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The Morning Call - January 21, 2007
New Jersey Muslims seek equality in school holidays
By Daniel Patrick Sheehan
Kulsum Soonasra is one of perhaps 50 Muslims at Parkland High School but 1.5 billion in the world. And, while her argument for public school recognition of Islam's holiest day isn't a statistical one, those numbers mean something.
''We're a huge religion,'' the 17-year-old junior from Upper Macungie said, offering an earnest distillation of her message: that Eid al-Fitr, the prayerful family celebration that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, is as important to Muslims as Christmas is to Christians. And if schools are closed for Christmas, they ought to be closed for Eid.
It's an argument being posed around the country as the Muslim population grows, and it's become a challenge to school districts as they try to balance cherished principles of inclusiveness and diversity against the strict demands of the school calendar. The law requires a fixed number of class days a year, so any time off must made up somewhere along the line.
''It's a big hot button issue, for sure,'' said Elinor Pierce, a senior researcher with Harvard University's Pluralism Project, which studies religious diversity in America. ''This is something people are negotiating all over the country.''
And it isn't just Muslims. Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Baha'i — all are represented in the nation's schools, along with other faiths ''from Afro-Caribbean to Zoroastrian'' seeking various levels of recognition, Pierce said.
Typically, districts consider the religious makeup of the student body in determining which holidays will affect attendance enough to justify closings. In Paterson, N.J., for example, home to the state's largest Muslim population, schools close on Eid al-Fitr and also Eid al-Adha, which marks the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
It's unclear how many Muslims now live in the Lehigh Valley, but the area is home to two Sunni mosques — the Muslim Association of the Lehigh Valley in Whitehall and the Islamic Education Center in Allentown — and the Al-Ahad Islamic Center in South Whitehall Township, a Shia mosque. Sunnis and Shiites differ on whom they recognize as the legitimate successor to the prophet Muhammad.
Based on the attendance criteria, Parkland isn't likely to shut down for Eid. But Soonasra, a Shia Muslim of Indian heritage, says she is hopeful because the district has always been accommodating to Muslim students, allowing them to spend lunch hours in the library during the fasting month of Ramadan, for example. And there appears to be wide support for her effort in the high school. She gathered more than 900 signatures from fellow students on a petition she submitted to the school board in November.
The area's Sunni Muslims have also asked Parkland to recognize Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha or both….
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_5muslimjan21,0,6392682.story
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