THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 105, April 19, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
PRIVATE ACCOMODATIONS FOR ISLAM
By R. John Matthies
WESTERNERS BENDING TO THE DEMANDS & DESIGNS OF POLITICAL ISLAM: PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS
ACCOMODATING ISLAMISTS IN THE WEST -- DENYING SERVICE TO OR CREATING HARDSHIP FOR ONE GROUP IN ORDER TO
ACCOMODATE THE WISHES OF ANOTHER GROUP -- CASES IN WHICH GROUP ACCOMODATION RESULTS IN RESTRICTED
MOVEMENT, HAMPERED SPEECH, & GREAT INCONVENIENCE TO THE MAJORITY -- CODDLING ISLAMISTS & ABUSE OF
INFLUENCE IN THE PRIVATE SPHERE -- THE UNREASONABLE DEGREE TO WHICH ISLAM IS ALLOWED TO DISENGAGE FROM
SOCIETY -- FAILURE OF THE REASONABLENESS, FAIRNESS, & LOYALTY TESTS
FULL STORY:
When is it appropriate to critique the policies of private enterprise? Private institutions are clearly permitted to carry out
their business in a manner appropriate to their market, so long as they operate within the boundaries of the law.
However, these institutions – commercial, educational, or the media – also play a major societal role, and hence carry
great responsibility. For this reason, the practice of criticizing these institutions is an established tradition, as illustrated
by book reviews, theater criticism, Hollywood gossip columns, sports talk, consumer reports, and others.
Acknowledging that the critique of private institutions is different from the sort directed at government, we engage
private sector entities in consideration of the influence they peddle and (indirect) power they wield.
There are now many cases of Islamists in the West demanding accommodations – and of these demands being met.
These range from trivial cases of employee accommodation to cases of gender segregation. While state and local
authorities have often bent to the designs of political Islam, it is to private institutions that one turns to examine the
most egregious examples of accommodation.
Still, it is more difficult to censure private institutions – given their greater freedom of action – than it is to censure
lawmakers and public institutions, which are directly charged with serving the public good. Private entities have the
right to run their own affairs, but the public cannot condone exceptions that result in exclusion or promote a regime of
segregation. Merchants are free to choose the services or products they offer to target consumers and hence maximize
profit. But, to deny service to one group – or create hardship for select employees – in order to accommodate the
wishes of another is unacceptable. Those policies that dismiss the rights of others – whether in a place of work, study,
or commerce – must not be tolerated. For this reason, it is fitting to explore cases of accommodation with an eye both to
the exceptional nature of the concession (in light of existing practice) and the degree to which group accommodation
results in restricted movement, hampered speech, or great inconvenience to the majority.
In the case of Britain's Sainsbury's convenience stores, for example, Muslim employees who prefer to avoid contact
with alcoholic beverages for reason of religion are asked to raise their hands so a colleague can replace them at their
post or scan the item for them. And those who object to stocking shelves with wine, beer, and spirits have found
alternative positions within the company. A similar example is credited to Target, where Muslim employees at a
Minneapolis store have been dispensed with handling pork products, for fear of contamination.
Sainsbury's and Target have elected to satisfy employee wishes; the pertinent question is whether management has
enacted these policies because it feels it's the right thing to do, or simply because no other options exist to fill the
positions presently occupied by recalcitrant employees. (A spokeswoman for Sainsbury's admits as much, saying:
"At the application stage we ask the relevant questions regarding any issues about handling different products and
where we can we will try and accommodate any requirements people have.") If the latter is the case, it is difficult to
imagine what these vendors can do or what suggestions we might offer. And so we tolerate exceptions of this kind –
with the caveat that one must guard against those accommodations that infringe upon the rights of others (and do not
merely inconvenience).
Both state and federal law are clear that employers are obliged to accommodate employees' religious beliefs where these
are "reasonable" and do not detract from profitability. But this test fails to account for the inconvenience brought upon
employees, which goes to the heart of the fairness issue. At the same time, it is clear that inconvenience extends to
paying customers, who are forced to wait while another is found to handle the transaction – to say nothing of the
degrading sort of treatment to which the customer is subjected, who must appear to create a disturbance for wishing to
purchase an "elicit" product. All told, these examples speak to the question of the degree to which Islam may be allowed
to disengage from society.
At the same time, it is also unacceptable for private concerns to enforce Islamic space of their own accord. Consider
Harvard University's decision to institute women-only gym hours to accommodate the modesty requirements of campus
Muslims, for example. Islamic Knowledge Committee officer Ola Aljawhary says: "These hours are necessary because
there is a segment of the Harvard female population that is not found in gyms, not because they don't want to work out,
but because, for them, working out in a co-ed gym is uncomfortable, awkward, or problematic in some way." But Harvard
administrators explicitly noted that the new policy has less to do with gender than religion; and one reports that the
Harvard Islamic Society itself was unaware of the change "until it was being formalized and in its final stages." It is one
thing for young women to make their own private arrangements to accommodate a requirement for modesty, but it is
quite another for a university to make these arrangements. Harvard must be asked to imagine where policies like these
might lead (which others might be excluded), and to consider the motives of groups in support of such a program.
As one explores cases of accommodation and abuse of influence across the private sphere, one must judge each
according to a scale that accounts for both the exceptional nature of the concession and the degree to which the
majority is inconvenienced, restricted as to movement, or hampered in expression. Private concerns may be compelled by
situation and environment to alter established practice; but, for these same concerns to impose a program of segregation
or apply select "Islamic" standards constitutes a grave abuse of influence.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
International Politics & World Disorder:
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
R. John Matthies is Assistant Director of Islamist Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum. He can be contacted at
Matthies@meforum.org.
The foregoing article by R. John Matthies was originally published in Front Page Magazine, April 18, 2008, and
can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks to
define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam,
working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote
constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly
asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(Article URL: http://www.meforum.org/article/1885)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
April 18, 2008
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity