at first....
Posted by: Hugh
at January 15, 2005 12:45 AM
HUGH-
Here's one for you (and Mr. Spencer), and I will award the winner an honorary membership in R.A.I.J. (Resistance Against Islamic Jihad).
Name the author:
"The wall on which the prophets wrote
Is cracking at the seams.
Upon the instruments of death
The sunlight brightly gleams.
When every man is torn apart
With nightmares and with dreams
Will no one lay the laurel wreath
As silence drowns the screams?"
A hint... he's a Brit.
(And it may become the British national anthem... or epitaph... if they don't get real REAL soon.)
Extra credit:
(a lifetime supply of camel's noses)
Name the group that put it to music.
at January 15, 2005 1:57 AM
Now that Muslim girls may wear the hijab in the public school, let's sue the pants off any school board that denies the right of a pupil or teacher to carry a Bible--and demand that the ACLU's lawyer opposing us pay the court costs of every case his org ever brought.
Posted by: Kepha1 at January 15, 2005 2:55 AM
Hugh,
I confess it. It was a cheap attempt at sleight of hand, a connivance to win the palm, oak, and bays on false pretenses. I have long admired the works of Mr. See Translation, and I thought you might not notice that he didn't publish this particular work under that venerable name but instead chose some commercial pseudonym that need not be repeated here.
I will duly return the palm and bays, but the oak is a superbly atmospheric addition to the Jihad Watch Nerve Center here in Beautiful Downtown Secure Undisclosed Locationville. Ergo I do hope you will allow a few points for the good old college try.
Also, I neglected to mention "Il faut qu'une porte soit ouverte ou fermée" (1845) by Alfred de Musset. Surely that slight but portentious little exercise in name dropping warrants a palm or two.
Mr. Beard: King Crimson?
Cheers
Robert Spencer
at January 15, 2005 7:33 AM
By the Beard of the Profit----
Peter Sinfield
(I have the original 33rpm release of 'In the Court of the Crimson King' *somewhere*. Probably worth its weight in camels' noses now, if only I could find it...)
Posted by: Benelux at January 15, 2005 8:48 AM
I havn't heard 21st Century Schizoid man for years.
Posted by: Granny Weatherwax at January 15, 2005 6:21 PM
If Christians are allowed to wear the cross, and Jews wear the kippa, why arent Muslim girls allowed to wear the head scarves? All of these nonsense u guys put up is hilarious, u guys cant see the hypocracy in your thinking.
Posted by: crusadewatcher at January 15, 2005 8:31 PM
crusadewatcher,
Most schools, unless they have a particular religious affiliation, don't allow symbols of any religion, including the items you mention. Often, teachers aren't allowed to wear them either.
Those evil 'hair rays' emitted by women's pride and glory are obviously getting to you and have already had a near-fatal effect on your spelling and punctuation as well as your thinking --
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/GuestColumns/Taheri20030819.shtml
A tin-foil beanie might help your condition. Just don't try wearing it to your madrasa.
Posted by: Benelux at January 15, 2005 10:38 PM
Robert--
Mention of Musset, memorious child of his century, who among other things wrote "On ne badine pas avec l'amour," a title most apropos to the brittle but amusing verses of Tiutchev which were the object of the contest, gives you one point.
But not enough, alas, for you to win the p., the o., the b.
Posted by: Hugh at January 16, 2005 12:09 AM
Actually, benelux, public schools in the U.S. have to allow things like crosses or stars of David, etc. If the child wants to carry a bible and pray, no one can stop him or her. (Teachers, however, are another matter)
This issue disturbs me immensely. I cannot stand the headscarf and everything it stands for; yet the U.S. must remain a place Christians and others can freely show their faith. In Missouri, there are several young girls in our local school who are already covered up. I suppose their fathers and brothers are afraid these young 8 and 9 year olds will become harlots if their hair isn't hidden.
On a personal note, some Muslim friends of my daughters came to visit our house (their father is Muslim; their mother nothing--always a problem). My children and these two friends were playing dress-up, putting shawls on their heads, pretending to be Muslim. Instead of prohibiting them, I smiled and said, that's great, but you actually look more like Catholic nuns. The little Muslim girls spent several hours parading around my home, using their Catholic names (e.g. Sister Annie). That scene still warms my heart.
Posted by: former liberal WF
at January 17, 2005 4:22 PM
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