Illinois School District Sued Over for Violating Civil Rights of Muslim Teacher, Safoorah Khan, for Denying Request for Trip to Mecca

Illinois school district sued by federal government for violating civil rights of Safoorah Khan by denying her request for unpaid leave for pilgrimage to Mecca.

The federal government has sued the Berkeley School District in Ill., because it violated the civil rights of a Muslim teacher, Safoorah Khan, when she was denied unpaid leave to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, which is a central part of her religion. The school district denied the request of Safoorah Khan on grounds that her requested leave was unrelated to her professional duties and was not set forth in the contract between the school district and the teachers union, according to CBS News.

In doing so the school district violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by failing to reasonably accommodate her religious practices, the government said.  Khan wanted to perform the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia which every adult Muslim is supposed to make at least once in a lifetime if they are physically and financially able to. Millions go each year.

Khan started as a middle school teacher for Berkeley School District 87 - about 15 miles west of Chicago - in 2007. In 2008, she asked for almost three weeks of unpaid leave to perform the Hajj. After the district twice denied her request, Khan wrote the board that "based on her religious beliefs, she could not justify delaying performing hajj," and resigned shortly thereafter, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court in Chicago. Source: CBS News

Crazy. Now the school district has egg all over its face because it tried to play hardball. We'll see how this plays out in court. The bottom line is that we must respect the religious freedoms this country affords each of us. They were just being spiteful when they denied this woman's request.