This is a very good example of what non-Muslim cultures throughout the world are now facing. We here in America had better pay close attention. It was passed to me, and I am passing it on to you.
What’s in a handshake?
Sometimes it's the little things that are most telling. In
Switzerland it has long been customary for students to shake the
hands of their teachers at the beginning and end of the school
day. It's a sign of solidarity and mutual respect between teacher
and pupil, one that is thought to encourage the right classroom
atmosphere. Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga recently felt
compelled to further explain that shaking hands was part of
Swiss culture and daily life.
And the reason she felt compelled to speak out about the
handshake is that two Muslim brothers, aged 14 and 15, who
have lived in Switzerland for several years (and thus are familiar
with its mores), in the town of Therwil, near Basel, refused to
shake the hands of their teacher, a woman, because, they
claimed, this would violate Muslim teachings that contact with
the opposite sex is allowed only with family members. At first
the school authorities decided to avoid trouble, and initially
granted the boys an exemption from having to shake the hand of
any female teacher. But an uproar followed, as Mayor Reto
Wolf explained to the BBC: "the community was unhappy with
the decision taken by the school. In our culture and in our way of
communication a handshake is normal and sends out respect
for the other person, and this has to be brought [home] to the
children in school."
Therwil's Educational Department reversed the school's
decision, explaining in a statement on May 25 that the
school's exemption was lifted because "the public interest with
respect to equality between men and women and the integration
of foreigners significantly outweighs the freedom of religion." It
added that a teacher has the right to demand a handshake.
Furthermore, if the students refused to shake hands again "the
sanctions called for by law will be applied," which included a
possible fine of up to 5,000 dollars.
This uproar in Switzerland, where many people were enraged at
the original exemption granted to the Muslim boys, did not end
after that exemption was itself overturned by the local
Educational Department. The Swiss understood quite clearly that
this was more than a little quarrel over handshakes; it was a
fight over whether the Swiss would be masters in their own
house, or whether they would be forced to yield, by the granting
of special treatment, to the Islamic view of the proper relations
between the sexes. It is one battle – small but to the Swiss
significant – between o'erweening Muslim immigrants and the
indigenous Swiss.
Naturally, once the exemption was withdrawn, all hell broke
loose among Muslims in Switzerland. The Islamic Central
Council of Switzerland, instead of yielding quietly to the Swiss
decision to uphold the handshaking custom, criticized the ruling
in hysterical terms, claiming that the enforcement of the
handshaking is "totalitarian" (!) because its intent is to "forbid
religious people from meeting their obligations to God." That, of
course, was never the "intent" of the long-standing handshaking
custom, which was a nearly-universal custom in Switzerland, and
in schools had to do only with encouraging the right classroom
atmosphere of mutual respect between instructor and pupil, of
which the handshake was one aspect.
The Swiss formulation of the problem – weighing competing
claims — will be familiar to Americans versed in Constitutional
adjudication. In this case "the public interest with respect to
equality" of the sexes and the "integration of foreigners" (who
are expected to adopt Swiss ways, not force the Swiss to exempt
them from some of those ways) were weighed against the
"religious obligations to God" of Muslims, and the former
interests found to outweigh the latter.
What this case shows is that even at the smallest and seemingly
inconsequential level, Muslims are challenging the laws and
customs of the Infidels among whom they have been allowed to
settle [i.e., stealth jihad toward sharia dominance]. Each little
victory, or defeat, will determine whether Muslims will truly
integrate into a Western society or, instead, refashion that
society to meet Muslim requirements.
The handshake has been upheld and, what's more, a stiff fine
now will be imposed on those who continue to refuse to shake
hands with a female teacher. This is a heartening sign of
non-surrender by the Swiss.
The Swiss handshaking dispute has received some, but not
enough, press attention. Presumably, it's deemed too
inconsequential a matter to bother with. But the Swiss know
better. And so should we.
There's an old Scottish saying that in one variant reads:
"Many a little makes a mickle." That is, the accumulation of
many little things leads to one big thing. That's what's happening
in Europe today. This was one victory for the side of sanity.
There will need to be a great many more.
