Observance of Islamic Holiday Stirs Controversy in Detroit Suburb
by Jim Brown and Jody Brown
November 21, 2003
(AgapePress) - Christians in Michigan are criticizing a school district in Dearborn Heights for making the last day of Ramadan a school holiday.In Michigan, the Detroit/Dearborn area is home to a large Arab and Muslim community. According to the Detroit Free Press, about one-third of the 3,300 students in Crestwood School District in Dearborn Heights are of Arab descent -- the result of several years of Arab-Americans, mostly Muslim, moving into Dearborn Heights from neighboring Dearborn.
Following divisive debate at a public meeting earlier this month, it was determined that on Tuesday, November 25, students in the Crestwood School District will have a day off for the Muslim holiday Eid. The decision was made by district officials and a local teachers' union without the approval of the Crestwood School Board.
Board member Janie Golani is a Christian whose family is from Iraq. She says she is troubled by the new school holiday.
"The Ramadan, the Eid holiday -- this is all religion," she says. "It has nothing to do with political issues or school issues or national days -- this is a religious issue. The Eid is a religious issue; it's founded on Islam, which is Mohammed, his law, and the Qu'ran laws -- and by giving the teachers [an in-service day] that day, the administration [is] following a religious practice and allowing that to happen."
Golani says the district administration turned the situation into a controversial issue between the Arabic community and the non-Arabic community. In fact, she says some members of the school board who opposed the new school holiday fear for their safety after receiving a threat letter from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
"The letter stated that because the board was not giving the day off to Muslim students for the holiday that there would be -- and I quote this from the letter -- 'serious ramifications and unwanted, unhealthy consequences,'" she says.
According to Golani, the Homeland Security Department is currently investigating the threat letter. She says the head of the Detroit ADC is Imad Hamad, who at one time was slated to receive an award from the FBI before the Bureau learned he had ties to terrorist groups.
