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March 28, 2006
Holland: Muslim Woman Is Allowed To Refuse Handshakes
A strange ruling from Holland is reported in Dawn and Islam Online. In the central Dutch town of Amersfoort, an adult education centre barred a Muslim woman from its classes. The reason given was that the woman insisted that due to her faith, she refused to shake hands with men. According to her, Islam forbids physical contact between a woman and any male above the age of 12.
Fatima Amghar was not content with being barred from attending classes to train as an education assistant, and took the matter to the national Commission for Equal Treatment. And the Commission decided that the education centre was wrong in its former decision.
"Every school has the duty to be free of discrimination and treat men and women equally. This duty extends to individual students who refuse physical contact on religious grounds," the Commission stated in its judgement. It decided there were other ways in which a woman could greet a male.
Last year Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk was photographed extending her hand to an imam at a mosque she was visiting. The imam rudely withdrew his hand, and the issue was widely commented upon, in the Dutch media.
There are about 1 million Muslims in Holland, which has a total population of about 16 million.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at March 28, 2006 6:28 PM
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