German court rules in favor of Hijab-clad teacher

A court in the southern German city of Stuttgart ruled that a Muslim female teacher has the right to wear the Islamic headscarf, or Hijab, at work, The Arabic News reported.

The administrative court ruled that the school rules which forced the 55-year-old Muslim teacher to remove her Hijab in class were illegal, saying that the school violated the religious equal right amendment because Christian nuns are allowed to teach at state schools.

The Hijab is meant to protect Muslim women from the eyes of men outside her family. It has been the subject of heated debate in several European countries for more than a decade.

The German Parliament debated banning Muslim students from wearing the Hijab in 2003, when such a law was proposed in France, where Muslims make up 8% of the population. The Hijab ban was adopted by the French parliament in 2004, sparking Muslim anger.

In 2003, Germany’s highest tribunal, the Constitutional Court, ruled that it was wrong to ban Muslim teachers from wearing a headscarf in the classroom. However, it said that Germany’s 16 states could legislate independently to ban religious outfits.

There are now eight German states that imposed the Hijab ban on public school Muslim teachers.

There are about five million Muslims living in Germany, mainly from Turkey, Morocco and Tunisia.


http://www.islamonline.com/cgi-bin/news_service/world_full_story.asp?service_id=2262

Alhumdulillah. Good for her.

But if there were no nuns teaching in those state schools, i'm willing to bet that, the ban would have been imposed.

This ruling seems fair. I'm unsure about the attitudes toward hijab in Germany. I do remember that when I did my student teaching (USA) one muslim lady asked our school system if it was okay to wear her head covering. She told me that she had been very concerned during her four years of education that she may not be able to wear it. I must admit that the school system was very shocked that she would even question her right to wear it.

I don't write this to gain kudo's for my country. I chose to share this story because I feel that muslims often have unfounded fears in the USA concerning the hijab. The fact is that I've never known a non-muslim that objected to headcoverings.

Alhamdulilah, its good to know that there are ppl out there who arent scared of a woman with a peice of material on her head.