This is clearly just another attempt to force American workplaces to change the way they operate in order to accommodate Muslims, once again reinforcing the principle that where Islamic law and practice and American law and practice conflict, it is American law and practice that have to give way.
Safoorah Khan asked for “almost three weeks of unpaid leave” so that she could go on the hajj. She wrote that “based on her religious beliefs, she could not justify delaying performing hajj,” although since a Muslim has his or her entire lifetime to perform the hajj, it’s unclear what would have made it impossible for her to justify delaying doing so — was she in imminent danger of death?
If she wasn’t, there was no reason why she had to go on the hajj at that time. And since the Islamic calendar is a lunar one with a year of 355 days, the time to perform the hajj moves by ten days every year. All she had to do was wait until the time for the hajj fell during summer vacation, and then there would have been no problem.
But instead, she demanded three weeks of leave. Yet three weeks of leave, even unpaid, out of the school year is a significant chunk of time — after all, the school year is only about nine months long. So she is essentially demanding to keep her job despite being away for nearly a tenth of the time during which the job is to be performed.
Now Obama’s Justice Department, ever accommodating to Islamic demands, is forcing the school district to make a big payout to her. And you can be sure there will be more cases like this one. Said Khan: “I”m glad that we settled and I hope this does set a precedent…I hope this helps people and their employers to accommodate Muslims and their requests.” Oh, it certainly will. This is a classic stealth jihad case. For a full explanation of the agenda here, see Pamela Geller’s new book Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance.
See Creeping Sharia’s report here. “Woman wins right to Mecca trip,” by Tina Sfondeles for the Chicago Sun-Times, October 13 (thanks to Pamela Geller):
A Muslim woman has won her fight against a west suburban school district after being denied unpaid leave to go on a religious pilgrimage to Mecca.
The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday announced it settled Safoorah Khan’s religious discrimination lawsuit against the Berkeley School District, forcing the district to pay $75,000 in lost back pay, compensatory damages and attorneys” fees.
The district also will have to develop a policy accommodating religions consistent with the Civil Rights Acts to ensure something similar will not happen again.
Khan, a teacher at MacArthur Middle School, requested an unpaid leave of absence in December 2008 to perform hajj “” a pilgrimage required by Islam “” but was told she had to choose between her job and her religious beliefs. She resigned.
“I”m glad that we settled and I hope this does set a precedent,” Khan said. “I hope they realize that hajj means a lot to Muslims and there will be more and more people taking the trip. I hope this helps people and their employers to accommodate Muslims and their requests.”
According to the settlement, the district must also provide mandatory training on religious accommodations to all board of education members and school supervisors.
Khan, now 30, says she went to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the year she resigned.
“It’s required once in our lifetime at the earliest opportunity you can get,” she said.