From The Gathering Storm Blog

Yep. Thatâ€™s right. Muslims have a how-to guide for infiltrating our school systems with Islamic ideals. According to this Islamic website, here are the Six Steps to achieve religious accommodation in our public school system.

Hat tip to Facta-Non-Verba. Also check out their list of Muslim Accommodation in US Schools.

Does your child need a prayer room to perform Zuhr in during lunchtime? Does he need time off for Juma? Or do you want to convince a teacher or principal to give your daughter the day off for Eid-ul-Fitr? Whatever Islamic obligation you want accommodated at your child’s school, it must be done in a methodical, clear and proper manner.

Shabbir Mansuri is founding director of the Council on Islamic Education in Fountain Valley, California. He provides tips and advice on how to get religious accommodation for your child.

Step 1: Know the laws and regulations regarding the issues of religious freedom and accommodation of religion.

Step 2: Get support of the teacher. Then meet with the principal and the favorite teacher, requesting that your child be allowed to perform prayers on campus, for example. If you do not get what you want, proceed to Step 3.

Step 3: Leave a paper trail, but first, be really, really nice. Write letters to leave a paper trail. Be non-confrontational, you are only exercising your constitutional rights in the most respectful way. If need be, invite the teacher and principal over for dinner as a gesture of good will.

Step 4: Write to the supportive teacher, meet with the teacher, ask advice, discuss child’s religious needs, share President Clinton’s instructions to school districts on accommodating religious needs. After meeting, send a thank you letter to the teacher. Set up a second meeting and discuss your demands again. Be polite and non-threatening, you are only trying to accommodate your child’s religious needs.

Step 5: Meet a second time with the supportive teacher and the principal. Bring state and local educational codes that relate to religious accommodation. Express your parental rights, but make it a win-win situation for everyone. By now, your child should have his religious needs accommodated.

Step 6: If necessary, repeat theses steps with the school district’s superintendent. Write more letters and have more meetings until you get what you want.

As Fact-Non-Verba summarized so nicely: â€œSo the basic steps are to know the US laws, then ingratiate yourself to the school officials, meet with school officials, write letters to school officials, coerce school officials, then repeat these steps over and over again until you have the level of “accommodation” you desire.â€

Any of this happening at your school?


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