Australia school allows Muslim boys to refuse handshakes with girls

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A SYDNEY school has adopted a policy allowing Muslim schoolboys to refuse to shake hands with women.

At a recent awards ceremony at Hurstville Boys Campus of Georges River College, female presenters were told by one of the two principals that some students would not shake their hands because of their Muslim faith, The Australian reported.

The boys were instead permitted to place a hand across their chest to show they would not be taking the hand of the women, many of them well-known figures from the local community.

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“The Department of Education require­s its schools to recognise and respect the cultural, linguistic and religious backgrounds of all students, with the intent to promote an open and tolerant attitude towards a diverse Australian community­.

Principals are best placed to know the needs of their local school communities when implementing this requirement.”

The practice reportedly comes from the Islamic hadith teaching that states: “It is better to be stabbed in the head with an iron needle than to touch the hand of a woman who is not permissible to you.”

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