A Sacramento, California, high school scheduled a “hijab day” celebrating Islamic law in which Muslims helped school girls don the concealing headscarves.
It was at Natomas Pacific Pathways Prep High School, also known as NP3, where officials posted a notice that said: “January 28, 2015. The hijab is a headcovering worn by Muslim women as a symbol of modesty and their devotion to God. GIRLS! Come to the library Wednesday morning and MSA [Muslim Student Association] members will assist you in putting your hijab on. You can bring ANY type of rectangular (or square) scarf that is bought at any store. (If you do not have any scarves, they will be provided for you to borrow for the day.)”
At Jihad Watch, Islam expert Robert Spencer said he had written to Principal Tom Rutten.
He pointed out that FBI statistics show that “hate crimes against Muslims, which are never justified, are actually quite uncommon, with hate crimes against Jews being over four times more common.
“Yet I would venture to guess that there has been no event at NP3 High to call attention to the challenges that Jews face, and that none is in the works.”
Spencer said he understood that NP3 Hijab Day was a student-run event.
“Would a Jewish or pro-Israel student be allowed to stage a similar day calling attention to anti-Semitism? If this included the rise in Islamic anti-Semitism in Europe and elsewhere, would this be allowed? Would you allow a Yarmulke Day at NP3 High?”
Spencer was responding to a statement sent by the principal to a concerned citizen.
Rutten’s note, apparently forwarded from a student organizer, said: “I wanted to let my classmates and teachers know about the challenges that young Muslim women face when they put on a headscarf. It is unfortunate that a small effort to promote mutual understanding would provoke such a hate-filled and irrational response.”
The note continued: “Hijab Day was part of my senior project, meant to bring awareness to my campus about the misconceptions surrounding Islam, particularly those surrounding the headscarf. I invited a speaker to talk to faculty about addressing Islamophobia in the classroom and the challenges in the Muslim world, and they appreciated the open and frank discussion.”
The note then describes Spencer as a “notorious Islamophobe,” citing as a source the discredited Southern Poverty Law Center, which was named in a federal court case as the source of information for a confessed domestic terrorist who attacked a Christian organization in Washington several years ago, intending to kill as many Christians as he could.
The “citizen’s note” to the principal, which prompted the student’s diatribe, called the promotion of Islamic law, or Shariah, “outrageous.”
“It’s outrageous primarily because it brought religion into a public school in a way that directly conflicts with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits school-sponsored prayer and religious indoctrination. Encouraging girls and women to wear hijabs for ‘modesty’ is clearly an example of religious indoctrination. Can you imagine the public outrage if a Jewish student requested ‘Yarmulke Day’ and all men and boys at the school were urged to wear a head covering of the type that Jewish men and boys wear?”
The citizen also noted that the Muslim Students Association “is considered by many national security experts to be tied to the Muslim Brotherhood.”
“In other words, tied to terrorism.”
A report by BizPacReview raised the question: Does separation of church and state only apply to some religions?”
The school did not respond to WND’s request for comment.
At the D.C. Clothesline blog, Islam expert and anti-Shariah campaigner Pamela Geller said: “When I was young, I remember the feminists and the leftists were all ‘burning bras’ during the left’s war on America. It was symbolic of the fight for women’s rights. So instead of a ‘hijab day’ at a California public school, why don’t they ‘burn burkas’ to stand in solidarity with women forced to wear the Islamic garb of shame and oppression?”
She also listed the telephone contact for the principal and the email for the school board.
See the note:
