Ramadan begins at sundown on Tuesday, August 10, 2010. In honor of the occasion, Cherif El Ayouty sends the following essay from Denmark (via Hans Erling Jensen).
Happy Ramadan!
by Cherif El Ayouty
The new moon that signals the beginning of Ramadan, is still one week away, but the wealth of ideas, to accommodate the many unintegrated Muslims living in the Western world during the Islamic holy month, has long been underway.
Believe it or not, there are now within Western municipalities and educational institutions a number of recommendations that aim to meet Ramadan needs of Muslim pupils in state schools. These recommendations include among others “no swimming lessons” because the ability to swallow water is very high and that must not happen during fast, “no sex education” as Muslims must avoid sexual thoughts and “rescheduling of tests and exams to a later time” as test preparations for Muslim students while fasting becomes a big challenge. Plans also include reserving a larger space for daily prayers, as Muslims become more religious during Ramadan and avoiding all parents meetings because Ramadan evenings are a very busy period for Muslim families! It is still unclear whether music classes will also be canceled because of Ramadan.
But why is it just Muslims who are to be exempted from certain activities? Why not all the students? Then Muslims would not feel worse-off than the rest of the students — or maybe vice-versa?
Such a policy of accommodation is completely insane, because it interferes with the rest of the society’s activities and is therefore completely unacceptable.
As a well-integrated Muslim with 42 years living experience in the West, I find it quite wrong that everyone at school is forced to take account of Islamic rules when these rules are irrelevant to non-Muslims, which after all constitute the overwhelming majority. Why are there not and never have been any special adjustments to meet the religious needs of Jews, Buddhists and Hindus? I am just asking!
I know that every time the authorities are accommodating and lenient towards Muslims requests for preferential treatment, the result is extremely harmful to the moderate Muslims who want to take part in their new society on an equal basis with the ethnic population, integrate themselves and secure a better life for their descendants in the West.
Cherif El Ayouty is a civil engineer who works in the private sector in Denmark. Originally from Egypt, he has been a Danish citizen since 1975, and supports the Danish People’s Party.
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