When music class begins this week at Toronto’s Donwood Park elementary school, Mohammad Nouman Dasu will send a family member to collect his three young children. They will go home for an hour rather than sing and play instruments – a mandatory part of the Ontario curriculum he believes violates his Muslim faith.

The Scarborough school and the Toronto District School Board originally had offered an accommodation – suggesting students could just clap their hands in place of playing instruments or listen to acapella versions of O Canada – but not a full exemption from the class.

After a bitter three-year fight, however, Mr. Dasu felt he had no other opton but to bring his kids home.

According to documents ob-tained by The Globe and Mail, some parents insist they cannot allow their children to be in the same room where musical instruments are being played. Mr. Dasu, a Koran teacher who sometimes leads prayers at Scarborough’s Jame Abu Bakr Siddique mosque, says he has led the fight on behalf of parents. He has consulted with national Islamic bodies, and requested a letter from the leader of his mosque.

“We here believe that music is haram [forbidden]. We can neither listen to it, nor can we play a role in it,” said the mosque’s imam, Kasim Ingar.

Conceding that Muslims have to adjust when they send their kids to public school, he suggested that some matters, such as teaching music, are beyond debate.

“We do not compromise with anyone on the clear-cut orders and principles conveyed by the Prophet,” said Mr. Ingar, who also leads the Scarborough Muslim Association.

Within Islam, the question of whether Muslims are banned from music is divisive and nuanced. Similar to questions about whether women should wear veils, there is no consensus on the issue.

But Ontario’s primary-school curriculum is unambiguous on music class: It must be taught, without exception, to all primary-school-aged children. Officials at the TDSB say they can only bend the rules to accommodate religious students, but not exempt them.

The Globe used freedom of information laws to access TDSB e-mails on how the issue evolved at Donwood Park, where it first surfaced in 2013.

The released records redact the names of students for privacy reasons, and very few families appear to have been adamant over pulling children from music classes. Early internal e-mails show administrators wanted to find “some common ground.”

But Mr. Dasu, who says he represents many of the parents at the school concerned about the issue, pushed for exclusion for his own children by invoking the prospect of litigation and the religious freedoms clause of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Continue reading →

Controversy erupted over one of the songs students performed during a Minnesota public high school’s Thursday night holiday concert, “Eid un Sa’Eid – Zain Bhikha.” This Ramadan-inspired song included the phrase “Allahu Akbar,” Arabic for “God is Great,” Minnesota CBS affiliate WCCO 4 reported.

Christian and Jewish songs were reportedly performed by the Blaine High School chorale as was the Arabic song commemorating Ramadan, the Muslim holiday, which took place in June. It was slated to be sung during the audience participation portion of the concert, according to the Anoka-Hennepin School District in Blaine, Minnesota.

On Facebook, the parent of a ninth-grade Blaine choir student posted the lyrics to the Ramadan song the choir practiced, according to WCCO 4. Among the English language phrases in the song were “Thank you Allah for this blessed day,” “Muslims are singing praises to Allah,” “Remembering Allah,” and “All Praise for you Allah.”

The comments on this parent’s post over the Ramadan song reflected upset, according to WCCO 4. One person reportedly posted, “No child should be forced to sing a song about the Muslims and the religion of hatred.” A parent, who did not want to be identified, told the Minnesota TV news outlet that considering the recent events in Paris and San Bernardino, singing a song about Allah would be “insensitive.”

This may not be the first time the school has performed its winter holiday concert including “Allahu Akbar.” Under WCCO 4 comments on the Facebook posted news story, one woman wrote:

We attended a holiday chorale concert last year at Blaine High School, where they had seasonal songs from each of the main religions in between performances that the audience was invited to stand and sing together. All of a sudden I found us singing the words “Allahu Akbar” and I wondered about that and looked around and no one I saw looked alarmed. I’ve thought a lot about that since…one thing I realized is this is precisely how a student would feel in a class that could conceivably sing or pray a Christian song/prayer that was foreign to their religion. This is why we do not have led prayers and such in school…and I get that.

Also under the WCCO 4 comments, another person posed: “Is this for real? Ramadan was in June-July this year and Eid al-Fitr was Saturday, July 18, 2015. Christmas and Hanukkah are actually in December so it makes sense to sing music associated with those holidays. This is bizarre.”

The school district told WCCO 4 they received about a dozen complaints about the Ramadan song. Some, they said, were from parents, others, from people not even affiliated with the school. There appeared to be confusion if students would be graded for their participation in the winter performance at the high school.

On December 16, the parent who reportedly posted the Ramadan song lyrics wrote, “It’s been brought to my attention that nobody will be forced and grade will not be affected.” The district said students, if uncomfortable, would not have to sing the Ramadan song.

In a statement, the district said that they have students from many different backgrounds and cultures, and they promote equal opportunities for all students. “Songs are not performed in a worship setting or to promote religion,” the district said. “but rather in [an] educational setting where students are learning and performing music.”

It started with a post on Facebook. A parent of a ninth-grade Blaine choir student posted the lyrics to the song the choir has been practicing. When others learned students would be singing the song on Thursday, the comments took a turn.

It starts with you folks. Your children and your grandchildren and theirs will forever wonder why you did nothing to spare them from the violence and torment of Islam.

The school is on Twitter and Facebook, links below, and has a directory page although no music or choir contact was readily evident.

Sister to legendary pop icon and music artist, Michael Jackson last month reportedly quit the entertainment industry because of her new religion.

Janet who is married to Quatari Muslim Billionaire Wissam Al Mana, disclosed that she almost committed suicide because of the restrictions and burden her new life and religion brought upon her, saying it was not an easy transformation.

According to MTV News, she revealed that she has been deprived of almost everything in life, as she could not listen to music, drive a car, wear designer clothes only the “Black Abaya” and could not even move outside her residential home, in Doha as she was always surrounded by heavily armed security men.

The megastar was seen sporting the niqab in the promo for her Superpower duet with Frank Ocean, 27.

But religious activists accused her of disrespecting Islam by pairing the headgear with a flesh-flashing outfit.

Now she has started a fresh storm with Twitter user Karesa Warner saying: “Dear Beyonce: Do you think you’re going to get away with wearing a version of Islamic head-dress, niqab, while promoting your Demonic music?”

Earlier in the week, the high school principal and assistant principals talked with their choir group and let them share their opinions, according to one of the students in the choir ensemble.

On Wednesday, the students were told to remove the Islamic Chant called “Zikr” and a Korean Chant because it couldn’t be directly translated.

Choir student Alyssa Marine said the songs were connected throughout the concert to show how America is diverse.

Early Thursday, Mt. Carmel High School told NBC 7 that administrators reviewed all of the songs scheduled to be performed in a choir performance and a decision was made to change portions of the performance.

This decision was based on input from parents, students and teachers over the past two days, school officials said.

Students say they have been working on the songs since the beginning of the semester and enjoyed the fact that the concert would showcase different cultures.

But at about 4 p.m. Thursday, Principal Greg Magno sent an email to the choir families, announcing all the songs will be included in the performance.

Magno plans to read a statement before the concert that explains he has read through the Education Code and Board Policy, but in the end, the most important thing is to listen to students.

“The students performing tonight chose those particular pieces because they represent and honor the diversity in their choir, the diversity at their school, and the diversity in their community,” the statement says. “These students made the right decision when they put together this program. They have my full support and the support of the Superintendent and the District for the performance you are about to hear.”

The multi-year “Look Different” campaign will use celebrity activism, television shows and social media to influence the over 500 million households that MTV is available in. While well-intentioned, MTV unfortunately chose to include CAIR, an organization with an extremist history that tars every opponent as an anti-Muslim bigot.

The Justice Department designated CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terrorism-financing trial in U.S. history. The government listed CAIR as an entity of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood, specifically its secret Palestine Committee; a body set up to covertly support the Hamas terrorist group.

…

On May 19, the Clarion Project contacted MTV to inform the network of CAIR’s history and its false labeling of any and all critics as anti-Muslim “Islamophobes” with bigoted agendas. We requested a statement in response. MTV did not respond.

MTV has seriously erred by choosing CAIR as an “expert partner” in combating intolerance and discrimination. The well-meaning campaign runs the risk of becoming a platform for CAIR to assault the integrity of its opponents.

You can read the Clarion Project’s fully-documented profile of CAIR here.

More via FFA:

Click here to send your email of concern to MTV and Viacom (parent) officials. It only takes a few seconds.