The Baltimore County School Board has voted to close all schools in the county for the Islamic holidays of Eid al-Adha (the feast of the sacrifice) and Eid al-Fitr (festival of breaking the fast) beginning with 2020-2021 school year. With the decision, Baltimore County becomes the first district in the state to officially close schools on Muslim holidays in the state. Among those applauding the decision is the terrorist-linked organization the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
The Eid holidays fall on different dates each year. In 2020, Eid al-Adha falls on May 24 while Eid al-Fitr comes during the summer on July 31.
Muhammed Jameel, a past president of the Islamic Society of Baltimore, argued to the Board that Islamic students in the school system were being discriminated against, citing Brown v. Board of Education in his argument. “…separation is inherently unequal. Therefore, I say today that unequal is separation,” Jameel said.
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“The inequality has created separations and divisions in our society and seeped into every facet of our lives. Sanctioning of unequal treatment dehumanizes both the children as well as the adults. It then justifies discrimination and legitimizes the very act of unequal treatment,” Jamil argued.
But exactly who is being “separated” or “dehumanized” in this case? Islamic students are not asked to be in all-Muslim classrooms or told to drink at the Muslims-only drinking fountain, after all.
The Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion. Baltimore County joins other school districts such as New York City and Detroit in closing down schools for Muslim holy days. The Board tried to hide its decision in a tweet, in which it deemed the main news of the session was the decision to begin school after Labor Day.
On CAIR’s website, the terrorist-linked organization lauded the decision. “This historic victory is the culmination of a decades-long battle by local leaders to seek equal recognition for the county’s thousands of Muslim children,” said Zainab Chaudry, the Director of Maryland Outreach for CAIR.
“It sends a message to Muslim students and parents that schools are paying attention to their needs, and that they are valued, seen and heard.”
So CAIR is happy that Muslim holy days are now singled out as days in which the entire school system is shut down. While both Christmas and Good Friday are also singled out as religious holidays on the district’s schedule, both are generally hidden within the parameters of the more secular winter-break or spring-break on the system’s schedule. No Jewish holidays are singled out for the closing of school.
CAIR and school leaders in the region are also asking that no advanced placement testing be scheduled on those Muslim holy days.
We should remind ourselves about who and what CAIR is, a vicious terrorist harboring organization which claims oppression at every turn and holds America responsible for the shedding of Islamic blood anywhere.
It was at a CAIR event when Congresswoman Ilhan Omar made her comment that “some people did something” while referencing the 9-11 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.
In 2007, the federal government designated CAIR as an unindicted co-conspirator when it prosecuted the Holy Land Foundation for its support of the violent terror group Hamas.
A founding member of CAIR’s Texas chapter, Ghassan Elashi, was found guilty of laundering money for Hamas in 2009.
In 2015, CAIR provided aid, comfort and legal assistance to the San Bernardino mass shooters’ family. Before the bodies were even cold, CAIR rushed out in front of cameras and blamed American foreign policy instead of the Muslim killers.
CAIR works each day to censor and cancel anyone who speaks out against sharia law or advocates border security. It also works to actively silence Muslim reformers. If CAIR is all for anything, I’m immediately suspicious of whatever that thing is.
Of course, Muslim students shouldn’t be penalized for being off of school on those religious holidays. Certainly, school systems should make allowances for a child’s faith and allow those children ample opportunity to make up for any time lost due to religious duties — no matter what their faith is.
But little by little, the Judeo-Christian fabric of our nation is chipped away at through decisions like this one. And despite what secularists in our school districts tell us, our history and our founding is based on Judeo-Christian principles.
The percentage of students who are Muslim in Baltimore County is unknown, since the district doesn’t collect data on their students’ religion. This being the case, why is one religion being singled out to include their holy days in the district’s schedule?
Photo: IvelinRadkov/iStock/Getty Images Plus
James Murphy is a freelance journalist who writes on a variety of subjects with a primary focus on the ongoing anthropogenic climate-change hoax and cultural issues. He can be reached at [email protected].
