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.