Western Resistance

« Netherlands: Acquitted Muslim Terror Suspects Gain Damages | | UK: Muslims Guilty Of Kriss Donald's Murder »

November 7, 2006

Netherlands: Muslim Teacher Was "Right" To Shun Male Contact

The Melbourne Age reports that the Netherlands' Commission for Equal Treatment has ruled that a Muslim teacher who refused to shake hands with males was within her rights. The Commission has no power to enforce its decisions. It did not state that the school should reinstate the woman.

The woman, who was not born in the Netherlands, had been employed at the Vader Rijn College, at Utrecht, about 25 miles east of Amsterdam. She had worked there for about a year before she was asked to stay home in September this year. She had only demanded that she should have no contact with males during the summer vacation of 2006.

The Vader Rijn College teaches pre-vocational secondary education. The college has an intake of 700 students, 80% of whom are of Moroccan or Turkish background. Its principal, Bart Engbers, had said immediately after sacking the woman: ""If she doesn't want to shake hands at home, fine. But everyone is welcome at this school. Discussion is great, but religious and political flag-waving must stay at home."

"We are preparing our boys and girls for the labour market. We all know how fragile the situation is for allochtone (non native Dutch) young people. Therefore it is good that they shake hands during a job interview. We believe that is important."

Following the current decision by the Commission for Equal Treatment, Engbers had no comment, and was consulting with other members of staff. He allows the wearing of the hijab in the college.

Alex Geert Castermans, committee chairman of the Commission for Equal Treatment said: "It's possible that for certain functions or training it's necessary to shake hands. Just as in the other cases, the commission rules that necessity wasn't shown."

A similar case took place in March, when the Commission ruled in favor of another woman who refused to shake hands with males. Then, an adult education centre in Amersfoort had barred a Muslim woman, Fatima Amghar, from attending classes, where she was an education assistant.

She had decided that Islam forbids physical contact between a woman and any male over the age of 12. The Commission's judement in Amghar's case stated: "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."

There are 1.6 million Muslims in the Netherlands' population of 16 million. The issue of Muslims refusing to abide by national customs has caused resentment. In 2005, Rita Verdonk, the immigration minister was visiting a mosque and extended her hand to shake that of the imam. When the imam withdrew his hand (pictured), refusing to make physical contact, the issue was widely commented upon by Dutch media.

Mindful of this, when Queen Beatrix visited the Mobarak Mosque in the Hague on June 3 this year, she removed her shoes and refrained from extending her hand to the imam.

Following the adverse Muslim reaction to his Regensburg address of September 12, Pope Benedict XVI invited Muslims to Castel Gandolfo, his summer palace, on September 25. Muslim women were present. The pontiff extended his hands to all present, including the women. One of these was visibly embarrassed by this gesture, even though she allowed herself to shake Benedict's hand.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 7, 2006 9:49 PM

Comments

Post a comment