Do you think schools should let Muslims students off early every Friday to attend Mosque?

[Anonymous]

That's what the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay is campaigning for. They've even drawn up a form permission slip for parents to send to school. I get trying to accommodate religious duties, but allowing students to leave early every single Friday of the school year....I don't know. Seems like non-Muslim students would be resentful of it too. That's a lot of missed school hours. What do you think?

[Anonymous]

This is for sunset mosque right? How early does the sun set and how late does school end?

[Anonymous]

OP, are you Muslim?

[Anonymous]

Do employers allow Muslims to miss work on Fridays for mosque? If they don't, the school shouldn't do this.

[Anonymous]

Nope, not in public school. If this is something that is important to someone's family, they need to attend a private muslim school that lets out early on Fridays. All the Jewish day schools in the area let out early in Fridays in the winter to accommodate those that need to be home for Shabbat before sunset.

[Anonymous]

Do Christians in Muslim countries always get Sundays off for their religious observances? I genuinely don't know.

[Anonymous]

No, sorry, can't support it. I am all for religious freedom but kids don't need to attend this.

I also wouldn't support any other religion on such a request.

[Anonymous]

It seems like they should be able to set up a space for prayer so that Muslims can pray maybe during lunch or recess. I attended GMU for school and there were Muslim prayer areas (in the corner of the restrooms - this was 20 years ago), and at Freddie Mac, in the building where I worked, they had 2 rooms set up with prayer rugs. It seems like this could be simple to set up.
If that is not enough, I agree with the PP who suggested private Muslim school.

[Anonymous]

I don't see any problem with kids taking off for religious reasons.

Kids can get an excused absence for sports so I think they should be able to for religion.

[Anonymous]

When I was a teenager, we were going to move to Kuwait (didn't as it turned out--Gulf War 1 happend). My sister and I were going to attend the American School of Kuwait. Though it largely catered to kids from other countries, the "weekend" was Thursday and Friday. So, although we are Christian, I would have been attending school on Sundays. I suppose I could have gone to at late afternoon/evening service, but I would not have been able to attend a service in the middle of the day.
When you are living in a country, you have to go with the prevailing customs of that country.

Having said that, I like PPs suggestion about making a room available so that a student could go at midday and pray. Seems like a reasonable accommodation.
And of course, Muslims should absolutely get excused absence from school for major holidays.

[Anonymous]

Is this really any different than an employer who claims it's against his religion to provide health insurance that covers contraception?

[Anonymous]

This would be disruptive for the education process for the students. Would teachers then be required to provide extra assistance to these students, provide notes or lesson plans, alternate test dates?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is for sunset mosque right? How early does the sun set and how late does school end?

No, Friday prayers start at noon.

[Anonymous]

Would this be only for male students? I thought only males were required to attend Jumu'ah prayers on Friday, and females are not required (and even discouraged from it)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do Christians in Muslim countries always get Sundays off for their religious observances? I genuinely don't know.

No, they typically just get their churches burned down and looted, and homes and businesses destroyed.