Muslim Chat Audio/Video Community

01 October 2009

An administrative court granted a Muslim high school student the right to pray at school in between lessons, Berliner Morgenpost reported on Wednesday.

The court on Tuesday ruled in favour of 16-year-old Yunus M., who attends the city's Diesterweg Gymnasium. During a four-hour hearing, Judge Uwe Wegener said he was aware that the case was quite significant and could set a precedent.

The case arose in 2007 when the head of a school in Berlin, which has a strong secular tradition, forbid a boy and his friends from kneeling on their jackets to pray where they could be seen by other pupils.

The school argued it was religiously "neutral" but the boy, whose mother is Turkish and father is a German who converted to Islam, decided to go to court.

And they won.

(The school has been allowing him to pray in an assigned room during breaks since March 2008, however, after the court issued an interim order while the case was pending.)

Judge Uwe Wegener of Berlin's Administrative Court wrote: "The plaintiff credibly showed he feels a religious obligation to pray according to Islamic custom five times a day at specific times."

In the ruling, which makes clear the boy must pray outside lesson times to avoid disruption, the court also said Germany’s constitution guaranteed an individual the right to manifest one’s belief - which includes praying.

Religious leaders of various faiths welcomed the court decision. The KRM Coordinating Council for Muslims in Germany said it was pleased about the respect shown towards other peoples' beliefs. "The ruling confirms the confidence Muslims have in our rule of law," it said.

Stefan Foerner, spokesman for Berlin's Roman Catholic archdiocese, was quoted in the popular daily Bild as saying the ruling strengthened the freedom of religious expression.

However, lawyer Margarete Muhl-Jackel, who argued on the city's behalf against allowing prayer, insisted that allowing prayer in schools would compromise the religious neutrality of the state institutions. But the court found that the basic right to religious freedom was in conflict with Article 7 of the constitution, which requires school neutrality.

Wolfgang Harnischfeger, head of the VBS association of Berlin school leaders called the ruling "a naive decision that misses reality in schools," the paper reported.

Meanwhile the state parents committee said it feared the ruling would mean further reduction of a willingness to integrate among Muslim students. Head of the committee, André Schindler, told Berliner Zeitung he feared it would divide students and said the group was considering an appeal.

Berlin city government school administrators also said they would review an appeal.

"We feel we've been left alone on the question of space considerations," spokesperson Jens Stiller told the paper.

He explained that because prayer has a demonstrative character, schools must make extra rooms available and criticised that the court ruling did not address that issue.

Sources:

"Berlin court rules in favour of Muslim prayer in school" The Local September 30, 2009

Madeline Chambers, "Should Berlin let Muslim pupils pray at school?" Reuters September 30, 2009

"School must provide prayer room for Muslims" Taiwan News September 29, 2009

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